The rally brought together family, friends and community advocates who challenged Isaac’s detention and called attention to what they described as the human cost of a broken immigration system.

Katiana McDonald, whose son played soccer alongside Isaac, remembered him as the team captain she once cheered for. She spoke of the years, expense and uncertainty involved in navigating the path toward gaining citizenship. After moving 22 years ago, it took her 15 years and thousands of dollars in legal costs to become a documented citizen.

“Everyone is affected but not everyone gets the full picture, because we’re all not affected at the same ways and at the same timeline and at the same scale but trust me, we’re all affected,” McDonald said. “Because of this we must stand up for people in our community. Those of us with the privilege to stand up, speak up for Isaac.”

ICE agents detained Gallegos, a 2025 graduate of Orange High School, on Oct. 7 in Charlotte during what the family understood to be a routine appointment regarding the pending asylum case. Despite having no criminal record since arriving in the United States as a 10-year-old fleeing gang violence in Honduras, ICE detained Isaac and transferred him to the Irwin Detention Center in Ocilla, Georgia before sending him to the D Ray James Correctional Facility and ICE Processing Center in Folkson, Georgia.

U.S. Rep. Valerie Foushee, who represents North Carolina’s 4th Congressional District, condemned Isaac’s detention and pledged to work toward his release.

“Isaac is one of us,” Foushee said. “Please rest assured that we will do everything in our power to free him from this illegal detention by ICE.”

Foushee said she believes Isaac should not have been detained and belongs with his family and community.

“It is abundantly clear to me that Isaac should not have been detained and should be right here with his family and his community,” she said.

She also challenged ICE’s characterization of Isaac’s ties to the community, accusing the agency of targeting immigrants through fear and rhetoric.

“ICE will lie. ICE claims that Isaac isn’t a part of our community, and we must stand and tell the truth,” Foushee said. “The truth is that ICE is demonizing our immigrant community. The truth is that ICE is not an agency focused on public safety. It exists to strike fear into our community.”

Foushee’s remarks underscored the concern among Isaac’s supporters that his detention has separated a young man from the people who know him and are now calling for his release.

While advocates accused ICE of using detention to instill fear in immigrant communities, through testimony, protest and a song dedicated to Isaac, supporters delivered a shared message: He is not a number in a federal system, but a young man with promise whose place, they insist, is at home with his family and community.

The rally’s message came together in a song dedicated to Isaac, led by Alexandra Valladres, the first Latina to serve on the Durham Public Schools Board of Education, and Matt Kopac, a member of the Durham City Council. Their voices carried a plea that resonated with the crowd: “Bring him home.”

“Taken from his sister. Pride of his father, joy of the future,” the song declared, before turning to a refrain rooted in faith and defiance: “Don’t you know you can’t mess with the children of God? Don’t you know you can’t mess or hold back the children of God?”

The song returned to its central plea, repeated like both a prayer and a demand: “Bring him home.”

For those gathered in support of the 19-year-old, the lyrics offered a reminder of who Isaac is beyond his detention — a son, a brother, a member of a community that refuses to let his absence go unnoticed.

And as the song faded, its final words lingered as the rally’s simplest, most urgent demand: Bring him home.