The U.S. Government began this Saturday the immigration operation ‘Charlotte’s Web’, ‘La telaraña de Charlotte’ in Spanish, with the deployment of the Border Patrol in North Carolina, reflecting increasing actions of the Administration of President Donald Trump in Democratic areas.
The operation in Charlotte, North Carolina’s largest city, will focus on “illegal alien criminals” who have come there for protection “under sanctuary policies,” the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement, saying that nearly 1,400 immigration detainers have not been honored.
Charlotte’s Web kicks off
Charlotte is my hometown, so this gutted me. To see this happening on the streets I love is heartbreaking. And I know exactly where this is 😞 https://t.co/GwWPLRwc7m
– Mike Pence’s Other Mother 🟧🟦🟪 (@cooltxchick) November 15, 2025
“We are increasing DHS enforcement in Charlotte to ensure Americans are safe and remove public safety threats. There have been too many victims of illegal alien criminals,” stated Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the department.
The DHS did not detail how many agents were deployed or the number of arrests made on the first day, although since Friday it was reported that the Trump Administration would send the Border Patrol to areas led by Democrats, such as Charlotte and New Orleans, to replicate what has already been done in Los Angeles and Chicago.
The beginning of the immigration arrests sparked protests in North Carolina, where nearly one million immigrants live, of which more than one-fifth are Mexican, according to data from the American Immigration Council.
“ICE and Border Patrol out of our city!” and “The people united will defend migrant families,” were some of the slogans of hundreds of demonstrators in downtown Charlotte, where citizens accused immigration agents of abuses in the first detentions.
North Carolina Democratic Party leader Anderson Clayton denounced that “Border Patrol and ICE are currently arresting and robbing community members off the streets of Charlotte.”
“Donald Trump is responsible for this egregious action,” Clayton argued in X.
While the Charlotte City Council and Mecklenburg County said in a joint statement that Border Patrol “operations” are “causing unnecessary fear and uncertainty.”
Border agents have been present in the offensives unleashed by the White House in Los Angeles in June and Chicago in September, which left hundreds of people detained and activists complaining about the use of excessive force in the operations, where several people have been shot.
The U.S. deported nearly 400,000 migrants in the first 250 days of the second Trump Administration, which began on January 20 with the promise of the largest deportation in history, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which forecasts the expulsion of 600,000 in the first year of administration.
With information from EFE
