CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Officials and community leaders opposing a pending federal immigration crackdown in North Carolina’s largest city characterized it Friday as an invasion and urged Charlotte residents to protest peacefully and record agents’ actions from a distance.
“We are living in the strangest of times,” said Mecklenburg County Commissioner Susan Rodriguez-McDowell, the granddaughter and wife of immigrants. “A time when a felonious reality TV personality is occupying the White House. Unfortunately we have seen this movie before, and now they want to film an episode of Shock and Awe show here in our city.”
On Thursday, Sheriff Garry McFadden confirmed that federal officials, whom he declined to identify, told him U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents would start an enforcement operation there by Saturday or early next week. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees CBP, won’t comment on future or potential operations. But the community is preparing for the types of enforcement actions seen in Chicago and other Democratic-led cities.
“We’ve seen what has taken place in other cities across this country when the federal government gets involved,” state Rep. Jordan Lopez said. “We have seen the undisciplined agents pointing weapons at unarmed civilians, the indiscriminate rounding up of civilians who are sleeping in their homes” in Chicago.
“We have seen the worst of law enforcement,” Lopez added.