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us customs and border protection
'Time for Them to Leave': Charlotte Communities Rise Up Against ICE Invasion
"I want to keep my neighbors protected because they deserve protection and they deserve to live in a world where they’re not scared," said one woman patrolling the streets of Charlotte with a whistle.
Nov 20, 2025
Backlash against the Trump administration's assault on immigrant communities—in which some US citizens are also getting caught up—is growing in Charlotte, North Carolina this week, as over 30,000 students staged walkouts to protest the federal invasion, people rallied to condemn the arrest of day laborers, and communities mobilized to protect their friends and neighbors targeted by federal agents.
Hundreds of people gathered outside the Home Depot on North Wendover Road Wednesday morning, lining both sides of the street, holding signs supporting immigrants and denouncing US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol agents, and cheering as motorists honked in support.
The protest came on the fifth—and reportedly penultimate—day of Operation Charlotte's Web, which the Department of Homeland Security claimed targeted the "worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens." The Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office said Thursday that it has been informed by federal officials that Operation Charlotte's Web has wrapped up.
The administration's "worst of the worst" claim does not seem supported in the vast majority of the hundreds of arrests made in the Charlotte area, as ICE and US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents have targeted locations including a church, grocery stores, construction sites, homes, and hardware store parking lots where day laborers gather every morning in search of work.
“From guns being drawn on pedestrians, windows broken at restaurants and US citizens being detained and later released, it is clear that CBP's main mission is to disrupt public safety and everyday life in Charlotte,” Zamara Saldivar of the Carolina Migrant Network told WFAE at the Home Depot protest.
Protester Norm Perreault told the Charlotte Observer that "they say they’re deporting the worst of the worst, but day laborers are the best of the best.”
“We are here to support the immigrant community,” said former Charlotte mayor Jennifer Roberts.
Story here: https://t.co/SWSMzj8oSR pic.twitter.com/2GBG3TXbkL
— WBTV News (@WBTV_News) November 19, 2025
Former Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts, a Democrat, was also at the Home Depot demonstration, where she declared: "We are here to support the immigrant community. We know they’re an integral part of our economy, education, culture, and growth."
“It’s time for them to leave,” Roberts said of the federal invaders. “We need business to get back to normal. We need our schools to be able to educate our children.”
On Monday, an estimated 30,000 Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools students walked out of their classrooms in protest of the crackdown. Students marched, held signs, and chanted messages including, "No borders, no nations, stop the deportations!"
"It's stressful seeing my mom 'cuz, like, she struggled with bills already going to work. I mean, even without her going to work, she's struggling even more." said one unidentified student protester from East Mecklenburg High School told WCNC, discussing his family's fear of being targeted during the crackdown.
Another unidentified East Mecklenburg High student lamented "little kids losing their parents by ICE and getting taken, seeing them cry, and that, like, it breaks my heart seeing them like that."
East Mecklenburg High multilingual teacher David Gillespie told WJBF that “a school should be a safe place for a child to come. They should be able to come here to get their education, they should be able to come here and spend time with their friends, socialize, they should feel secure.”
“I’m not sure which of my students I’m going to see again," Gillespie said in a separate interview with WCNC. "Whether because their parents were involved in detainments or because their parents have to make that unfortunate safety calculus—Is it worth it to send my kids to school and put myself at risk?”
Parent Portia James told WBTV that she supports the walkout as an avenue for "students to be able to say something and voice their opinion in a positive way."
"This is not the kind of behavior that we want in Charlotte going forward," James said of the federal crackdown.
This week's demonstrations followed Saturday's "No Border Patrol in Charlotte" rally and march, which drew thousands of protesters to First Ward Park and the city's streets.
Concern is also growing over federal agents arresting and terrorizing US citizens who legally follow, monitor, and record their activities. Vigilant residents have been confronting federal agents, shouting, blowing whistles, and recording them. Federal agents have also seized US citizens who've shown proof of their citizenship.
"Our country is facing a constant constitutional assault unlike we've experienced in many decades," David Bier, director of immigration studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, said on X Wednesday. "Don't give an inch of your freedom."
Undaunted, some democracy defenders have taken to mocking the invaders:
ICE IN CHARLOTTE NC‼️ This is the appropriate energy needed for this moment in history‼️ pic.twitter.com/bzdFLSWLyt
— Meidas_Charise Lee (@charise_lee) November 19, 2025
Others are mobilizing to resist the invasion and protect their immigrant relatives, friends, and neighbors. Residents have formed volunteer patrols, parents and educators have monitored schools and surrounding areas for agents, and church parishioners armed with whistles are alerting community members when “la migra esta aquí"—the immigration agents are here.
On Saturday, Manolo's Latin Bakery, which has operated in Charlotte for 28 years, was rocked as federal agents in tactical gear chased, tackled, and arrested people outside the business.
“I have seen these people in SUVs, cars that are not marked with their faces covered... throwing immigrants to the floor and taking them away,” owner Manolo Betancur told Queen City News on Saturday, saying he would temporarily shut down his business.
“I’m going to close the door right now," he said. "Yeah, I’m not going to risk my customers... I don’t want to risk myself even though I am an American citizen. Because the way they look, because they’re way that my accent, because the way that I talk, they’re just going to throw me down to the floor."
Local resident Beth Clements told CNN Thursday that she's been outside the bakery for three days wearing a yellow vest and whistle.
“I’m going to walk the streets with my whistle," she said, "and I want to keep my neighbors protected because they deserve protection and they deserve to live in a world where they’re not scared."
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Secret ‘Mass Surveillance Network’ by Border Patrol Tracks 'Suspicious' Driving Patterns of Americans
The Border Patrol is engaging in "dragnet surveillance of Americans on the streets, on the highways, in their cities, in their communities," charged one critic.
Nov 20, 2025
The Associated Press has exposed what it describes as a "mass surveillance network" being run by the US Border Patrol that is increasingly ensnaring US drivers who have committed no crimes.
In a report published on Thursday, the AP revealed that the Border Patrol has been using a "predictive intelligence program" that surveils and flags drivers as suspicious based solely on "where they came from, where they were going, and which route they took."
The Border Patrol then passes this information on to local law enforcement officials, who will then pull over the targeted vehicles based on flimsy pretexts such as minor speed-limit violations, having tinted windows, and even having "a dangling air freshener" that purportedly obstructs drivers' views.
From there, the drivers are subjected to aggressive questioning and vehicle searches that in some cases have resulted in arrests despite no evidence of criminal behavior on the part of the drivers.
To illustrate this, the AP told the story of Lorenzo Gutierrez Lugo, a truck driver whose work entails "transporting furniture, clothing, and other belongings to families in Mexico" across the US border.
After Gutierrez Lugo's driving routes got him flagged by the surveillance system, he was pulled over in southern Texas by local law enforcement officials, who proceeded to search his vehicle for contraband.
Although officials found no illicit goods in his truck, they nonetheless arrested him on suspicion of money laundering because he was in possession of thousands of dollars in cash. However, Luis Barrios, who owns the trucking company that employed Gutierrez Lugo, explained to the AP that customers who receive deliveries often pay drivers directly in cash.
Although no criminal charges were ultimately brought against Gutierrez Lugo, Barrios nonetheless said that his company had to spend $20,000 in legal fees to both clear his driver's name and to return company property that had been impounded by police.
The AP notes that operations such as this are symbolic of "the quiet transformation of [the US Border Patrol's] parent agency, US Customs and Border Protection, into something more akin to a domestic intelligence operation."
Former law enforcement officials also tell the AP that the Border Patrol has gone to great lengths to keep its mass surveillance program a secret by trying to ensure that it is never mentioned in court documents and police reports. In fact, the Border Patrol in some cases has even dropped criminal cases against suspects for fear that details about the mass surveillance program would be revealed at trial.
In a post on X, journalist Mike LaSusa remarked that this Border Patrol program represents "another example of powerful, invasive, mass surveillance tech being wielded by US immigration authorities." He added that "so much about these programs is hidden from the public, making it difficult to know whether they keep Americans safe or violate privacy protections."
The program has been increasingly expanding from the border regions of the US into the interior of the country as well, and it discovered that US Customs and Border Protection "has placed at least four cameras in the greater Phoenix area over the years, one of which was more than 120 miles (193 kilometers) from the Mexican frontier, beyond the agency’s usual jurisdiction of 100 miles (161 kilometers) from a land or sea border."
Additionally, the AP found that the program is "impacting residents of big metropolitan areas and people driving to and from large cities such as Chicago and Detroit, as well as from Los Angeles, San Antonio, and Houston to and from the Mexican border region."
Nicole Ozer, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Democracy at UC Law San Francisco, told the AP that US Customs and Border Protection is engaging in "dragnet surveillance of Americans on the streets, on the highways, in their cities, in their communities" while "collecting mass amounts of information about who people are, where they go, what they do, and who they know."
“These surveillance systems do not make communities safer," Ozer emphasized.
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'We Do Not Want ICE Here': NC Officials Oppose Trump Targeting Immigrants in Charlotte
"Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity," said Congresswoman Alma Adams, warning of "what we have seen Border Patrol and ICE agents do in places like Chicago and Los Angeles."
Nov 14, 2025
Elected officials in North Carolina are letting it be known they do not want to see federal immigration raids in their communities like those suffered by other states in recent months.
As CBS News reported Friday morning that after two months of terrorizing Chicago, US Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Gregory Bovino left for Charlotte, officials came together in his apparent destination to speak out against the looming assault on immigrants there.
"We're all gathered here from many branches of government, from obviously our state Legislature, our school board, our County Commission, our City Council members, because we do not want ICE here," said state House Rep. Aisha Dew (D-107), referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
"We do not need to have Border Patrol. As I've already said, I'm not quite sure what border we're patrolling here," she continued. Stressing that the surrounding US states pose no threat to North Carolina, Dew added that "this is a safe city. Our crime rates have gone down since the previous year. This is just another something out of the playbook."
The press conference—which also included leaders of local organizations—came after various reports this week cited unnamed US officials who said President Donald Trump has set his sights on Charlotte.
Amid mounting reports of the forthcoming operation, Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry L. McFadden said in a Thursday statement that he was contacted a day earlier "by two separate federal officials confirming that US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel will be arriving in the Charlotte area as early as this Saturday or the beginning of next week."
"At this time, specific details regarding the federal operation have not been disclosed and the Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) has not been requested to assist with or participate in any enforcement actions," the statement highlighted.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department similarly said in a Friday statement that CMPD "has no authority to enforce federal immigration laws" and "does not participate in ICE operations, nor are we involved in the planning of these federal activities."
ICE and CBP are both part of the US Department of Homeland Security. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin has declined to provide any details about possible action in Charlotte, telling multiple outlets: "Every day, DHS enforces the laws of the nation across the country. We do not discuss future or potential operations."
As the Associated Press noted Thursday:
Trump has defended sending the military and immigration agents into Democratic-run cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, and even the nation's capital, saying the unprecedented operations are needed to fight crime and carry out his mass deportation agenda.
Charlotte is another such Democratic stronghold. A statement of solidarity from several local and state officials estimated the city is home to more than 150,000 foreign-born people. The city's population is about 40% white, 33% Black, 16% Hispanic, and 7% Asian.
While a spokesperson for North Carolina Congressman Tim Moore, a Republican whose district includes parts of Mecklenburg County, expressed support for DHS in a statement to the Charlotte Observer, Democratic Congresswoman Alma Adams, who represents the targeted city, sounded the alarm about the department's reported plans.
"I am extremely concerned about the deployment of US Border Patrol and ICE agents to Charlotte," Adams said in a Thursday statement. "Charlotte's immigrant community is a proud part of the Queen City, and I will not stand by and watch my constituents be intimidated or harassed."
"Everyone deserves to be treated with dignity, and what we have seen Border Patrol and ICE agents do in places like Chicago and Los Angeles—using excessive force in their operations and tear gassing peaceful protestors—threatens the well-being of the communities they enter," she continued. "Those tactics and values have no place in the city of Charlotte or Mecklenburg County."
After the sheriff's Thursday announcement, Charlotte's Democratic mayor, Vi Lyles, also shared a statement on social media: "We still don't know any details on where they may be operating and to what extent. I understand this news will create uncertainty and anxiety for many people in our community. Everyone in our community deserves to feel secure, and I am committed to doing all that I can to inform our community, help make sure everyone feels safe, and understands their rights."
"It is also important that people understand CMPD is not involved in federal immigration activities, so people who need local law enforcement services should feel secure calling 911," she added. "There continues to be rumors about enforcement activities and I would ask that everyone refrain from sharing unverified information. Doing so creates more fear and uncertainty when we need to be standing together. We will continue to work with local and state partners to do what we can to ensure the safety of our community."
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