Federal agents arrested 130 people in two days in Charlotte, North Carolina, the latest city to face President Donald Trump's crackdown on immigration, a US official said.
Trisha McLaughlin, assistant secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), told the BBC that a number of those arrested were criminals and gang members. But local leaders say the operation is doing more harm than good.
DHS said a U.S. citizen allegedly injured an officer by ramming his car into a law enforcement vehicle.
In population, Charlotte is about a quarter the size of Los Angeles and a third the size of Chicago, two of the most notorious cities to suffer immigration sweeps and deportations.
Greg Bovino, a border patrol agent, said 81 arrests were made in Charlotte over a five-hour period Saturday.
Bovino, who until recently was known for leading immigration efforts in Chicago, has been posting on social media about Operation Charlotte's Web.
The title refers to a widely read children's book about a spider and a pig.
However, many Charlotte residents expressed dissatisfaction with the operation almost immediately after it began, holding a march in the city on Saturday to protest the Trump administration's actions.
The city's Democratic mayor said in a statement that people in the community feel “threatened” and “destabilized.”
“I am deeply concerned by many of the videos that I have seen,” Mayor Vi Lyles said. “To anyone in Charlotte who is feeling anxious or afraid, you are not alone. Your city is near you.”
North Carolina's governor, also a Democrat, also condemned the operation.
“We saw masked, heavily armed paramilitary agents driving unmarked cars, targeting American citizens based on the color of their skin, conducting racial profiling and picking up random people in parking lots,” North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein said Sunday. “It doesn't make us any safer.”
Bovino said in his post that there is “more to come.”
Also on Sunday, DHS released video of a white van being chased by two police cars after the driver allegedly approached “law enforcement while they were conducting an operation.”
They added that the driver crashed into police cars while trying to escape, but was later arrested.
DHS has not said how long the raids will last. The crackdown in Chicago that began in September is still ongoing.
