Fewer than one-third of the individuals arrested by Border Patrol during the Trump administration’s recent immigration enforcement crackdown in Charlotte were classified as criminals, according to an internal Department of Homeland Security document obtained by CBS News.
The government document undermines claims by Trump administration officials who said the crackdown, dubbed Operation Charlotte’s Web, was primarily focused on apprehending immigrants living in the U.S. illegally who also had criminal histories and posed a threat to public safety.
Roughly 200 green-uniformed Border Patrol agents recorded more than 270 immigration arrests during the Charlotte campaign, which began on the weekend of Nov. 15, the document shows. Fewer than 90 of those arrested by Border Patrol were categorized as “criminal aliens” in the document.
Those statistics do not include arrests made by officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, though Border Patrol played the principal role in Operation Charlotte’s Web. The document also does not specify the severity of the crimes of the detainees listed as criminals, nor whether their records included convictions or solely criminal charges.
While DHS has publicly maintained that the crackdown in Charlotte is ongoing, separate internal documents say Border Patrol’s operation there concluded, with agents demobilizing from the area last week. ICE has a permanent presence in North Carolina, and is expected to continue operations there.
CBS News has reported, citing U.S. officials and internal DHS documents, that Border Patrol is preparing to launch a new operation in New Orleans as soon as the first week of December.
A spokesperson for DHS said the information reported by CBS News is “likely inaccurate,” but did not offer a breakdown of criminality that was different to the numbers contained in the document.
The spokesperson cited a press release that announced over 130 immigration arrests in the Charlotte area during the first two days of the operation, including 44 individuals who DHS said had criminal charges or convictions for aggravated assault, assault with a dangerous weapon, assault on a police officer, battery, driving under the influence and other crimes. Two of the detainees were identified as gang members in the release.
The DHS document obtained by CBS News offers a window into the most recent operation led by outspoken and controversial Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, who has become the de facto on-the-ground enforcer of President Trump’s clampdown on illegal immigration.
Over the past months, the Trump administration has tasked Bovino and teams of Border Patrol agents with bringing its mass deportation campaign to several cities led by Democrats, including Los Angeles, Chicago and, most recently, Charlotte. The deployment has been unprecedented in nature and scope. Border Patrol’s work has been historically limited to stopping the illegal movement of people and drugs along the borders with Mexico and Canada, as well as some coastal regions.
In Los Angeles, Chicago and Charlotte, Border Patrol agents — in some cases accompanied by Bovino — have carried out arrests, often captured on social media videos, at Home Depot parking lots and other public areas, rounding up day laborers, landscapers and other immigrants they suspect are in the U.S. illegally.
The aggressive operations have fueled strong criticism from local elected officials, who have denounced Border Patrol’s actions as harsh and indiscriminate, and accused agents of engaging in racial profiling, including against Hispanic U.S. citizens. Trump administration officials have rejected those accusations, saying use of force has been employed to protect agents and that arrests have been based on someone’s illegal presence in the U.S., not their race.
In the Charlotte area, Border Patrol agents were captured on video smashing the car window of a U.S. citizen, carrying out arrests outside of businesses and approaching men decorating a Christmas tree.
Like in Chicago and Los Angeles, the operation in Charlotte triggered significant community backlash and concerns. Some businesses closed their doors temporarily. Local high school students staged walk-outs to protest the arrests. And school officials in the region reported tens of thousands of student absences.
A CBS News poll released this past weekend found that 58% of Americans believed federal immigration agents were stopping and detaining “more people than necessary.”