U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has detained numerous undocumented immigrants in the Charlotte region this week, in what they are calling a “larger immigration enforcement operation.” However, the agency has not provided any specifics on what is happening, which is part of a broader pattern.
WFAE’s Julian Berger, who covers immigration, spoke with Nick de la Canal on All Things Considered about the difficulty of separating rumor from reality without any hard data.
Nick de la Canal: Julian, can you catch us up? What have you been hearing from the community?
Julian Berger: Nick, I first heard of reports of ICE detentions on Monday. Throughout the entire week, there have been reports of detentions in east Charlotte, west Charlotte, south Charlotte, Concord and Monroe.
And the instance that is causing the most concern, especially among CMS parents, is the detention of a father who was taking his child to school at Charlotte East Language Academy. He was detained on Albemarle Road in east Charlotte, shortly before the school’s drop-off line.
There were also rumors of ICE activity on Thursday near Windsor Park Elementary School in east Charlotte, but that is not confirmed by ICE.
De la Canal: And ICE released a statement Wednesday, saying they did arrest a guy near the school, but it seems to be a different man, right?
Berger: On Wednesday, WFAE received a statement from ICE stating that they detained Adrian Ojeda-Calvillo, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, outside of Charlotte East Language Academy. According to court documents, he was previously convicted of multiple crimes, including domestic violence.
However, in the statement, ICE says they arrested Ojeda-Calvillo on a sidewalk near his home. And according to witness accounts, the dad who was detained was taken from his car. That’s when I realized ICE was talking about a completely separate arrest. ICE then confirmed to me that there were two separate arrests outside of the school, but will not identify the father to me at this time.
De la Canal: Have any local government officials spoken out about what’s going on?
Berger: On Tuesday evening, during a CMS school board meeting, board Chair Stephanie Sneed said that the school system aims to create a safe and supportive learning environment for students.
Board Member Liz Monterrey also wrote a statement saying all students should be protected, regardless of immigration status.
North Carolina House Rep. Jordan Lopez also put out a statement, condemning the arrest near the school and calling on CMS to take immediate action.
De la Canal: Has ICE declared that they are specifically targeting Charlotte?
Berger: On Tuesday, when I was hearing about all of these detentions, I called ICE, and its spokesperson said that there was nothing out of the ordinary happening in Charlotte because arrests happen every day here.
But on Wednesday, ICE posted a video on its X account of a detention in Georgia and said it was part of a “larger immigration enforcement operation that included Charlotte.” I reached out to ICE, and its spokesperson said they didn’t have any information on this.
De la Canal: So, of course, President Trump pledged to deport millions of undocumented immigrants. But do we have any official data from ICE?
Berger: There is no official data from ICE on how many people it has detained both in Charlotte and in North Carolina. There are only national numbers. This is something I have pushed ICE for since President Trump took office back in January. ICE says it is working on some sort of database where these numbers would be available — it was supposed to be ready by February, and we are in May now. Four months later, and still nothing.
De la Canal: Why are they not wanting to share any information?
Berger: There is no clear-cut explanation as to why ICE isn’t sharing much information with us. It’s important to note that ICE regularly arrests people, so it’s hard to tell what’s new and what’s routine without this data. So, maybe the number of people they’re arresting is similar to what they did last year in Charlotte, or maybe it’s a lot more. We don’t know, because they’re not telling us.
Now, this is just speculation, it seems like the agency is waiting for their operation to finish, to then publish a total of how many people they detained in Charlotte. This week, ICE posted a statement on X, saying they had arrested over 200 people in Los Angeles in a week-long operation.
De la Canal: What are nonprofits doing during this time to aid the immigrant community?
Berger: The nonprofit Comunidad Colectiva is working to verify detentions in Mecklenburg County. They have a hotline people call to provide tips, and their volunteers will go out and verify if ICE is conducting a detention. From there, they help families connect with those detained, and their partner nonprofit, Carolina Migrant Network, provides pro bono legal representation for the detainee.
