Federal immigration officers begin sweep in Charlotte, North Carolina | North Carolina
Federal immigration officers on Saturday launched a sweep in Charlotte, North Carolina’s largest city, federal officials confirmed.
Local media reports said a church in east Charlotte was among the locations targeted by masked federal agents, and about 15 to 20 church members were arrested while doing yard work on the property.
The pastor of the church, who did not want to introduce himself or his church, said: Charlotte Observer The agents reportedly did not ask any questions and did not show identification before taking the man away. The priest said the man’s wife and child were in church at the time.
“Everybody’s scared right now. Everybody,” he said. “One of the men at the immigration office said he was going to arrest one of the other men at the church. He pushed him.”
Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin told The Associated Press that federal agents “deployed DHS law enforcement to Charlotte to ensure Americans are safe and public safety threats are eliminated.”
“Americans should be able to live without fear that violent, illegal aliens will harm them, their families or their neighbors,” McLaughlin added.
Local officials, including mayor Vi Lyles, criticized such actions: saying in a statement They “cause unnecessary fear and uncertainty”.
“We want people in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County to know that we stand with all residents who just want to get on with their lives,” the statement said.
In another interaction with federal agents in East Charlotte, two workers were hanging Christmas lights in Rheba Hamilton’s front yard when two Customs and Border Protection agents approached.
He said someone tried to speak Spanish to the workers. They did not respond and the agents left without making the arrest.
Hamilton, 73, who recorded the encounter on his mobile phone, said: “This is really worrying, but the point is, there are two people trying to make a living in my garden. They haven’t broken any laws and that’s what concerns me.”
Hamilton said the agents were “looking for easy game. There was no one here with a TV camera, no one protesting, just two guys working in the yard and an old white woman with white hair sitting on her porch drinking her coffee.”
Willy Aceituno, a 46-year-old Honduran-born U.S. citizen, said he saw “a lot of Latinos running away” and being chased by “a lot of border patrol agents” on his way to work Saturday.
Aceituno said he was stopped twice by agents. He said that in the second encounter, he was forced out of the vehicle by the agents who broke his car’s window.
“I told them, ‘I’m an American citizen,'” he told the Associated Press. “They wanted to know where I was born or they didn’t believe I was an American citizen.” Aceituno said he was taken to a border patrol vehicle and later released after showing documents proving his citizenship.
Rumors had been circulating for days that county sheriff Garry McFadden said a sweep of the area was imminent. in question He said two federal officials told him customs officials would arrive soon.
Paola Garcia of Camino, a Charlotte nonprofit serving bilingual families, said she and her colleagues have observed an increase in stops since Friday.
“We’re basically seeing a lot of people getting pulled over,” Garcia said.
City council member J.D. Mazuera Arias said businesses in the area, including a local Latin American bakery, had closed before the raids.
“This is customs and border patrol. We are not a border city, nor are we a border state. So why are they here?” he said. “This is a gross violation of constitutional rights not only for immigrants but also for U.S. citizens.”
The vast majority of people detained in such operations have no criminal convictions and some are citizens, Democratic governor Josh Stein said Friday. Stein urged people to record any “inappropriate behavior” and report it to local law enforcement.
But Mecklenburg County Republican party chairman Kyle Kirby said Democratic officials had “abandoned their duty to maintain law and order” and “demonized the brave men and women of federal law enforcement.”
“Let’s be clear: President Trump has been tasked with protecting our borders in the 2024 elections,” Kirby said in a statement. “Individuals who are in this country legally have nothing to fear.”
The raids on Charlotte come three months after the Trump administration described the city as an example of a Democrat-led city that did not do enough to protect citizens following the fatal stabbing of Ukrainian immigrant Iryna Zarutska aboard a Charlotte light rail train.
The sweeps follow similar immigration enforcement operations across the US, including in Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland and New York City.
The east Charlotte church where Saturday’s raid took place has suspended services and gardening until congregants feel safe to gather again, 15-year-old Miguel Vazquez told the Charlotte Observer.
“We thought the church was safe and nothing would happen,” Vazquez said. “But it happened.”
