Federal immigration officers launched a major enforcement sweep across Charlotte over the weekend, prompting protests, strained political tensions and fresh criticism of the Trump administration’s tactics in Democrat led cities.
Officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol detained multiple people on the streets, part of a wider operation the Department of Homeland Security has named Operation Charlotte’s Web.
Witnesses reported chaotic scenes as officers moved through neighbourhoods with little warning. Willy Aceituno, a Honduran born American citizen, told the Associated Press he saw groups of Latino residents running as agents pursued them.
His footage shows officers smashing the window of his car and forcing him out before releasing him after verifying his citizenship.
The Department of Homeland Security said it was increasing resources in Charlotte to target what it called criminal migrants protected by local sanctuary policies.
Federal officials said the city had declined nearly fourteen hundred immigration detainer requests. The agency said the operation was intended to remove threats to public safety.
Local leaders sharply rejected that characterisation. Mayor Vi Lyles and senior county officials said the operation had caused unnecessary fear and was damaging trust between residents and law enforcement.
They stressed that the city’s police department had no role in planning or carrying out the federal sweep.
Hundreds gathered in First Ward Park on Saturday chanting support for migrant families. Rights groups and several media outlets reported that agents detained American citizens, and the Charlotte Observer said masked officers entered a church and detained one person as others fled.
North Carolina Governor Josh Stein warned that broad sweeps risked stoking division rather than focusing on violent offenders. He noted that in other cities many of those detained in similar operations had no criminal convictions.
Federal officials have not said how long the operation will continue. Similar actions in other cities have lasted several days or, in some cases, weeks.
