
<p>Despite the city being overrun with violent immigrant crime, CBP and Homeland Security agents faced fierce resistance during Trump’s surge into Charlotte, NC.</p>



<p>Screaming and whistles filled a wooded stretch of ;Charlotte as protesters surrounded federal agents carrying out Operation Charlotte’s Web, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) mission aimed at arresting people with criminal immigration warrants.</p>



<p>DHS said Friday it had &#8220;surged law-enforcement resources&#8221; into the city to capture &#8220;criminal illegal aliens terrorizing Americans.&#8221; Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the effort was meant to &#8220;remove public-safety threats and restore order.&#8221;</p>



<p>By Saturday afternoon, video from the scene showed furious residents shouting, &#8220;Get the f&#8212; out of my city!&#8221; as Border Patrol and Homeland Security agents pushed through trees amid the operation. ;</p>



<p>As protesters continued to wave their arms menacingly and hurl epithets at the agents, one agent, holding up a gas canister, turned and shouted back, &#8220;This is tear gas! Stop following us!&#8221;</p>



<p>In another tense moment captured on video, an agent identifying himself as Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) tried to calm the crowd as protesters surrounded him with phone cameras rolling.</p>



<p><strong>Female protester:</strong> ;&#8220;How do you know they’re illegal before you cuff them? That’s a ;Fourth Amendment violation!&#8221;</p>



<p><strong>HSI agent:</strong> ;&#8220;Our job here is to protect the folks doing enforcement. We’re bound by what’s reasonable under the law.&#8221;</p>



<p><strong>Female protester:</strong> ;&#8220;You’re detaining people who sell flowers, man. Families. That’s not a threat.&#8221;</p>



<p><strong>HSI agent:</strong> ;&#8220;I understand your frustration. But this isn’t a conversation when everyone’s screaming at each other.&#8221;</p>



<p>The back-and-forth continued for several minutes until the agent walked away to another agent setting up a drone.</p>



<p>At one point, a protester yelled, &#8220;Seventy percent of the people you grab are non-violent!&#8221; Another shouted, &#8220;You’re tearing families apart for nothing!&#8221;</p>



<p>The so-called “Operation Charlotte&#8217;s Web” comes as the city faces intensifying scrutiny over ;violent crime.</p>



<p>Homicides and aggravated assaults have risen ;sharply this year, prompting Republican lawmakers to urge Democratic Gov. Josh Stein to deploy the ;National Guard. ;For now, the governor has resisted that call from Republican lawmakers, and local officials have argued that public safety remains a local responsibility.</p>



<p>&#8220;Recently, the city faced eight homicides in seven days. The murder rate in uptown Charlotte is now ;200% higher ;than it was a year ago,&#8221; ;a letter ;from a trio of Republican lawmakers said. &#8220;According to the ;Fraternal Order of Police, aggravated assaults involving knives or guns have risen from 86 in 2024 to 111 in 2025, and personal strong-arm robberies have increased from 26 to 31 in the same period.&#8221;</p>



<p>Charlotte is a ;racially diverse ;city of more than 900,000 residents, including more than 150,000 who are foreign-born, the Associated Press reported, citing local officials.</p>

Despite Being a Hotbed of Immigrant Crime, Charlotte Protesters tell ICE to “Get Out”
