Louisiana authorities prepare for Border Patrol deployment in New Orleans as part of Trump administration-driven raids in Democrat-governed cities, and following the arrest of at least 200 immigrants in North Carolina’s ‘Charlotte’s Web’ operation.
More than 200 Border Patrol agents would arrive in New Orleans, Louisiana’s largest city, as soon as December 1, CBS reports based on Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sources, while local media outlet NOLA also reports the agents’ upcoming arrival.
Border Patrol to arrive in New Orleans
Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino would arrive in the city in the first week of December, CNN reports, after overseeing the start of ‘Charlotte’s Web’ on Saturday in North Carolina.
The chief of the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD), Anne Kirkpatrick, confirmed the upcoming arrival of federal immigration agents, although she did not specify the exact date and warned that local officers will not ask people’s immigration status or participate in deportations.
“I am going to cooperate. I have no control nor does anyone in the city have control over whether the Border Patrol will be here. They are coming, so I’m going to be a partner, but I also want to emphasize something to the community: being in our country undocumented is illegal, being illegal is not criminal, it’s civil,” she told local radio station WBOK.
The future arrival of the federal agents has shaken a state with about 223,000 immigrants, of which nearly one in five are from Honduras, and about one-eighth are from Mexico, according to data from the American Immigration Council.
This also shows the Donald Trump Administration’s growing operatives in Democrat-led cities, such as the current mayor of New Orleans, African-American LaToya Cantrell, who in 2026 will yield the office to Helena Moreno, born in Veracruz, Mexico.
In this context, local officials rejected the arrival of the operation, such as state Congresswoman Delisha Boyd, who argued that “New Orleans does not need more agents from Washington” because “militarized policing does not build trust, it escalates tensions, especially in communities that are already struggling”.
“Our city has progressed toward local partnerships, community-focused strategies and smart law enforcement, not federal boots on the ground,” the representative stated in a pronouncement.
But Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill expressed in a position statement her “full support” for the arrival of Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to “remove illegal alien criminals from the streets and back where they belong.”
The operations in Charlotte and New Orleans seek to replicate what happened in June in Los Angeles and in September in Chicago, which sparked citizen demonstrations.
With information from EFE
