Authorities monitor online criticism of New Orleans immigration crackdown | ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement)
State and federal officials are closely monitoring online criticism and protests against the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants in New Orleans, monitoring message boards around the clock for threats against agents while compiling regular updates on public “sentiment” about the arrests, according to law enforcement records reviewed by The Associated Press.
The intelligence gathering comes even though authorities have released few details about the initial arrests made as part of the “Catahoula Crisis” last week; This has led to calls for greater transparency from local officials who say they have been kept in the dark about nearly every aspect of the operation.
“Opinions online are still mixed, with some supporting the operations and some opposing them,” he said in a briefing distributed to law enforcement early Sunday. Earlier bulletins noted “a combination of groups urging the public to register ICE and Border Patrol” as well as “additional locations where agents may find immigrants.”
Immigration authorities insisted the sweeps targeted “criminal illegal aliens.” But law enforcement records detail the criminal histories of less than a third of the 38 people arrested in the first two days of the operation.
Local leaders told the AP that those figures, which law enforcement had been warned not to distribute to the media, undermined the stated purpose of the collection. They have also expressed concern that online surveillance could restrict freedom of expression, as authorities threaten to charge anyone who interferes with immigration enforcement.
“This confirms what we already knew, which is that this is not about public safety, it’s about inciting chaos, fear and terrorizing communities,” said Royce Duplessis, a Democratic Louisiana state senator who represents New Orleans. “This further reinforces the sick stereotypical narrative that immigrants are violent.”
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not respond to questions about its intelligence collection and referred the AP to an earlier story touting “dozens of arrests.” The agency has not made any statements about the accounting or criminal histories of the detained detainees.
DHS has publicly released details of only six arrests resulting from the operation — all of people with criminal histories — including one man it said was unambiguously found guilty of “murder” and another found guilty of sexual assault. The agency, which has several hundred agents working in southeast Louisiana, said it aims to make at least 5,000 arrests in the region in an operation expected to last up to two months.
“Americans should be able to live without fear that violent, illegal aliens will harm them, their families or their neighbors,” said DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin.
DHS and Republican leaders have framed the crackdown as targeting the most violent criminals. But records reviewed by the AP find that only nine of the 38 people arrested in the early days had criminal histories beyond traffic violations; This is information that intelligence bulletins warn “should not be distributed to the media.”
New Orleans city council president JP Morrell said the stated goals of the operation to apprehend violent criminals did not match the reality of what was happening.
“There was literally no information given about the city of New Orleans,” Morrell said. “If their goal was to come here and strengthen existing law enforcement, go after violent criminals or people with extensive criminal histories, why wouldn’t you be more transparent about who you’re arresting and why?”
The raid appeared to be a trap focused on people with brown skin, Morrell and other officials said, citing viral videos of encounters such as masked agents chasing a 22-year-old U.S. citizen returning home from the grocery store.
Law enforcement officers carefully monitor such images and public reaction. “For some supporters, videos featuring the sounds of children crying in the background as their parents are arrested are heavy on their hearts,” it said in a briefing.
The records also shed new light on cooperation between state and federal authorities in an operation welcomed by Louisiana’s Republican governor, Jeff Landry. Both the FBI and Customs and Border Protection (CPB) placed agents at the Louisiana State Analytics and Fusion Exchange, an intelligence and data-sharing center that closely monitors discussions on Reddit, the online forum used by locals to exchange information about immigration raids.
Some “went so far as to accuse agents of racially profiling particularly Hispanic areas,” a briefing said. Another flagged social media post suggested agents were “not fulfilling their mission of solely targeting criminal immigrants.” Third, he noted that critics of the raids “bring up past hurricanes and the work migrants did in their aftermath.”
“Chat is slower throughout the night, mostly just commenting on posts from earlier in the day,” says one of the briefers. “When daylight comes and the agencies retreat, conversations and new posts will begin again.”
