US Federal authorities conducted raids on Saturday in the banking hub of Charlotte, North Carolina, the Department of Homeland Security said, expanding its crackdown on illegal immigration to the U.S. South.
“We are surging DHS law enforcement to Charlotte to ensure Americans are safe and public safety threats are removed,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “There have been too many victims of criminal illegal aliens.”
DHS, which oversees U.S. Customs and Border Protection, did not provide details on the operation, including how many law enforcement officers took part or the number of people detained.
But the agency blamed North Carolina officials, saying their refusal to detain suspects sought by immigration authorities led to Saturday’s operation.
DHS said North Carolina has not honored almost 1,400 “detainers” — requests by immigration officials to hold suspects for up to 48 hours beyond the time they would ordinarily be released.
Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles, a Democrat, and city commissioners on Saturday urged people to seek help, including from the Charlotte and Mecklenburg County Police Department, which is not participating in the federal raids.
“There are a number of organizations standing ready to assist individuals seeking legal guidance on immigration matters,” the city officials said in a statement.
The raids caused fear and uncertainty in Charlotte because similar operations in other cities resulted in people without criminal records being detained, they said.
Local leaders earlier this week said they were informed that a CBP operation would start on Saturday. U.S. Representative Alma Adams, a Democrat, said on Thursday she was “extremely concerned” about Border Patrol and ICE personnel coming to Charlotte.
“Charlotte’s immigrant community is a proud part of the Queen City, and I will not stand by and watch my constituents be intimidated or harassed,” Adams posted on X.
Gregory Bovino, a U.S. Border Patrol official who has led Trump’s aggressive crackdown in Chicago since September, responded to Adams that she and North Carolina Governor Josh Stein, a Democrat, “should learn the difference between an illegal alien & an immigrant.”
Since President Donald Trump, a Republican, took office, ICE has dramatically increased its detainer requests, which rose to a daily average of 700 through early June, from an average of about 400 a day during the same time period last year, according to a Reuters analysis of ICE data collected by UC Berkeley’s Deportation Data Project.
Trump has focused on ramping up immigration arrests in Democratic-led cities, with major pushes in recent months in Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington.
Border Patrol agents in Chicago have helped increase immigration arrests, but protesters and some residents say they have used excessive force, including deploying tear gas in busy urban areas.
A Chicago-based federal judge barred immigration agents from using some aggressive tactics and ordered them to wear body cameras after videos cited in a lawsuit showed violent clashes with protesters.
Source: Reuters