{"id":7426,"date":"2025-11-13T22:43:03","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T22:43:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/11\/13\/trumps-next-immigration-crackdown-will-target-charlotte-north-carolina-local-sheriff-says-pbs\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T22:43:03","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T22:43:03","slug":"trumps-next-immigration-crackdown-will-target-charlotte-north-carolina-local-sheriff-says-pbs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2025\/11\/13\/trumps-next-immigration-crackdown-will-target-charlotte-north-carolina-local-sheriff-says-pbs\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s next immigration crackdown will target Charlotte, North Carolina, local sheriff says – PBS"},"content":{"rendered":"
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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) \u2014 The next city bracing for the Trump administration\u2019s immigration crackdown is Charlotte, North Carolina, which could see an influx of federal agents as early as this weekend, a county sheriff said Thursday.<\/p>\n

Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden said in a statement that two federal officials confirmed a plan for\u00a0U.S. Customs and Border Protection\u00a0agents to start an enforcement operation on Saturday or early next week in North Carolina\u2019s largest city. His office declined to identify those officials. McFadden said details about the operation haven\u2019t been disclosed, and his office hasn\u2019t been asked to assist.<\/p>\n

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin declined to comment, saying, \u201cEvery day, DHS enforces the laws of the nation across the country. We do not discuss future or potential operations.\u201d<\/p>\n

WATCH:<\/strong> Federal judge sharply criticizes immigration crackdown tactics in Chicago<\/a><\/p>\n

President\u00a0Donald Trump\u00a0has defended sending the military and immigration agents into Democratic-run cities like\u00a0Los Angeles,\u00a0Chicago\u00a0and even the nation\u2019s capital, saying the\u00a0unprecedented operations\u00a0are needed to fight crime and carry out his mass deportation agenda. Charlotte is another such Democratic stronghold, and the state will have one of the most hotly contested U.S. Senate races in the country next year.<\/p>\n

Activists, faith leaders, and local and state officials in the city had already begun preparing the immigrant community, sharing information about resources and attempting to calm fears. A call organized by the group CharlotteEAST had nearly 500 people on it Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe purpose of this call was to create a mutual aid network. It was an information resource sharing session,\u201d said City Councilmember-Elect JD Mazuera Arias.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s get as many people as possible aware of the helpers and who the people are that are doing the work that individuals can plug into, either as volunteers to donate to or those who are in need of support can turn to,\u201d said CharlotteEAST executive director Greg Asciutto.<\/p>\n

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department also sought to clarify its role, saying it \u201chas no authority to enforce federal immigration laws,\u201d and is not involved in planning or carrying out these enforcement operations.<\/p>\n

Mazuera Arias and others said they had already begun receiving reports of what appeared to be plainclothes officers in neighborhoods and on local transit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is some of the chaos that we also saw in Chicago,\u201d state Sen. Caleb Theodros, who represents Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, said Thursday.<\/p>\n

Theodros was one of several local and state officials who issued a statement of solidarity this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore than 150,000 foreign-born residents live in our city, contributing billions to our economy and enriching every neighborhood with culture, hard work, and hope,\u201d it read, adding: \u201cWe will stand together, look out for one another, and ensure that fear never divides the city we all call home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol chief who led Customs and Border Protection\u2019s recent Chicago operation and was also central to the immigration crackdown in Los Angeles, had been coy about where agents would target next.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration\u2019s so-called \u201cOperation Midway Blitz\u201d in the Chicago area was announced in early September,\u00a0over the objections\u00a0of local leaders and after weeks of threats on the Democratic stronghold.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> In Chicago, an immense show of force signals a sharp escalation in Trump immigration crackdown<\/a><\/p>\n

It started as a handful of arrests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in the suburbs but eventually included hundreds of Customs and Border Protection agents whose tactics grew increasingly aggressive. More than 3,200 people suspected of violating immigration laws have been arrested across Chicago and its many suburbs dipping into Indiana.<\/p>\n

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees both immigration agencies, has offered few details on the arrests, aside from publicizing a handful of people who were living in the U.S. without legal permission and had criminal records.<\/p>\n

The group Indivisible Charlotte and the Carolina Migrant Network will be conducting a training for volunteers on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cTraining people how to recognize legitimate ICE agents, versus obviously those who don\u2019t look legitimate,\u201d said Tony Siracusa, spokesman for Indvisible Charlotte. \u201cThey\u2019re not always wearing vests that say \u2018ICE.\u2019 And what your rights are.\u201d<\/p>\n

The groups will also discuss areas where they can conduct \u201cpop up protests.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, we\u2019re not doing anything that is going to encourage people to go get arrested by federal agents,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Siracusa said locals are \u201cnot freaking out, but very definitely concerned. Nobody asked for this help. Nobody asked for this, at least no one of any official capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Breed reported from Wake Forest, North Carolina. Associated Press writer Sophia Tareen in Chicago contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) \u2014 The next city bracing for the Trump administration\u2019s immigration crackdown is Charlotte, North Carolina, which could see an influx of federal agents as early as this weekend, a county sheriff said Thursday. Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden said in a statement that two federal officials confirmed a plan for\u00a0U.S. Customs and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7427,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}