Dozens reportedly arrested in Charlotte, North Carolina, amid immigration crackdown | US immigration
A top Border Patrol commander touted dozens of arrests in North Carolina’s largest city on Sunday as Charlotte residents reported increased encounters with federal immigration agents near churches and apartment complexes.
The Trump administration has made the Democratic-led city of about 950,000 its latest target for immigration enforcement it says will combat crime, despite fierce objections from local leaders and a steady decline in crime rates in the city.
Some businesses in Charlotte chose to remain closed over the weekend, and many areas that are usually lively on Saturday afternoons were quiet as people stayed home for fear of anti-immigrant raids and searches.
Gregory Bovino, who led hundreds of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents in a similar operation in Chicago, documented some of the arrests on social media, which he said totaled more than 80 people. Bovino posted images of what the Trump administration often calls “illegal felons,” a damning description of people living in the United States without legal permission and alleged criminal records. Among them was a man who was allegedly convicted of drunk driving.
“We arrested him and removed him from the streets of Charlotte so he cannot continue to ignore our laws and drive drunk on the same roads you and your loved ones travel,” Bovino wrote to X.
Federal law enforcement’s latest effort was labeled “Operation Charlotte’s Web,” a play on the children’s book’s title but evoking images of trapped people.
At Camino, a nonprofit group serving Latino communities, some said they were afraid to leave their homes to go to school, medical appointments or work. A dental clinic run by the group was canceled nine times on Friday, spokeswoman Paola Garcia said.
“Latinos love this country. They came here to escape socialism and communism, they are hardworking and faithful people,” Garcia said. “They love their families, and it’s heartbreaking to see this community now carry this target on their backs.”
Bovino’s recent operations in Chicago and Los Angeles have triggered a series of lawsuits and investigations over questions about the use of force, including the widespread use of chemicals against protesters.
Democratic party leaders in both cities said the agents’ presence increased tensions in the community and actually led to violence.
Bovino and other Trump administration officials said the use of force was appropriate, noting the increasing threats to agents’ lives.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees CBP, did not respond to questions about the Charlotte arrests. A spokesman for Bovino did not return a request for comment Sunday.
DHS did not offer many details about who it arrested. In Chicago, for example, the agency released names and details of only some of the more than 3,000 arrests made in the metro area from September through last week.
By Sunday, reports of CBP activity in Charlotte were “overwhelming” and difficult to quantify, Greg Asciutto, executive director of community development group CharlotteEast, said in an email.
“Over the last two hours we have received numerous reports of CBP activity at churches, apartment complexes and a hardware store,” he said.
City council member-elect JD Mazuera Arias said targeting houses of worship was “very bad.”
“These are refuges for people seeking hope and faith in such dark times, who can no longer feel safe due to the gross violation of people’s right to worship,” he said.
