Conflicting claims of CBP departure deepen confusion in Charlotte

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles and Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden have all said Customs and Border Protection agents left Charlotte, but the Department of Homeland Security insists the “Charlotte’s Web” operation is ongoing.

Carolina Migrant Network says that throughout the height of the operation, its hotline averaged 150 calls per day reporting sightings of CBP vehicles or requesting help for their detained loved ones. Since Friday, that number has dropped to around 30 calls a day.

Still, DHS continues to tell WFAE and post on social media that the crackdown is "not over and is not ending anytime soon."

Carolina Migrant Network's Becca O'Neill calls that messaging harmful.

"Assuming they're gone, they refuse to confirm that, which just serves to further terrorize communities that have been so devastated by this," O'Neill said.

Lyles and McFadden individually made statements on Thursday, confirming that CBP agents had left the area.

Some of the confusion also stems from ongoing ICE detentions, which immigration attorney Jamilah Espinosa says people are now mistaking for CBP.

“ICE has always had an office here in Charlotte, and has been operating in detaining individuals,” Espinosa said. “The confusion is people are not understanding that there's CBP and then ICE."

Espinosa said that DHS’ insistence that the operation is still active appears strategic.

“On the more national scale, that led to a narrative that the citizens of Charlotte who did not want CBP here had won,” Espinosa said. "They seek to scare individuals."

As of Sunday afternoon, Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino said CBP had detained 400 people since the operation began.