00:00Border patrol operations beginning in North Carolina.
00:15Dramatic video from Saturday shows agents breaking a car window in Charlotte as local officials speak out against these wider
00:23sweeps.
00:23The Department of Homeland Security has dubbed the deployment operation Charlotte's Web.
00:27It is part of President Trump's larger crackdown on illegal immigration across the U.S.
00:34News Nation's Marcus Espinoza is here with more. Marcus, good morning.
00:37What is the government's reasoning of going into Charlotte?
00:39Hey, Hannah, good morning. So the city has what they call 58,000 unauthorized immigrants in that city there.
00:46But there's no clear, direct reason for why the federal government is doing this at this point or how many
00:52people have been detained.
00:54DHS laying the blame at the feet of Democrat officials in North Carolina, saying illegal immigrants fled there because of
01:02their sanctuary policies.
01:03A press release included a list of migrants that DHS called, quote, the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens.
01:11DHS claims they were released onto North Carolina streets.
01:14Now, the department has not linked the operation to any single event, but the fatal stabbing of a 23-year
01:21-old Ukrainian on Charlotte's light rail has brought heightened national attention to the city in recent months, though the suspect
01:28was an American.
01:30Amid the enforcement, a Honduran-born U.S. citizen, Willie Essiantano, was pulled from his vehicle by agents after they
01:39smashed his window.
01:40He was later released without charges. Republican chairman, Abdul Ali, who represents North Carolina's 12th congressional district, located mostly in
01:50Charlotte, spoke to News Nation Saturday.
01:52Take a listen.
01:54When you have fentanyl being trafficked in cities, when you have Charlotte, North Carolina, a hub of human trafficking, what
02:01better tool to put on the ground than the people who are tasked with federal law enforcement and doing exactly
02:06what they're doing?
02:07Their story's coming out of illegals being arrested with fentanyl and the human trafficking is just ridiculous.
02:13Now, DHS has not said how long this operation will last.
02:17How is the community reacting here, Marcus?
02:20Yeah, I think they're scared right now a little bit and pushing back on this operation at this point.
02:25Across Charlotte this weekend, the mood has shifted from confusion to fear, and city and county leaders call the federal
02:31raids unnecessary, saying they're creating panic, not promoting safety.
02:35Immigrant-owned stores shut down, streets were quiet, and people avoided daily tasks out of fear they could be targeted.
02:43I'm here to represent those that are scared to come out, those that are afraid to even go to grocery
02:50stores or anywhere outside of their homes, just because there's a lot, a lot of stuff going on.
02:57Now, local leadership in the region issued a joint statement saying the operations were, quote,
03:03causing unnecessary fear and uncertainty in our community, citing similar actions in other states that led to what they said
03:10were people without criminal records,
03:12being detained and violent protests.
03:15DHS issued its own statement saying there have been too many victims of illegal aliens and that the Charlotte initiative
03:23was, quote,
03:23to ensure Americans are safe and public safety threats are removed.
03:28Hannah?
03:28All right, we'll see how this plays out during the work week.
03:31Marcus Espinoza, thank you so much.
