The ACLU North Carolina office says officials are "diligently" monitoring the immigration situation there after attendance among students at one Durham high school dropped by at least 20 percent in the wake of several teens being taken into custody by Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials.

"We're one of a few groups paying close attention to the situation," policy council representative Susanna Birdsong told Latin Post on Monday. "Ideally, we would like to see the raids stop and individuals and families stop being terrorized."

North Carolina high school students were pushed to the forefront in the national debate over immigration after Riverside High School senior Wildin "David" Guillen Acosta was recently accosted and taken into custody by ICE agents as he left his home for school.

Attendance at North Carolina Schools Declines

Since then, several media outlets have reported attendance at some schools among Latin students has dramatically dipped, with many simply electing to stay home over fear of being confronted by prowling ICE agents.

More recently, teachers and administrators at Riverside High took it upon themselves to mail out school work and letters of encouragement to Guillen Acosta, who has now been moved to a Georgia immigration detention center where he awaits possible deportation.

"He's one of my favorite kids," said math teacher Matt Miller, who has also written a letter to President Obama expressing his sentiments. "We're doing everything we can to get [Guillen Acosta] out."

Guillen Acosta arrived in America in 2014 after fleeing violence in his homeland of Honduras. Initially, he went before an immigration judge, but never returned to court amid growing fears of being deported.

In all, at least six students from North Carolina have recently been taken into custody by ICE agents. Agency sweeps have targeted teens believed to be among thousands of unaccompanied minors and mothers with small children who illegally entered the U.S. since 2014.

Durham School Board Calls for Raids to End

The Durham Human Relations Commission, the Durham City Council and the Durham County Board of Education have all now backed resolutions calling for the raids to stop and for government officials to release all the teens from the area who have been detained.

Reports are nearly half of the 20,800 cases involving unaccompanied children that have gone through immigration courts over the last two years have resulted in removal orders, meaning at least 9,700 children and teens across the country now find themselves the targets of ICE agents.

"It has to stop," said Birdsong. "It's the only thing that will calm all the fears of the people."

North Carolina is now home to the nation's sixth fastest growing Latino population, which in 2011 accounted for 8.6 percent of the state's overall population, or about half of the national average of 16 percent.

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