A taut gathering, a prayer circle it seemed, formed Tuesday morning under a towering pin oak outside the old Guilford County Courthouse.

Those assembled included clergy and members of Siembra NC, an immigrant-rights group. This coalition of concern was brought together by a confluence of events the previous day.

A 23-year-old Guatemalan, Marlon Ivan Mendez, had been swept up Monday outside a laundromat while his very pregnant partner, a U.S. citizen from Winston-Salem, said she watched helplessly.

Mendez’ arrest, presumably made by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents -- the regional office in Atlanta has yet to publicly acknowledge that a roundup had even occurred -- roiled parts of the Greensboro community.

Naturally, activists, ministers and a handful of locals worried about h

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