Refuting mayor, U.S. says operation in Charlotte goes on

DURHAM, N.C. – Hours after local officials in Charlotte, North Carolina, announced that the federal Border Patrol operation in the city had ended, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said Thursday that it was neither over nor “ending anytime soon.”

Mayor Vi Lyles and Garry McFadden, the sheriff of Mecklenburg County, both Democrats, had said earlier Thursday that it appeared the operation, which began last Saturday, had concluded. The sheriff cited unnamed federal officials in his statement, noting that Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a separate agency under the Department of Homeland Security, would continue to operate in the county “as they always have.”

But Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for homeland security, said in a statement about two hours later that there was no such conclusion to the Border Patrol operation, which has been named Charlotte’s Web, a reference to the children’s book.

The conflicting statements appeared to make little difference to immigrants without legal status in Charlotte: Many stayed in their homes Thursday, fearful of stepping outside. Scores of businesses remained closed, and construction sites were empty.

As of Thursday afternoon, the mayor’s office had not commented on McLaughlin’s statement. Lyles had previously written on social media that she was “relieved for our community and the residents, businesses and all those who were targeted and impacted by this intrusion.”

Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat, sent a letter Friday to Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, asking, among other things, how long the operation would last, how much the operation had cost the federal government and in which facilities North Carolinians were being held. He also asked for a comprehensive list of all people arrested or detained, along with details about them.

For nearly a week, the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration has centered on Charlotte, North Carolina’s largest city. Moderately blue, known for its banking industry and far from any borders, Charlotte has rapidly grown in recent years and become a hub for international migration, especially from Latin America.

Past Border Patrol operations in Los Angeles and Chicago drew criticisms over their aggressive tactics and the large number of arrests of people who had no serious criminal histories. Those criticisms had been echoed in Charlotte.

Local officials, residents and advocates for immigrants said the agents’ presence – in paramilitary uniforms, masks and unmarked SUVs – had only provoked fear in immigrant neighborhoods. Many of them accused the agents of profiling Latinos. Some U.S. citizens were briefly detained, sometimes forcefully.

But the operation also laid bare the tensions that had been simmering for years in Charlotte over immigration and crime. Republican officials praised the effort, which they said had made the city safer.

The Department of Homeland Security said more than 370 people had been arrested in the operation. At least 44 of the people had criminal records, the agency said.

It remained unclear when the operation in Charlotte would end. Homeland security did not respond to a follow-up question seeking clarity.

This week, agents had also been deployed to the Research Triangle region in the state – which includes the Democrat-run cities of Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill – where an immigrant advocacy group said that at least a dozen people had been detained.

Homeland security has not said if any of them had criminal histories, but local immigration lawyers said several did not.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.