Small Businesses Stand Up for Immigrant Neighbors

Turning Main Street into a Place of Safety

On any given day in rural North Carolina, local restaurants, farms, and small shops are where people swap news, pick up groceries, and check in on one another. They’re also where immigration agents have shown up to detain workers and disrupt daily life. For Rural Democracy grantee Somos Siembra, and its sister c4 organization Siembra NC, that reality turned small-town main streets into a critical place for safety.

Rather than treating businesses as bystanders, Siembra invited them into the heart of their organizing strategy. They worked with owners and staff to understand their rights, prepare for ICE activity, and stand together with immigrant workers and families. When business owners step up, the whole community sees that protecting their neighbors is part of keeping a town strong.

Organizing Before the Knock on the Door

With billions in new funding, in 2025, federal agents announced plans for roving patrols, targeting people based on their skin color and profession. In practice, that meant agents targeted people at work and during daily life, disrupting businesses and separating families.

Somos Siembra knew rural communities could not afford to be caught off guard. They launched their Defend and Recruit playbook to make sure people had practical tools and resources before the next knock on the door. Through this playbook, they trained tens of thousands of people to understand their rights, build local networks, and take collective action. They also set up a hotline to receive timely reports and facilitated a rapid-response network to mobilize neighbors, both in cities and rural counties.

That preparation mattered when immigration agents set up checkpoints in rural counties like Sampson. Community members already knew how to share information quickly, connect to a hotline, and activate support. And when ICE announced a surge on Charlotte residents in November 2025, Siembra mobilized 1,350 people for safety patrols, showing what coordinated action can look like in real time.

Building a Network of “Fourth Amendment Workplaces”

Rooted in the simple idea that where we go for work should be a place of safety, Siembra launched a small business campaign. They partnered with restaurants, farms, and shops to train staff on their legal rights so they know what to do if agents arrive without a warrant, how to communicate with workers, and how to document abuses. 

Over time, this work created a strong network with more than 250 small businesses signing on as “Fourth Amendment Workplaces,” publicly committing to uphold workers’ and immigrants’ constitutional rights. That public stance sends a clear signal of unity that local employers are prepared, connected, and willing to use their influence to protect their neighbors. It’s a clear reminder that community safety depends on everyone, including employers.

Rural Neighbors Refusing Silence and Fear

At the center of this work are local leaders like small business owner Matt Davis. He has seen the harms facing immigrants and the broader community and what is at stake. “We can’t afford to be silent in the face of blatant violations against human rights,” Davis said. “If we work cooperatively as small businesses together, the more businesses that are involved, the less scary it becomes. We become a strong force together.”

That “strong force” is not only measured in rapid-response numbers. It shows up in how people relate to one another. Somos Siembra’s organizing helps neighbors check in and push back on policies that make communities less safe.

Because of this long-term investment in training and leadership, many hardworking families are safer, and many rural communities are more connected. Instead of living in isolation, people are learning their rights, watching out for one another, and speaking out together for practical, humane solutions. 

Small business owners are stepping into public leadership — not as politicians, but as neighbors who refuse to let fear define their towns. In a year of heightened ICE activity and uncertainty, they turned preparation into protection and local businesses into everyday places where community members feel safe.

Turning Defense Into New Leadership

Siembra’s mass mobilizations were also tied to a larger effort to reshape who holds power. As they trained ICE watchers and small businesses to defend their communities, they were also building a base of voters who understand how scapegoating immigrants distracts from real solutions that support working people. To build the North Carolina their communities deserve, neighbors organized to change who represents them — especially in rural places like Alamance County, where the sheriff’s office has a record of civil rights violations and uses local resources to support ICE through a 287(g) contract.

In the face of these threats, voters in Burlington, a small city in Alamance County, chose a different path and elected Beth Kennett as mayor. A faith leader and Siembra ICE Watch volunteer, Kennett had narrowly lost her 2023 race. This time, she ran with deeper organizing infrastructure behind her and broad, visible support from the community, winning the 2025 election by 600 votes. Across several Alamance County municipalities, residents backed new local leaders who stand up for immigrants. These wins show how Siembra’s efforts to protect their communities and grow their collective power can lead to durable, long‑term change.