Federal agents began fanning out across immigrant enclaves in Charlotte, N.C., on Saturday and arresting people, expanding the Trump administration’s crackdown to another Democrat-led city.
Charlotte, the state’s largest city that has rapidly grown and diversified in the last decade, had been bracing all week for the arrival of U.S. Border Patrol, led by Gregory Bovino, a senior Border Patrol official who was in charge of similar operations in Chicago and Los Angeles earlier this year that drew significant criticism over their aggressive tactics.
On Saturday, Charlotte’s immigrant hubs were largely deserted as word spread that federal agents were in town.
El Salvadoran restaurants were closed. Street vendors who usually sell mangos on weekends were absent. And residents shared videos of masked Border Patrol agents arriving at small businesses and Home Depots across the city, searching for people.
It was not immediately clear how many undocumented immigrants had been detained as of early Saturday afternoon, but the reach of the operation, dubbed “Charlotte’s Web” by the agency, appeared to be spreading.
At about 12:40 p.m., Mr. Bovino, flanked by more than a dozen agents, was seen walking through a Home Depot parking lot on North Wendover Road. Many residents took out their phone and began recording. One woman asked what they were doing in Charlotte, in a store where people were simply shopping. An agent, who was masked, replied that they were searching for criminals. They were at the store for about five minutes and then drove off.
The Border Patrol’s presence in Charlotte, a relatively moderate Democrat-led city more than a thousand miles away from the Mexican border, has confounded many residents and local officials, who say they were blindsided by reports of their arrival.
In a joint statement, local officials, including Mayor Vi Lyles and Mark Jerrell, the chair of the Mecklenburg County commissioners, said that the operation was “causing unnecessary fear and uncertainty in our community as recent operations in other cities have resulted in people without criminal records being detained and violent protests being the result of unwarranted actions.”
Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat, said in a statement that residents should remain peaceful in their protests, including one on Saturday afternoon that drew hundreds of people wrapped in Mexican flags.
“Public safety is the top priority for all of us in government — and that means fighting crime, not stoking fear or causing division,” Mr. Stein said. “We should all focus on arresting violent criminals and drug traffickers. Unfortunately, that’s not always what we have seen with ICE and Border Patrol Agents in Chicago and elsewhere around the country.”
Kyle Kirby, the chair of the Mecklenburg County Republican Party, said in a statement that “instead of supporting federal law enforcement efforts that keep our community safe,” Democratic officials had “chosen to inflame fear and spread misinformation.”
“They are demonizing the brave men and women of federal law enforcement for doing their jobs,” Mr. Kirby said. “Vilifying officers who risk their lives to enforce our nation’s laws erodes public trust and puts those serving on the front lines in greater danger.”
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg region, which has a bustling banking economy and a booming construction industry, has become one of the fastest growing areas in the country, and much of that has been driven by international migration, especially from Latin America. More than 50,000 immigrants have moved to the county since 2020. There are about 190,000 foreign-born residents in Mecklenburg County. The Hispanic population in the region has increased 22 percent since 2020.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement that agents were pursuing criminals to protect public safety.
“Americans should be able to live without fear of violent criminal illegal aliens hurting them, their families, or their neighbors,” the statement read. “We are surging DHS law enforcement to Charlotte to ensure Americans are safe and public safety threats are removed.”
Greg Asciutto, the executive director of CharlotteEAST, a community development organization that serves an area with a high population of immigrants, said that they had received reports of people being detained outside businesses and others being questioned by agents as they set up holiday decorations.
Willy Aceituno, 46, said in an interview that he was heading to breakfast Saturday morning, before driving to a construction job, when agents approached him in a parking lot. They asked him if he was a United States citizen, he said. Mr. Aceituno, who has lived in Charlotte for 24 years and became a citizen around six years ago, engaged in a playful back-and-forth with the agents, in an effort to provide cover for migrants in the area who may not have had documentation.
“You want to take breakfast with me, I’ll pay,” said he told one agent. After 15 minutes of stalling, Mr. Aceituno, who is originally from Honduras, confirmed he was a citizen. The agents let him go. As he settled into his vehicle, another group of Border Patrol agents approached. They banged on his window, he said, demanding he provide documentation.
“I got papers,” he said.
Then, Mr. Aceituno said an agent broke the driver’s side window of his red Ford pickup and removed him from the truck. He was placed in handcuffs and put inside of a vehicle, where he was detained for about 20 minutes before agents let him go, he said.
“It’s terrible,” Mr. Aceituno said.
It remains unclear how long the operation in Charlotte will last. The federal agents are expected to head to New Orleans next. In Asheville, Mayor Esther Manheimer said on Friday that the city may also be a target in the future.
Dave Philipps and Miriam Jordan contributed reporting.
Eduardo Medina is a Times reporter covering the South. An Alabama native, he is now based in Durham, N.C.
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