The Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin issued contradictory statements regarding immigration enforcement in Charlotte, North Carolina. One statement said the operation was not ending, while another declined to discuss future operations. Meanwhile, a network of observers, including the sheriff's office, had been tracking the movements of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents since their arrival over a week ago.
Charlotte's resistance to the immigration surge has taken a characteristically Southern 'bless your heart' approach, a phrase that can convey quiet condescension. Grassroots groups such as Siembra NC and Indivisible have led the movement, focusing on intensifying agents' discomfort while mobilising a widespread early-warning system for immigrants.
Thousands of volunteers were trained to observe and report on ICE activity even before the enhanced enforcement was announced, according to Andrew Willis Garcés of Siembra NC. When CBP arrived, volunteers shifted to neighbourhood patrols, following vehicles and honking horns as warnings. Two women were arrested by border patrol agents for honking, who smashed a window to reach them.
Activists have discerned patterns in enforcement, such as early-morning targeting of work vehicles. They tracked CBP and ICE presence at hotels and searched parking lots for staging areas. When CBP left Charlotte, Siembra NC published video evidence of a 47-vehicle convoy heading to Atlanta.
The official response from city and county government has been muted, with anodyne statements and instructions to minimise cooperation. Sheriff Garry McFadden, elected on a pledge of noncooperation with ICE, initially announced CBP had left, contradicting federal statements. This cautiousness reflects North Carolina's near 50-50 political split and Republican supermajority in the state legislature.
