Immigrant communities in Charlotte are on edge after Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden said Border Patrol agents could arrive in the city as early as this weekend.
Details remain scarce, rumors are circulating, and local leaders say they’ve received no formal briefing from the federal government.
On Friday, Democratic state Rep. Aisha Dew held a press conference with other officials urging transparency and calm. She spoke with WFAE’s Nick de la Canal about what she knows — and what worries her most as residents await clarity.
Nick de la Canal: What do you know at this point, and what more information would like federal officials to share with the public?
Aisha Dew: I would love to just start with an explanation of why they’re actually here. There’s no need, to my knowledge … it just makes no sense. We don’t have any borders that need to be protected. We don’t need to be concerned about people coming to work from Rock Hill every morning. I would love some transparency about why they’re even here, and also what their plan is.
De la Canal: What are your top concerns about this operation? Is it families pulling kids from school, staying home from work, effects on immigrant businesses? Or something else?
Dew: All of the above. Effects on immigrant businesses is definitely one. And there are children and parents who now have to make a plan to figure out what’s going to happen if the parents aren’t there when they come home. We don’t want that to happen.
We don’t want our neighborhoods, our family, our friends torn apart from each other for no reason. This is not being done with a scalpel — it’s being done with a hatchet. If they’re going after violent criminals, that’s one thing, but that’s not what we’ve seen in all of the other cities.
De la Canal: I think there are Republicans and other who would argue that strict enforcement of immigration laws actually improves public safety, and that cities like Charlotte could benefit from cooperating with Customs and Border Protection. How do you respond?
Dew: Well, one ... for the most part, immigrants are actually far less likely — first generation especially — to contribute to crime in the first place. I think that we have our situation under control. We have a sheriff, we have a police department — we’re OK. I’m not quite sure what their presence will do besides create chaos and confusion.
De la Canal: Governor Stein has said that the state can't prevent federal agents from coming to enforce the law, even if local officials wanted to. So what role should state and local leaders like yourself play?
Dew: We need to keep letting our neighbors know, our community members know, that we stand with them in solidarity. And also do our best to try to protect them and let them know what their rights are: that [agents] are not allowed in private properties, they need a warrant if they're going to come in, make sure your children have another point of contact.
We need to continue to take care of our communities and neighbors and provide as much as we can along the lines of resources.
De la Canal: Finally I noticed that one face that seemed to be missing from the sea of Democrats at this morning's press conference was Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles. Was she invited? And how would you characterize the mayor's response so far?
Dew: I can’t characterize the mayor’s response. I can say that she was invited and she was unfortunately unable to make it, because she's not here. Otherwise, I do believe she would have been with us.
De la Canal: Is there anything that you’d like to see from her?
Dew: I would like to see, from her and from all of us, to come together, meet, and work together on a strategy for communicating to our constituents, to our people.
