The latest city bracing for the Trump administration’s illegal immigration crackdown is Charlotte, North Carolina, which could see an influx of federal agents as early as this weekend, a county sheriff said Thursday.
Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden said in a statement that two federal officials confirmed a plan for U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents to start an enforcement operation Saturday or early next week in North Carolina’s largest city. His office declined to identify those officials. McFadden said details about the operation haven’t been disclosed and his office hasn’t been asked to assist.
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin declined to comment, saying, “Every day, DHS enforces the laws of the nation across the country. We do not discuss future or potential operations.”
President Donald Trump has defended sending the military and illegal immigration agents into Democratic-run cities like Los Angeles, Chicago and even the nation’s capital, saying the operations are needed to fight crime and carry out his mass deportation agenda.
The Trump administration has used this summer’s fatal stabbing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutskahas on a light-rail train in Charlotte as proof that Democratic-led cities fail to protect their residents from criminal illegal immigrants and violent crime. A man with a lengthy criminal record has been charged with murder.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department has clarified that it “has no authority to enforce federal immigration laws,” and is not involved in planning or carrying out these operations.\
Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol chief who led Customs and Border Protection’s recent Chicago operation and was central to the illegal immigration crackdown in Los Angeles, had been coy about where agents would target next.
The Trump administration’s “Operation Midway Blitz ” began in the Chicago area in early September, over the objections of local leaders. It initially involved limited arrests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in the suburbs but expanded to include hundreds of Customs and Border Protection agents.
Their tactics grew increasingly aggressive. More than 3,200 people suspected of violating immigration laws have been arrested across the region.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees both immigration agencies, has offered few details on the arrests beyond highlighting a handful of people who were living in the U.S. illegally and had criminal records.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.