After days of growing fear and speculation, masked federal agents swept across Charlotte and its suburbs on Saturday, detaining and arresting people outside restaurants, in parking lots, at a church and along busy roads. The sudden show of force shuttered businesses and sent fear through immigrant communities.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection operation unfolded less than two months after Border Patrol first stationed at least 200 agents in Chicago, where officers questioned residents, used tear gas and made 1,500 arrests since September, according to CBS News. In Charlotte, the mission’s scope and duration remained unclear, and local leaders said they received insufficient notice of a deployment.
By late morning, federal agents had appeared at restaurants, shopping centers and busy roadways from Central Avenue to Pineville-Matthews Road. A Charlotte Observer reporter saw agents carrying large guns on South Boulevard, while witnesses described men being cornered in parking lots, stopped as they walked to their cars, snatched from a church, and in one case, having a truck window smashed and keys taken. Residents used social media to share filmed arrests and repeated stops across Charlotte as the operation expanded into Matthews…