Federal authorities expanded their mass immigration sweeps to Raleigh, the capital city of North Carolina, on Tuesday, local officials said, after a weekend where more than 100 people were arrested in Charlotte.
“It is the city of Raleigh’s understanding that the border patrol and ICE are already in Raleigh,” said the mayor, Janet Cowell, to local media, though she added city authorities did not know how many agents would be involved in the surge.
She said local police won’t participate in immigration arrests. “We are committed to protecting our residents and following the law,” she said in a statement quoted by the Associated Press.
The Democrat governor of the state, Josh Stein, a critic of the operations, posted on social media that his office was aware of the reports of the impending Raleigh operations. “To the people of Raleigh,” he wrote, “if you see something wrong, record it and report it to local law enforcement. Let’s keep each other safe.”
Stein also criticized the Department of Homeland Security operation in Charlotte. “Stop targeting people simply going about their lives because of the color of their skin, as you are doing in Charlotte.”
Charlotte was the most recent target for immigration authorities who have launched high-profile operations in Los Angeles, Washington DC, and Chicago. DHS reported its agents made more than 130 arrests over the weekend in what the department dubbed “Charlotte’s Web”, and claimed it arrested 44 of the “the worst of the worst”.
Violent scenes of CBP arrests were posted on social media, including an incident filmed from inside a car – by a man who had documentation but was arrested and later released – of an immigration agent smashing a window.
The Trump administration has framed its immigration crackdown as an effort against violent crime, but crime has dropped in Raleigh, the mayor said.
Meanwhile, in Tennessee, a Davidson county judge ruled against the Republican governor’s decision to deploy the state national guard in support of Trump’s federal crackdown. The judge issued a temporary injunction against the deployment, though she put it on hold to allow for an appeal.
The Tennessee case is distinct from the way operations have unfolded in other cities where Trump has deployed or tried to deploy the national guard, because it involves a Republican governor backing Trump. The other states – Oregon, California and Illinois – have Democratic governors, and have led to federal lawsuits. In Washington DC, Trump does have command of the national guard.
