NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Trump administration officials overseeing the immigration crackdown launched this week in New Orleans are aiming to make 5,000 arrests with a focus on violent offenders, a target that some city leaders say is not realistic.
It’s an ambitious goal that would surpass the number of arrests during a two-month enforcement blitz this fall around Chicago, a region with a much bigger immigrant population than New Orleans.
In Los Angeles — the first major battleground in President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration plan — roughly 5,000 people were arrested over the summer in an area where 10 million LA county residents are foreign-born.
“There is no rational basis that a sweep of New Orleans, or the surrounding parishes, would ever yield anywhere near 5,000 criminals, let alone ones that are considered ‘violent’ by any definition,” New Orleans City Council President J.P. Morrell said Thursday.
Census Bureau figures show the New Orleans metro area had a foreign-born population of almost 100,000 residents last year, and just under 60% were not U.S. citizens.
“The amount of violent crime attributed to illegal immigrants is negligible,” Morrell stated, pointing out that crime in New Orleans is at historic lows.
A flood of messages about arrests
Federal agents in marked and unmarked vehicles began spreading out across New Orleans and its suburbs Wednesday, making arrests in home improvement store parking lots and patrolling neighborhoods with large immigrant populations.
Alejandra Vasquez, who runs a social media page in New Orleans reporting federal agents' whereabouts, has received numerous messages, photos, and videos since the operations began. “My heart is so broken,” she expressed. “They came here to take criminals and they are taking our working people. They are not here doing what they are supposed to do. They are taking families.”
Several hundred agents from Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement are participating in the two-month operation dubbed “Catahoula Crunch.”
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, who is from Louisiana, is among the state’s Republicans supporting the crackdown. “Democrats’ sanctuary city policies have failed — making our American communities dangerous. The people of our GREAT city deserve better, and help is now on the ground,” Johnson posted on social media.
Operation is being met with resistance
About two dozen protesters were removed from a New Orleans City Council meeting Thursday after chants of “Shame” broke out. Police officers ordered protesters to leave the building, with some being forcibly carried out.
Homeland Security Department spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin stated that agents are going after immigrants released after arrests for violent crimes, claiming significant early success. “In just 24 hours on the ground, our law enforcement officers have arrested violent criminals with rap sheets that include homicide, kidnapping, child abuse, robbery, theft, and assault,” McLaughlin mentioned.
New Orleans City councilmember Lesli Harris remarked that “there are nowhere near 5,000 violent offenders in our region” whom Border Patrol could arrest. “What we’re seeing instead are mothers, teenagers, and workers being detained during routine check-ins, from their homes and places of work,” she added.
Previous operations have shown that a significant number of those arrested in larger cities did not have substantial criminal records, leading to concerns that the current operation may disproportionately impact innocent residents.
As the crackdown continues, many community members express fear for their families and livelihoods amidst rising tensions around immigration enforcement in New Orleans.
