As Border Patrol Wreaks Havoc In Charlotte, Officials Warn The Immigration Crackdown Will Expand In NC

Last week, we reported that the Trump administration was set to deploy Border Patrol and ICE into Charlotte, North Carolina. On Monday, we reported that after the feds’ first weekend in N.C., the state’s governor, Josh Stein, reported that the presence of federal agents in Charlotte is “not making us safer,” but is “stoking fear and dividing our community” because the city has “seen masked, heavily armed agents in paramilitary garb driving unmarked cars, targeting American citizens based on their skin color, racially profiling, and picking up random people in parking lots and off of our sidewalks,” among other things. Stein’s complaints are generally identical to complaints made by citizens and officials in Illinois, Oregon, California, New York, and Washington, D.C.

Well, also on Monday, Raleigh Mayor Janet Cowell sounded the alarm that federal immigration authorities will expand their enforcement action in North Carolina to her city as early as Tuesday, according to CBS News, and she said she’s not sure how large the operation will be or how long it will last.

From CBS:

Immigration authorities haven’t spoken about it. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told CBS News in a statement: “Every day, DHS enforces the laws of the nation across the country. We do not discuss future or potential operations.”

Cowell, a Democrat, pointed out in a statement that crime was lower in Raleigh this year compared to last and that public safety was a priority for her and the city council.

“I ask Raleigh to remember our values and maintain peace and respect through any upcoming challenges,” she said.

All across America, it’s the same song. President Donald Trump and his minions justify their aggressive immigration crackdown and sending the military into cities that don’t want them there by making false claims that crime is out of control in those cities. Crime data says it’s not true. Federal courts say it’s not true. Local leaders say they don’t want to be invaded by the federal government. But none of that matters, because this administration is just going to do whatever it wants anyway.

Meanwhile, federal agents just keep proving everyone’s point.

On Monday, Border Patrol agents were captured on camera as they arrested two U.S. citizens in Charlotte’s Plaza Midwood neighborhood. Their crime? Well,  according to witnesses and family members, they committed the egregious, horrific offense of — *checks notes* — honking their horn to alert others that the agents were in the area.

From WCNC:

Dramatic video captured the moment agents took the two women into custody following a chase down Central Avenue. The women were later released with citations after spending several hours at an FBI facility.

Neighbor Shea Watts began recording after hearing a commotion outside his window.

In the video, an agent can be seen breaking a car window while pointing an assault rifle at one of the women.

“He’s breaking the window— He’s got an assault rifle pointed at her,” Watts said in the recording.

Watts described his reaction as “somewhere between disbelief and just being really upset that this is our reality now.”

According to Watts, the agents accused the women of honking to warn people in the area that Border Patrol was present. The agents then allegedly pursued the women down Central Avenue before the incident ended in a residential neighborhood.

One of the women’s husbands, who gave permission to use the video but requested anonymity, said he couldn’t reach his wife for hours. Both women were eventually released with citations.

Citations for what, though? Being good neighbors?

Right now, the Trump administration is suing the state of California for implementing laws that require federal agents to identify themselves to civilians and to refrain from wearing masks. Immigration agents have also been ripped by federal judges for failing to wear or turn on body cameras, and they clearly take issue with being recorded while in the performance of their duties. They also get really upset when they feel they’re being followed, or when anyone is documenting their activities.

Now, agents are apparently arresting people just for warning other people that they are around.

It’s almost as if the feds are sick and tired of not being able to violate people’s civil rights without public scrutiny.

According to WBTV, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools reported that nearly 21,000 students were absent across 185 schools on Monday, and while officials didn’t say outright that the absences were a direct result of the immigration crackdown in Charlotte, or the plans to expand the operation in other parts of the state, there’s really no ignoring the fact that, as WBTV noted, “according to data from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools 31% of the student population are Hispanic identifying students.”

Officials in Charlotte and the federal government have reported that, so far, some 130 people have been arrested in Charlotte in the immigration operation crudely named “Charlotte’s Web,” to the dismay of the family members of the children’s book’s author.

Yeah — maybe don’t name your Gestapo-like federal invasion after a classic story for kids. Giving some cutesy title to an operation that separates families, upends people’s lives, detains and deports them without due process, and disappears them to countries that may or may not be their countries of origin won’t make the Trump administration seem any less evil.

Nothing about any of this is cute. Nothing about it is making people safer. And nothing about it makes America great.

SEE ALSO:

Border Patrol Expected To Deploy In Charlotte, New Orleans

Judge Blasts Border Patrol Over Chicago Case ‘Discrepancies’