DHS targets New Orleans in latest immigration crackdown on a Democratic-led city

The Department of Homeland Security launched an immigration operation on Wednesday in New Orleans, the latest in a string of Democratic-led cities that have been singled out by the Trump administration in recent months.

It was not immediately clear how many federal agents were involved in the operation or how long it would last. A Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base public affairs officer told MS NOW this week that DHS will have access to an unoccupied building at a U.S. naval air station outside New Orleans for two months, though they did not say what the building would be used for.

Officials in New Orleans have been preparing in anticipation of a federal operation, looking to other cities as examples. Similar to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s Illinois Accountability Commission, created to hold lawbreaking agents accountable, New Orleans Mayor-elect Helena Moreno said she is launching a reporting system. She also released a resource guide.

“My first priority is to keep our community safe. The reports of due process violations and potential abuses in other cities are concerning,” Moreno said in a statement Nov. 21. “I want our community to be aware and informed of the protections available under law. We must demand accountability and that peoples’ rights are not violated.”

In a joint statement on Wednesday, the FBI and Louisiana State Police warned against any disruptions to federal enforcement efforts.

“We will not tolerate assaults on law enforcement officers in Louisiana, and there will be consequences,” said Jonathan Tapp, special agent in charge of the FBI’s New Orleans field office.

New Orleans is the latest target in the Trump administration’s anti-immigration efforts. Federal law enforcement agents have also been deployed to Los Angeles, Chicago and Charlotte, North Carolina, where they arrested hundreds of people and often engaged in violent confrontations with protesters.

The administration has cast these operations as essential to restoring public safety in Democratic-run cities that it falsely claims are overrun by violent criminals who are undocumented immigrants. But federal agents have detained immigrants without criminal backgrounds as well as American citizens, sparking accusations of racial profiling against Latino communities.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is also set to launch a sweeping operation in Minnesota this week that specifically targets Somali immigrants, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

Rosa Flores and Sara Weisfeldt contributed to this report from New Orleans.