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A new deployment of federal agents arrived in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Saturday as part of President Donald Trump’s expanded immigration enforcement campaign, the latest effort to make mass arrests in Democratic-led cities.
“We are increasing DHS law enforcement in Charlotte to ensure Americans are safe and address public safety threats,” Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
He did not provide any details of the deployment, including how many officers were there or what their duties would be.
The arrival in Charlotte marks the latest expansion of a campaign that has already spread to some of the country’s biggest left-leaning strongholds. Since the summer, Trump has sent federal agents to Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, arguing that local leaders are failing to control crime and immigration.
The city drew federal attention after a Ukrainian refugee was stabbed to death on a light-rail train in August. The murder suspect is an American citizen, but Trump has repeatedly cited the incident as evidence of public safety failures in the city.
Charlotte’s five-time mayor Vi Lyles, Mecklenburg County Board Chairman Mark Jarrell and the county’s Board of Education Chairwoman Stephanie Sneed issued a statement Saturday saying the operations are “causing unnecessary fear and uncertainty in our community” but urged that the response to the operations be peaceful.
The Charlotte Observer reported that agents broke the window of a pickup truck, took away the driver’s keys and demanded to know if he was an “illegal immigrant.” The driver, Willie Acetuno, told the newspaper that he was born in Honduras but has been a US citizen for six years. The newspaper also reported that agents suddenly stopped seven people and demanded to know their immigration status.
Enforcement actions are also expected to ramp up in New Orleans in the coming weeks, according to reports from CBS News and The New York Times.
Local leaders in the targeted cities have pushed back, disputing the need for federal intervention and criticizing what they describe as heavy-handed tactics by federal units, who have faced repeated allegations of excessive force and warrantless arrests. Charlotte officials say violent crime in the city is down nearly 20% from last year, including a 24% drop in murders and a 19% drop in aggravated assaults, according to police data.
The deployment in Charlotte follows an operation in Chicago that led to increasingly violent confrontations between heavily armed and helmeted Border Patrol agents and local residents who opposed the effort.
Border Patrol field chief Greg Bovino, previously stationed in Southern California, has defended his agents’ actions and said such operations will continue despite public outcry and multiple lawsuits.
In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, Bovino said he and other Border Patrol agents are training in West Virginia for future operations and could be sent back to Chicago or deployed to other cities, including Charlotte.
With the assistance of Maria Paula Mijares Torres.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without any modifications to the text.
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