This story was originally published by Verite News
As the first week of an intensified immigration enforcement crackdown in southeast Louisiana came to an end, U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials remain tight-lipped about how many apprehensions federal agents have made to achieve their goal of 5,000 arrests, based on plans reviewed by the Associated Press in November, during the operation.
While offering little information about the overall operation, which began last Wednesday (Dec. 3) with a series of raids at major home improvement stores, the DHS press office in a Monday press release praised federal agents for apprehending “rapists, thieves, gang members, human smugglers, and abusers” in the operation, dubbed “Catahoula Crunch.” The department highlighted eight immigrants originating from Latin America, most of whom were from Honduras, that it said had serious or violent criminal records ranging including domestic battery and domestic abuse.
However, less than a third of the 38 people who were arrested in the first two days of the operation appeared to have criminal records, according to records that the AP reviewed, which also showed operation leaders are monitoring social media accounts for threats to agents and indications of public sentiment.
The Times Picayune reported last week that immigrants arrested in the operation are first being taken to a newly opened U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in St. Rose — a town in St. Charles Parish where ICE contractor BI Inc. conducts its immigrant surveillance program — before being transferred across state lines to a jail in Hancock County, Mississippi — which has an intergovernmental service agreement with DHS to house federal detainees, and then on to one of Louisiana’s nine immigration detention centers.
When asked for information on the first week of the operation, a spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the agency that Border Patrol falls under, referred Verite News to the Dec. 8 DHS press release.
“Catahoula Crunch” is the third operation of its kind in a major U.S. city in recent months, following operation “Midway Blitz” in Chicago and operation “Charlotte’s Web” in Charlotte, North Carolina.
In Chicago, federal agents focused on heavily Hispanic suburban neighborhoods near the city’s northwest side, sparking allegations of racial profiling — including of U.S. citizens of color caught up in the sweeps — and excessive use of force.
The New Orleans operation appears to be following a similar strategy, with community groups reporting heavy immigration enforcement activity in suburban areas such as Kenner which has the highest concentration of Hispanic residents in the state. Immigrants rights organizations have taken to Facebook and other social media sites to alert impacted community members of Border Patrol and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in their areas. Area news organizations have reported allegations of U.S. citizens being apprehended or targeted by federal agents.
Members of local immigrant rights groups, such as Unión Migrante, have been monitoring immigration enforcement activity and posting sightings — at medical clinics, street corners and businesses — to social media. The group also posts advice on what to do in the event of an encounter with agents. On Tuesday, for example, the group posted a potential sighting of federal agents, along with Kenner Police Department cars, at Ochsner Medical Center in Kenner. The post said two cars had individuals in the back seats.
Rachel Taber, a Unión Migrante member, said she witnessed federal agents briefly at Ochsner’s main campus on Monday. DHS did not immediately respond to questions about immigration agents allegedly operating in or near medical campuses.
“It’s a life or death decision either way for immigrants. Many people are terrified to come out of their homes because they will be killed if deported to Honduras,” Taber told Verite News. “But there are people who will also die if they don’t get their cancer treatment or dialysis. So Border Patrol’s targeting hospitals now two days in a row is particularly cruel and unusual.”
Kenner Police Chief Keith Conley was not available for an interview or comment before this article was published.
In an interview last month, Conley said the department would assist federal agents in whatever way it is called to do so. The Kenner Police Department is formally partnered with ICE under a 287(g) agreement, which deputizes local and state officials to investigate civil immigration violations and begin deportation proceedings. Earlier this year, Kenner PD saw a spike in immigration detainers — requests to hold people suspected of breaking civil immigration laws in custody beyond their release dates so that they can be taken into ICE custody — a Verite News and Gulf States Newsroom investigation found.
The Louisiana State Police has also been assisting with the “Catahoula Crunch” operation. In a statement sent via email from Sgt. Kate Stegall, a public affairs officer from the agency’s Region NOLA, which encompasses Orleans and surrounding parishes, acknowledged that troopers have been providing “operational support.”
“Our Troopers have been in uniform and operating marked LSP vehicles to ensure a visible and coordinated presence,” Stegall said.
A number of businesses in areas with large Hispanic populations were shuttered throughout the region. Among them, Taqueria Guerrero, a Mexican restaurant in Mid-City, announced a temporary closure before the operation began. Nearby, a popular taco truck usually stationed at the corner of Broad and Canal Streets has not been seen in recent days.
In the days leading up to and in the initial days of the operation, Broad Street — a popular corridor for Hispanic businesses and customers — appeared abnormally quiet. One business owner told Verite News that she is unable to find essential workers, many of whom are Hispanic and fear being targeted in immigration raids.
A New York Times story found that the city’s restaurants, which rely heavily on immigrant labor, are already feeling the ripple effects of the enforcement operation. Prep cooks, line cooks and dishwashers are not showing up to work and some menu items are not being served because employees don’t want to risk being arrested while at a grocery store or market.
The operation also appears to be having an impact on school attendance.
On Tuesday, the Times Picayune reported that in Jefferson Parish, which has a higher population of students learning English than Orleans Parish, school absenteeism in the first two days of last week (before the operation officially began) was double the normal rate. Schools with large populations of English language learners had particularly high absenteeism rates. Aubri Juhasz, education reporter at NPR member station WWNO, told Verite News the numbers from Jefferson Parish schools will become clearer in the second week of the operation.
One local parent — who asked to remain anonymous because she fears she could be targeted by immigration enforcement authorities — said she brought her children to their school Jefferson Parish on the first day of the operation. But since then she and the kids have been staying home. She said she received a letter from the school assuring her the children would be safe at school.
“The problem is not when they’re in school. The problem is when someone would have to pick up the kids at the stop outside,” she said, speaking through an interpreter.
As a single mother who provides for her family by selling Central American food, she said her biggest fear is being evicted with her children because she can’t leave home and earn money to pay rent.
But she said, “I’m not leaving until they leave,” referring to Border Patrol.
Over the past week protesters have taken to City Hall and also to city streets. Carrying signs that read “No collaboration with ICE/CBP” protesters interrupted a New Orleans City Council meeting on Thursday, causing a pause in the day’s agenda and a suspension of public comment, which drew outrage. On Friday, New Orleans Mayor-elect Helena Moreno, City Council President J.P. Morrell, U.S. Congressman Troy Carter and other local leaders held a press conference demanding more transparency in tactics used during “Catahoula Crunch” Over the weekend, groups of people holding posters denouncing immigration enforcement chanted in Metairie, New Orleans and Kenner.
