A surge of federal immigration enforcement officers is reportedly headed from Charlotte to New Orleans, as the Department of Homeland Security wraps up "Operation Charlotte's Web." But fear and uncertainty persist among local immigrants.
Customs and Border Protection Commander Greg Bovino said that around 400 people have been arrested in the Charlotte operation. Many local businesses shut their doors in fear, and roughly 20% of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools students were absent.
Chicago recently endured a similar, though more prolonged, enforcement surge, and activists are offering advice for how to prepare and deal with the aftermath. In the past two months, over 600 people in Chicago were arrested in what Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) called “Operation Midway Blitz.” Journalists, protesters and community members were regularly met with tear gas, pepper balls and arrests from federal agents. But the effort also produced resistance, solidarity, and new forms of community support.
Whistles as community safety
One practice that Charlotte’s organizers have already started implementing is the distribution of whistles. In Chicago, whistles have been used to keep communities safe.
"Whistlemania" was started by Alonso Zaragoza in Chicago’s West Side. Zaragoza said he got the idea to assemble whistle kits to distribute from the ICE raids in Los Angeles, where residents were using whistles as a way to alert their surroundings to the presence of federal agents.
“It doesn't prevent you from being deported. It doesn't prevent you from being captured by an ICE agent,” he said. But it does raise awareness.
Over the past few months, Whistlemania spread across the Chicagoland region.
“The whistles are telling people that there’s danger, or that someone needs help,” Zaragoza said. “Come out and record.”
Zaragoza said he’s even started a group chat with some Charlotteans interested in distributing whistles.
“We sent a box of 1,000 whistles already,” he said. “It was a bit of trust on my side.”
The whistles come with a set of instructions and materials for legal support.
Strain on the economy
Immigration raids have been a strain on local economies, from California’s farm workers to Chicago’s street vendors. And those strains are likely to linger.
“Street vendors, restaurants, all of them suffered because of the lack of foot traffic, because of the fear in the community,” said Rick Rosales, a co-founder of CyclingxSolidarity. This Chicago-based group has organized rides to buy out street vendors so sellers can go home early.
“We've gone to their houses, we've gone to parks, we've gone to street corners. We kind of meet them where they are,” he said. “We want to make sure they feel safe.”
In Charlotte, businesses closed their doors for days out of fear, like Manolo’s Bakery on Central Avenue. Immigrant workers and customers — those with documentation and those without — feared being obliterated, questioned and detained by the masked agents roaming the city.
Alexis Rosales, another one of CyclingxSolidarity’s co-founders and Rick’s wife, said that a concentrated effort to support impacted businesses can have a huge impact.
“It's good to provide people a space where they can make their livable income but also be safe with their family,” she said. “In the times that they're out, it's not just them vulnerable and worried, it's their family members fearful for if they’re OK.”
Rick said that every person has a contribution to make, even if it’s just donating money or supporting a local business.
“People show up and they show out in Chicago, and that continues throughout the country, and it'll continue to Charlotte,” he said.
Know your rights
Citizen journalism has and will continue to play an important role in documenting federal immigration enforcement activities.
“There just aren't enough traditional journalism school-trained journalists to be there at the site of every abduction and document what's happening,” said Seth Stern, the director of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation.
The First Amendment allows North Carolina residents to film anything in public spaces, as long as the recorder isn’t interfering with law enforcement activity.
“When you write your political opinions on social media, you are exercising your freedom of the press, or when you record law enforcement or record anything else you see that you believe to be of public interest, you're exercising your freedom of the press, whether you're a journalist or not,” Stern said.
In Chicago, journalists, protesters and clergy sued DHS for excessive use of force through tear gas and pepper balls. Even as federal agents move on to other cities, Stern said it’s not guaranteed that they won’t come back, which makes legal action important.
“We've got an administration that is using federal agents for local policing in new ways,” he said. “So we do need to set those precedents.”
Federal agents are reportedly moving on from Charlotte, with New Orleans and surrounding areas in their sights starting next week. Adam Rose, deputy director of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, said that people should be prepared for more enforcement in the future.
“It's still happening in Chicago, and it'll still happen in Charlotte and elsewhere throughout North Carolina, even once the national spotlight moves to Memphis or back to Portland or down in New Orleans,” he said. “There's no reason to think this will slow down.”
Resources
- Know Your Rights from Immigrant Legal Resource Center
- Ojo Obrero from Siembra NC, a digital map documenting ICE sightings across the state (Español)
- Carolina Migrant Network, a legal resource for those in removal proceedings
- Materials for reproducing whistle bags from Pilson Art and Community Center
- SecureDrop, a a project of Freedom of the Press Foundation and resource that allows secure sharing of documents
Layna Hong is a former digital producer for WFAE who now lives in Chicago.
