Wake schools: start fight, die, get $800k | Mass shooter pleads guilty, doesn't remember why | Hindu temple vandalized | The truth about deportation stats
No. 160 — Jan. 18-Jan. 24, 2026
“Just deport the criminals:” the Democrat bait and switch
On the issue of immigration policy and enforcement, Democrats in the modern day seem to have two options: embrace the open borders extremism of their party’s radical wing, or attempt to appease the radicals without alienating moderates and independents by painting a picture as if they oppose the current administration’s immigration operations on a “law and order” basis.
In the former camp, Durham Democrats like Nida Allam, Natalie Beyer, and Javiera Caballero (on the county commission, school board, and city commission respectively) will rally at the Durham courthouse against ICE potentially detaining a domestic abuser, and support the most radical of the anti-ICE activists.
On the other side, we have Democrats like Wiley Nickel promising in a post on his Substack to prosecute any federal agents who “break[] the law” if elected District Attorney in Wake County.
The Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that the supremacy clause of the constitution prohibits federal agents from being “held to answer” by state courts when acting reasonably in execution of the federal duty.
Although acknowledging that such immunity exists, Nickel argues that it is not his job to “determine federal immunity,” suggesting that he may intend to file charges in regards to every use of force by federal immigration agents in Wake County, and leave it up to the federal courts alone to rule that the officers acted reasonably.
However, what stands out as particularly disingenuous is Nickel’s suggestion that Trump’s immigration enforcement would be more “effective” if he limited his administration to Obama era policies and tactics:
Under President Obama, federal immigration enforcement removed millions of people from the country by focusing on violent criminals. Resources were focused where they mattered most — violent offenders, traffickers, and people who posed real threats to public safety. Enforcement was targeted, strategic, and lawful.
If one was to take Nickel’s point at face value, the idea that there were millions of violent criminals for the Obama administration to identify and deport would indicate that illegal immigrants are committing violent crimes at a rather high rate, a figure most Democrats would deny.
Although Nickel is not the first to portray Obama as taking a hardline position on immigration, with some on the far left labeling him the “deporter-in-chief,” the actual figures tell a different story.
There are two main axes on which the facts regarding Obama’s immigration legacy are muddled: removals vs returns, and border removals vs interior removals.
If one includes the both compulsory “removals” and voluntary “returns” in the count of deportations, Obama’s numbers fell far behind the prior administration, with a total of only 5.3 million deportations compared to 10.3 million in the Bush administration, according to data compiled by the Migration Policy Institute.
Although the total number of deportations dropped, the ratio of removals to returns changed drastically from 2 million removals and 8.3 million returns under Bush to 3.1 million removals and 2.2 million returns under Obama.
So although the oft-cited number of “removals” did increase due to the change in policy of when the formal removal proceedings were pursued, the total number of noncitizens removed from the country by immigration authorities dropped.
In addition, apples-to-oranges nature of any comparison with Obama policies is further illustrated by the decline in the number of interior removals, showing that his increased removal numbers were solely due to policy changes with how illegal immigrants were handled at the border, while the number of interior removals dropped by nearly two-thirds from 181,798 in FY 2009 to 65,332 in FY 2016.
Thus, although Obama managed to pump up the numbers with “removals” at the border, his policy of limiting interior removals to those meeting more stringent criteria allowed approximately 2.5 million new illegal aliens were able to enter the country during his two terms, according to estimates by the Center for Immigration Studies.
As the Biden-Trump transition suggests, a higher number of uninvited immigrants turned away at the border may in fact be strong evidence of a lax immigration policy, as the number of encounters on the U.S.-Mexico border dropped from 137,000 in March 2024 to 7,000 in March 2025, the “fewest since at least 2000” according to the MPI.
In conclusion, although the annual number of Biden or Obama’s border turnaways may be higher that the hundreds of thousands of interior removals in the first year of Trump’s second term, it is unquestionable which is more effective in reducing the number of violators of the nation’s immigration law.
Idol vandalized at record-setting Hindu temple in Cary
Cary police looking for Hindu temple vandalism suspects - CBS17
‘Deeply disturbing’: Cary’s Hindu temple vandalized; police seeking 5 suspects - N&O
Cary police: Statue outside Hindu temple vandalized, search ongoing for suspects - WRAL
Statue vandalized in front of NC temple, Cary police investigating - ABC11
Cary Police are asking for the public’s assistance in identifying five individuals believed to be responsible for vandalizing one of the four-armed “guardian” statues outside the 7-story entrance tower to the Sri Venkateswara Temple of North Carolina.
An image shared by the police appears to show one of the arms broken off of the statue, while video captures the five suspects entering and fleeing from the area around three in the morning.
The construction of the temple began in 2007 to accommodate the rapidly increasing population of Indian immigrants, many of whom are brought over on H-1B visas by the numerous tech companies located in the area.
Although the 87-ft tower elevated the structure to that of the tallest Hindu temple in North America when it was finished and unveiled by Democrat Gov. Roy Cooper in 2022, it has since been surpassed by the much larger Swaminarayan Akshardham temple in New Jersey.
Hedingham mass shooter pleads guilty
Thompson guilty: Plea accepted in Raleigh mass shooting - WRAL
Teen pleads guilty in Raleigh’s Hedingham mass shooting. Motive remains unknown. - N&O
Teen pleads guilty in Raleigh Hedingham neighborhood mass shooting - CBS17
The 15-year-old responsible for the mass shooting in the Hedingham in east Raleigh in 2022 has now, at age eighteen, pleaded guilty to all charges including five counts of first degree murder.
Thompson’s murder spree began with shooting his 16-year-old brother and stabbing him dozens of times, and continued with the murder of four neighbors including an off-duty Raleigh Police officer.
According to evidence presented at the plea hearing, Thompson was following the ensuing manhunt on his phone as a police canine tracked him to a nearby shed; Thompson shot one of the responding officers in the knee, inflicting a career ending injury, before shooting himself in the head.
According to his defense, the self-inflicted injury has left him him with serious brain damage, suffering from seizures and unable to articulate why he committed the massacre.
Prior to the shooting, Thompson’s internet search history indicated he had researched previous mass shootings as well as how juvenile murder suspects were treated, according to prosecutors.
Thompson faces a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison, but the judge will determine whether or not that sentence will include the possibility of parole. (The 2005 Supreme Court ruled in Roper v. Simmons that death penalty for juveniles had become “cruel and unusual punishment” under the “evolving standards of decency,” and was now forbidden to states under the Incorporation of the Bill of Rights).
ICYMI:
Follow-ups
$800k settlement for family of deceased student in fatal self-defense stabbing
The Wake County school board has approved an $800,000 settlement for the family of 15-year-old Delvin Ferrell who was fatally stabbed after punching another student at Southeast Raleigh High School in 2023.
According to the family’s legal counsel, the school administration was aware of the escalating violence, which reportedly included altercations involving the alleged knifeman’s family members, but failed to act.
Video of the incident appears to show 14-year-old TyQuan General Jr. backing up in the fact of Ferrell’s assault, but immediately fighting back with a knife as soon as Ferrell threw the first punch.
According to General’s mother, she had told General’s case worker that day that she expected him to be attacked due to an incident with his older sister that had escalated.
Although both school board chair Tyler Swanson and the family’s attorney referenced the desire that a similar incident not happen again in the future in an article by the News & Observer.
The school reported 31.25 criminal acts per 1000 students in the 2023-2024 school year, nearly four times the county and state average of 7.93 and 8.10 respectively; the student population at Southeast Raleigh High School is 53% black, 37% Hispanic, and 5% white.
Previous Coverage:
Fatal stabbing at Raleigh high school - what happened? (No. 48 — Dec. 2, 2023)
Former JoCo commissioner to get new trial in child molestation case
Ex-Johnston County commissioner convicted of child sex crime gets new trial: Court - CBS17
Former NC politician wins new trial on child sex crime charge involving daughter’s friend - WRAL
Court Of Appeals Grants New Trial For Former Johnston County Commissioner Richard Braswell - JoCo Report
The North Carolina Court of Appeals has vacated the conviction of Richard Braswell, 77, who had been sentenced to 20-33 months in prison and removed from the Johnston County Board of Commissioners after a jury trial in 2024 found him guilty of one count of taking indecent liberties with a child, a Class F felony.
According to the appeals court ruling, a friend of Braswell’s daughter (referred to by the pseudonym of “Penny”) testified that Braswell had touched her inappropriately on multiple occasions after Braswell and his wife had developed a relationship with her and her brother as their “second parents” owing to their father’s suicide and their mother’s drug addiction.
Braswell’s defense challenged Penny’s testimony by pointing out inconsistencies, and suggesting that she was “upset” that Braswell had reported her mother to probation for drug use around the same time.
In response, the state was allowed to call five witnesses including Braswell’s daughter and wife (now ex-wife) to testify to Penny’s character as a truthful person.
The Appeals Court overturned the verdict on the basis of these witnesses, ruling that the trial court erred by allowing this “rehabilitative evidence bolstering the witness’s good character for truthfulness,” which should have only been permitted if the defense had “opened the door” by first attacking her character.
The error was sufficiently prejudicial for the three-judge panel to unanimously concur in vacating the conviction and remanding the case to the district court for a new trial.
Previous Coverage:
Johnston County seeking applications to replace commissioner convicted of sex crime (No. 93 — Oct. 12, 2024)
Protest Watch
Anti-ICE demonstrators target retailer
The left-wing protests against the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement have continued, with hundreds gathering in Raleigh for the one year anniversary of President Trump’s second inauguration on Tuesday; another nationwide “ICE Out for Good” protest with locations in Durham, Raleigh, Cary, and Fuquay-Varina on Friday; a boycott/protest planned at five Target locations in Raleigh and Durham on Friday; a vigil in Durham on Saturday for the armed anti-ICE activist Alex Pretti shot by Border Patrol in Minneapolis.
Target does not appear to be the subject of anti-ICE protests because of anything the massive retail corporation has done, but rather because they have not taken an active stand against immigration enforcement, and are headquartered in Minneapolis. (The Target skyscraper was broken into during one of the 2020 Black Lives Matter riots, with three arsonists convicted federally for setting fires causing nearly $1 million in damages to the building).
Protesters were encouraged by Siembra NC to show up with signs at the specified Target stores as well as disrupting operations by buying and returning salt (chosen for it’s symbolic anti-ice properties).
Pictures shared by the NC State chapter of the AFL-CIO show an attendance of about twenty at the Target on Hillsborough St. Target, with at least some of the protesters even entering the store as part of the demonstration.
