Federal immigration authorities have expanded their mass enforcement operations to Raleigh, the capital of North Carolina, local officials confirmed on Tuesday. Mayor Janet Cowell said border patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are already in the city, though she added that city authorities did not know how many would be involved.
Mayor Cowell emphasised that local police will not participate in immigration arrests. 'We are committed to protecting our residents and following the law,' she stated, as reported by the Associated Press. The operations follow a weekend sweep in Charlotte, where more than 130 people were arrested, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). DHS claimed that 44 of those arrested were 'the worst of the worst'.
North Carolina's Democratic governor, Josh Stein, a critic of the federal operations, took to social media to urge residents to record any wrongdoing and report it to local law enforcement. 'Stop targeting people simply going about their lives because of the colour of their skin, as you are doing in Charlotte,' Stein wrote. Violent scenes from the Charlotte arrests surfaced on social media, including an incident where an agent smashed a car window to detain a man who had documentation and was later released.
Mayor Cowell noted that crime has dropped in Raleigh, countering the Trump administration's framing of the crackdown as a fight against violent crime. Meanwhile, in Tennessee, a Davidson County judge issued a temporary injunction against the Republican governor's decision to deploy the state national guard in support of the federal operations. The judge put the injunction on hold to allow for an appeal, marking a distinct legal challenge as Tennessee has a Republican governor, unlike other states with Democratic governors that have faced federal lawsuits.
