Border Patrol has ended its immigration enforcement operation in Charlotte, North Carolina, nearly a week after the agency first deployed agents to the state’s most populated city, the Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office told NBC News Thursday.
According to an official at the Department of Homeland Security, Border Patrol has been in contact with state and local officials in Louisiana as it plans to mobilize to New Orleans for its next operation.
A senior DHS official tells NBC News the Border Patrol agents deployed to New Orleans will not begin operations until after the Thanksgiving holiday, though prep work may begin ahead of time.
The Associated Press reported this week that Customs and Border Protection would begin a new operation targeting Louisiana and Mississippi, with troops preparing there as soon as Friday for an operation to begin on Dec. 1, according to documents obtained by the AP and three people familiar with the operation. The goal is to arrest 5,000 people who are in the country illegally in the coming weeks in a move the agency has dubbed “Swamp Sweep,” according to the AP.
Two DHS officials who spoke with NBC News said it is unclear when Border Patrol will wind down the operation the agency kicked off in Charlotte on Saturday. One official said that the start date for the operation in New Orleans is unknown but that it could begin any day.
In Charlotte this week, the operation dubbed “Charlotte’s Web” by DHS resulted in the immigration arrests of more than 250 people. The arrests put many residents and business owners in the state’s largest city on edge, sparking fears among immigrant families and prompting small businesses to shut down due to concerns around Border Patrol activity.
The deployments in Charlotte were the latest in a string of high-profile immigration enforcement actions targeting specific cities across the country, such as Los Angeles; Portland, Oregon; and, most recently, Chicago, where hundreds of the people arrested did not have criminal histories, according to the Chicago Tribune.
As agents prepare to leave Charlotte, one of the officials said Border Patrol may return later to that city to continue its immigration crackdown.
