The Trump administration is planning to dispatch scores of Border Patrol brokers to Charlotte and New Orleans to supervise immigration enforcement operations that would contain armored automobiles and particular operations groups, based on inner authorities paperwork and U.S. officers.
The interior Division of Homeland Safety preparations reviewed by CBS Information checklist Charlotte and New Orleans as the subsequent targets of President Trump’s mass deportation marketing campaign. Like in Chicago and Los Angeles — which have seen extremely seen and sometimes controversial federal immigration arrests in current months — green-uniformed Border Patrol brokers are anticipated to play a lead position within the operations in Charlotte and New Orleans.
The deliberate Border Patrol operation in Charlotte, the place an operations heart is being stood up, is anticipated to start out quickly, as early as subsequent week, two sources aware of the plans informed CBS Information.
Garry McFadden, the sheriff of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, mentioned Thursday he had been “contacted by two separate federal officials confirming US Customs and Border Safety (CBP) personnel will likely be arriving within the Charlotte space as early as this Saturday or the start of subsequent week.”
Border Patrol’s focus is then anticipated to shift to New Orleans, the place as many as 200 CBP brokers could possibly be deployed, based on the sources and inner DHS paperwork.
Armored automobiles, together with so-called “BearCats,” have been requested for each Charlotte and New Orleans, alongside particular operations brokers, the inner paperwork present. Internally, officers have dubbed the plans “Charlotte Internet” and “Catahoula Crunch,” in obvious reference to the youngsters’s novel and the official state canine of Louisiana, respectively.
Lots of the Border Patrol brokers deployed to the Chicago area earlier this fall, together with outspoken commander Gregory Bovino, are anticipated to take part within the upcoming operations in Charlotte and New Orleans, two U.S. officers mentioned. CBS Information was first to report final week that Bovino and most Border Patrol brokers could be leaving Chicago, and that they could possibly be redirected to areas like Charlotte.
Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune Information Service by way of Getty Photographs
DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin mentioned the division does “not talk about future or potential operations.”
“Daily, DHS enforces the legal guidelines of the nation throughout the nation,” McLaughlin added.
The plans illustrate the Trump administration’s continued reliance on Border Patrol brokers to hold out its sweeping, nationwide crackdown on unlawful immigration.
Whereas Immigration and Customs Enforcement is the federal company charged with imposing U.S. immigration legal guidelines within the inside of the nation, the Trump administration has deployed groups of Border Patrol brokers to Chicago, Los Angeles and different locations far-off from the U.S.-Mexico border, the place unlawful crossings plunged to a 55-year low in fiscal yr 2025.
In each Chicago and Los Angeles, the operations by Border Patrol brokers, in lots of instances personally led by Bovino, have come underneath scrutiny, sparking protests and tense confrontations with native residents who’ve denounced the company’s actions as overly aggressive.
ICE officers and Border Patrol brokers are all federal immigration officers with the identical authorized authority to arrest folks suspected of being within the nation illegally. However their operations usually differ in type and nature.
Whereas ICE has additionally aggressively expanded immigration enforcement throughout the nation underneath Mr. Trump, its arrests proceed to be, to a big extent, focused operations pushed by intelligence gathering and prior surveillance that usually goal folks within the U.S. illegally who even have dedicated crimes.
In Chicago and Los Angeles, then again, Border Patrol brokers have performed “roving” operations which can be extra indiscriminate in nature, focusing on locations like Residence Depot parking heaps and worksites that they consider are frequented by individuals who haven’t got authorized permission to be within the U.S.
The usage of pressure that Border Patrol has employed in opposition to protesters has additionally come underneath withering criticism, together with from a federal choose in Chicago who imposed drastic limits on the flexibility for brokers to deploy tear fuel and crowd management ways. Trump administration officers keep brokers have used the required pressure, citing cases of civilians interfering with operations or turning to violence.
“The usage of pressure that I’ve seen has been exemplary — the least quantity of pressure essential to perform the mission,” Bovino informed CBS Information final month.
