TEXAS — Illegal entries into the United States from Mexico are at a historic low. The presence of U.S. Border Patrol agents along the southern border has decreased with the lull in migrant crossings. Recently, those agents have been reassigned.
This week, for the first time in President Donald Trump’s ongoing immigration crackdown, members of the Border Patrol are in North Carolina assisting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
On Saturday, federal border agents hit the ground running in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Spectrum News in Charlotte captured video of agents at a Home Depot detaining and then arresting people suspected of entering the country illegally.
The recent presence of Border Patrol agents in the East Coast state spurred controversy and protests. In another video captured by reporters, angry crowds were screaming at federal agents, “Go home!”
North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat, talked about the presence of agents in his state, saying he wants violent criminal migrants removed. Stein said Border Patrol and ICE agents are not going after the worst of the worst and that agents have detained U.S. citizens while profiling people who are brown as cause to investigate their immigration status.
“This is not making us safer,” said Stein. “It’s stoking fear and dividing our community.”
According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), more than 200 undocumented immigrants have been rounded up during the first few days of “Operation Charlotte’s Web.”
On Tuesday, Raleigh Mayor Janet Cowell announced that U.S. Customs and Border Control agents will soon be deployed to her North Carolina city.
Also on Tuesday, Stein told reporters that federal agents have not shared how long or where the immigration crackdown will continue.
According to the Associated Press, federal agents in Charlotte smashed the window of a U.S. citizen’s truck before pulling him to the ground. Also, tens of thousands of public school students have been reported absent, and some businesses in immigrant communities have closed as agents patrolled the streets.
According to data released by DHS and then publicly shared by the Deportation Data Project, ICE has arrested 138,068 immigrants nationwide through the first seven months of this year — with 24% of those arrests happening in Texas.
The data also shows that daily arrests doubled from 85 a day under President Joe Biden to 176 a day under Trump.
While talking to a reporter, Stein said agents have been seen “driving around Charlotte in unmarked cars wearing paramilitary garb, masks, stopping people on the street randomly based on the color of their skin. This is not promoting safety in our communities. The people of North Carolina deserve to be safe.”
