CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Federal authorities confirmed a surge in immigration enforcement in North Carolina’s largest city Saturday, as agents were seen making arrests at multiple locations.
“We are surging DHS law enforcement to Charlotte to ensure Americans are safe and public safety threats are removed,” said Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in a statement.
Local leaders, including Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles, criticized the actions, saying they “are causing unnecessary fear and uncertainty.” A joint statement, also signed by County Commissioner Mark Jerrell and Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board member Stephanie Sneed, emphasized: “We want people in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County to know we stand with all residents who simply want to go about their lives.”
The federal government had not publicly announced the operation beforehand. Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden said earlier this week that two federal officials had informed him that Customs agents would be arriving soon.
Paola Garcia, a spokesperson for Camino, a bilingual nonprofit supporting families in Charlotte, said she and her colleagues have noticed an increase in Border Patrol and ICE activity since Friday.
“Basically, what we’re seeing is that a lot of people are being pulled over,” Garcia said. “I even saw several stops on the way to work yesterday, and community members have reported more ICE and Border Patrol presence across Charlotte.”
Willy Aceituno, a Honduran-born U.S. citizen, said he witnessed Border Patrol agents chasing people on his way to work.
“I saw a lot of Latinos running. I wondered why they were running. There were many Border Patrol agents chasing them,” Aceituno said. The 46-year-old Charlotte resident said he was stopped twice by agents. During the second stop, he said, they broke his car window, forced him out of the vehicle, and threw him to the ground.
“I told them, ‘I’m an American citizen,’” Aceituno said. “They wanted to know where I was born or didn’t believe I was a citizen.” He was eventually released after presenting documentation proving his U.S. citizenship.
Charlotte, home to over 900,000 residents, is racially diverse and includes more than 150,000 foreign-born residents, according to local officials.
Local organizations have responded with trainings to inform immigrants of their rights and are considering peaceful protests. President Donald Trump’s administration has defended federal enforcement actions in cities like Los Angeles and Chicago as necessary for enforcing immigration laws and fighting crime.
Democratic Gov. Josh Stein, whose state legislature is Republican-led, said Friday that the “vast majority” of those detained in these operations have no criminal convictions, and some are U.S. citizens. He urged residents to record any “inappropriate behavior” and report it to local law enforcement.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department has emphasized that it is not involved in federal immigration enforcement.