U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested more than 130 people in Charlotte, North Carolina, over the weekend, the first two days of the Trump administration’s latest immigration crackdown on a Democratic-led city.
Rob Brisley, a spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said Monday that those detained “have all broken the immigration laws of our country.” Border Patrol Cmdr. Greg Bovino said in a post on X that 81 people alone were arrested within about five hours on Saturday. He also shared photos of people arrested who he claimed were undocumented and had criminal records.
As it has done in Chicago and other cities that have seen enforcement surges, the agency listed assorted crimes it says those detained have been investigated for in the past, ranging from aggravated assault to shoplifting. Brisley’s statement did not specify how many of those detained had records of violent crime or how many of those investigations resulted in convictions.
The Trump administration has targeted blue cities as a centerpiece of its immigration crackdown, making violent arrests at schools, stores, courthouses and more in an aggressive show of force. Although federal officials have repeatedly framed these immigration sweeps as targeting undocumented immigrants with criminal records, scores of immigrants without criminal backgrounds as well as American citizens have been detained and reported being mistreated.
The agency is calling the latest operation “Charlotte’s Web,” the title of a popular children’s book, sparking backlash from the author’s granddaughter.
Local officials had warned last week of the impending federal crackdown and sought to assuage fears. Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles said in a statement Monday that she was “deeply concerned with many of the videos I’ve seen,” adding that city leaders are providing resources and support for residents. Several businesses were temporarily shuttered over the weekend, and protests broke out over the raids. Across the city, residents recounted scenes of fear and confusion, including one raid on a church that sent congregants fleeing into the woods. “We’ve seen masked, heavily armed agents in paramilitary garb, driving unmarked cars, targeting American citizens based on their skin color, racially profiling and picking up random people in parking lots and off of our sidewalks,” North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein said in a video Sunday. “This is not making us safer.”
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News. Recommended
