Federal agents have descended on the city of Charlotte in North Carolina as part of US president Donald Trump’s expanding crackdown on illegal immigration, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has said.<\/p>\n
It announced “Operation Charlotte’s Web” on Saturday, saying “criminal illegal aliens” would be targeted in the Democratic-run city.<\/p>\n
“We are surging DHS law enforcement to Charlotte to ensure Americans are safe and public safety threats are removed,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said.<\/p>\n
Since Trump’s return to office he has deployed troops to Washington DC, Los Angeles and Chicago<\/a> to deliver on his promise of “the largest deportation programme” in US history.<\/p>\n Armoured vehicles and special operations teams could be involved in the North Charlotte crackdown, according to internal government documents seen by the BBC’s US partner, CBS News. <\/a><\/p>\n Local officials, including Mayor of Charlotte Li Vyles, released a joint statement criticising the operation, saying it was causing “unnecessary fear and uncertainty” in the community. <\/p>\n Several church members who were doing yard work at a church in east Charlotte fled into the woods when Border Patrol agents appeared and began arresting people without asking questions or showing identification, The Charlotte Observer<\/a> newspaper reported. <\/p>\n Inside the church, women and children cried as they wondered whether their loved ones had been taken, according to the paper.<\/p>\n “We thought church was safe and nothing gonna happen,” a 15-year-old witness told the Charlotte Observer. <\/p>\n Officials said there are “a number of organisations standing ready to assist individuals seeking legal guidance on immigration matters”.<\/p>\n A local bakery owner Manolo Betancur told NBC News, a “lot of children have lost their parents” since the raids began. <\/p>\n The DHS said they are carrying out the operation because North Carolina has not honoured the nearly 1,400 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees – meaning they had been released due to “sanctuary policies”.<\/p>\n Charlotte is not a sanctuary city – cities that have policies in place to limit the assistance given to federal immigration authorities<\/a> – but it is a “certified welcoming city”. This is a formal designation for cities that are committed to immigration inclusion. <\/p>\n “President Trump and Secretary [Kristi] Noem will step up to protect Americans when sanctuary politicians won’t,” the DHS said.<\/p>\n