U.S. Customs and Border Protection began immigration enforcement activities in Charlotte, N.C., on Saturday morning, which prompted several local businesses to close for the day. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents initiated enforcement of federal immigration laws in Charlotte, N.C., on Saturday.
Many businesses on Central Avenue in the eastern portion of Charlotte closed as federal agents began making arrests and detained people in local neighborhoods, the Charlotte Observer reported.
Local officials expressed their support for migrants in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County.
“We want people in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County to know we stand with all residents who simply want to go about their lives contributing to our larger community,” Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles and Mecklenburg County Commission Chairman Mark Jerrell and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education Chairwoman Stephanie Sneed said in a joint statement.
“Our region has thrived and grown because our strength lies in our diversity and our collective commitment to each other and to this community,” they said.
“Let us all — no matter our political allegiance — stand together for all hard-working and law-abiding families.”
The local officials said the arrival of the CBP agents unnecessarily created “fear and uncertainty in our community.”
Federal agents have most recently been deployed to Chicago, where Immigration and Customs Enforcement spent the past month enforcing immigration law amid opposition from protesters and others.
The Charlotte Observer reported a man saying the federal agents smashed a window on his vehicle, and another said agents aimed a rifle and threatened to shoot him after he followed them.
CBP agents also allegedly broke the window of another man’s vehicle and took his keys after stopping him twice in 10 minutes, but the man did not say if he was following the agents as they went about their work.
Local officials earlier said the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department does not participate in immigration enforcement and asked community members to stay peaceful amid the immigration enforcement action, according to NBC News.
North Carolina is not a sanctuary state, and state law prevents local governments from declaring themselves to be sanctuaries for those who have illegally entered or otherwise remained in the United States.
The federal immigration enforcement effort in Charlotte prompted Asheville, N.C., Mayor Esther Manheimer to suggest the city could be next, WLOS reported.
