Trump launches immigration crackdown in New Orleans
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US Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino leading an immigration enforcement operation on Dec 3, in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Getty Images via AFP
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- US immigration officials started an operation in New Orleans to arrest undocumented immigrants, targeting those released from local custody due to city policies.
- Residents fear the operation, with one woman saying, "Not all of us are criminals... We're hardworking people," and a city councillor saying legal residents are targeted.
- The operation's scope is unclear, and it follows similar actions in other cities amid debates over cooperation between local and federal authorities.
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WASHINGTON - US immigration officials kicked off an operation in New Orleans to arrest immigrants in the US illegally, federal officials said on Dec 3, making it the latest city to be targeted by President Donald Trump’s crackdown.
The US Department of Homeland Security said the operation would target criminal offenders who had been released from local custody due to city policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
Mr Trump, a Republican, has ordered such operations in Democratic-led cities across the US, including Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, DC, in a bid to drive deportations to record levels.
The office of New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell did not respond to a request for comment, nor did the New Orleans Police Department.
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, a Republican, has supported federal immigration enforcement efforts, and did so again in a Dec 3 interview with local radio. Mr Landry’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Residents and local officials in cities targeted by the immigration crackdown have pushed back, saying Border Patrol and ICE agents have swept in many people with no criminal record and have used heavy-handed tactics that endangered residents.
‘Not all of us are criminals’
In one family-owned restaurant in New Orleans, a woman assembled makeshift beds, so family members could sleep there to avoid potentially being profiled by federal agents while travelling between home and work.
The woman, who asked to be identified only by her first name, Abby, said her family came to the US from Mexico two decades ago but that she and others have not been able to obtain legal status.
She said she worried that she could be arrested by immigration authorities and separated from her 10-year-old son, a US citizen.
“Not all of us are criminals,” she said. “We’re hardworking people. We’re people who get up early to achieve our goals and fight for our dreams.”
New Orleans city council member Lesli Harris said the enforcement operation was causing fear and anxiety in the city, telling CNN that “what we’re learning is that they are targeting people who are here legally… who are mothers of children, high school students.”
The operation in New Orleans was expected to run through the end of the year but its scope remains unclear.
In November, a federal judge terminated a 2013 consent decree that had limited the ability of the New Orleans Police Department to assist federal immigration enforcement.
Still, New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said in late November that the city would not enforce federal immigration law.
The US Department of Justice labelled New Orleans a “sanctuary city” in a list published in August.
The action in New Orleans, with a population of around 384,000, follows a Border Patrol-led operation in Charlotte, North Carolina.
In November, a US official told Reuters that Mr Gregory Bovino, a US Border Patrol official who has led Mr Trump’s crackdown in Los Angeles, Chicago and Charlotte, had plans to head to New Orleans. REUTERS
