Immigration crackdown in New Orleans has a target of 5,000 arrests. Is that possible?

Immigration Crackdown in New Orleans Targets 5,000 Arrests, Sparking Controversy

Federal agents have launched a sweeping immigration operation in New Orleans this week with a goal of making 5,000 arrests, a target that city leaders and immigrant advocates describe as both unrealistic and misleading in its scope.

The two-month operation, dubbed “Catahoula Crunch,” involves hundreds of agents from Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spreading across New Orleans and surrounding parishes. Officials claim the focus is on apprehending immigrants with violent criminal histories who are in the country illegally.

“In just 24 hours on the ground, our law enforcement officers have arrested violent criminals with rap sheets that include homicide, kidnapping, child abuse, robbery, theft, and assault,” said Homeland Security Department spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin in a statement Thursday. She told CNN that authorities “will continue whether that will be 5,000 arrests or beyond.”

However, New Orleans City Council President J.P. Morrell challenged the premise of the operation, pointing to demographic realities. “There is no rational basis that a sweep of New Orleans, or the surrounding parishes, would ever yield anywhere near 5,000 criminals, let alone ones that are considered ‘violent’ by any definition,” Morrell said Thursday.

Census Bureau data shows the New Orleans metro area had approximately 100,000 foreign-born residents last year, with just under 60% being non-U.S. citizens. Across Louisiana, there were more than 145,000 foreign-born noncitizens, with the Pew Research Center estimating about 110,000 people in the state were in the country illegally in 2023.

“The amount of violent crime attributed to illegal immigrants is negligible,” Morrell added, noting that crime in New Orleans has reached historic lows. Police statistics show violent crimes, including murders, rapes, and robberies, have fallen by 12% through October compared to last year, from 2,167 to 1,897 incidents.

Since Wednesday, federal agents in marked and unmarked vehicles have been conducting arrests in home improvement store parking lots and patrolling neighborhoods with large immigrant populations. Planning documents obtained by The Associated Press indicate the crackdown is intended to cover southeast Louisiana and parts of Mississippi.

Alejandra Vasquez, who manages a social media page in New Orleans reporting on federal agent activities, described receiving numerous messages, photos, and videos since operations began. “My heart is so broken,” Vasquez said. “They came here to take criminals and they are taking our working people. They are not here doing what they are supposed to do. They are taking families.”

The New Orleans operation follows similar enforcement actions in Chicago and Los Angeles. In Chicago, “Operation Midway Blitz” resulted in more than 4,000 arrests across the city and suburbs. However, public records tracking the first weeks of that operation revealed most arrestees didn’t have violent criminal histories.

Analysis of ICE arrest data from the University of California Berkeley Deportation Data Project showed that of roughly 1,900 people arrested in the Chicago area from early September through mid-October, only about 15% had criminal convictions. The vast majority of these were for traffic offenses, misdemeanors, or nonviolent felonies.

In Los Angeles, the first major target in President Trump’s aggressive immigration plan, approximately 5,000 people were arrested over the summer in an area where about a third of LA County’s roughly 10 million residents are foreign-born.

The operation has sparked significant local opposition. About two dozen protesters were removed from a New Orleans City Council meeting Thursday after chants of “Shame” erupted. Police officers ordered protesters to leave, with some being physically carried out.

City Councilmember Lesli Harris expressed concern that the operation is exceeding its stated mission. “What we’re seeing instead are mothers, teenagers, and workers being detained during routine check-ins, from their homes and places of work,” Harris said. “Immigration violations are civil matters, not criminal offenses, and sweeping up thousands of residents who pose no threat will destabilize families, harm our economy.”

Meanwhile, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, who is from Louisiana, voiced support for the crackdown. “Democrats’ sanctuary city policies have failed — making our American communities dangerous. The people of our GREAT city deserve better, and help is now on the ground,” Johnson posted on social media.

New Orleans, known for its international character stemming from French, Spanish, African, and Native American cultural influences, has in recent years seen a new wave of immigrants from Central and South America and Asia, further diversifying the city’s demographic makeup.