Overview
- Homeland Security says agents are targeting “criminal foreign irregulars” and cites nearly 1,400 immigration detainers that it says went unhonored.
- The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department and Mecklenburg County publicly distanced themselves from the operation, with city and county leaders warning it is sowing fear and uncertainty.
- Hundreds rallied in uptown Charlotte to oppose the raids, and demonstrators accused federal agents of abuses during early detentions.
- DHS has not disclosed how many agents are in the city or how many people were taken into custody, while local advocates reported arrests along South Boulevard, Central Avenue and Arrowood.
- Civil-rights groups point to Chicago court findings that 85% of detentions in a similar blitz lacked proper procedural safeguards, intensifying legal scrutiny of the Charlotte effort.