Border agents are planning to hit New Orleans with immigration raids after Thanksgiving.
The Democrat-run city is expected to see sweeps similar to the ongoing operations in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Charlotte, where agents have arrested hundreds of illegal immigrants, according to CNN.
Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, who has led the other operations, is expected to descend upon the city with roughly 250 federal agents starting the first week of December in an operation dubbed “Swamp Sweep,” according to multiple reports.
The goal is to arrest roughly 5,000 illegal immigrants living in both Louisiana and Mississippi, NBC News recently reported.
The city’s Democratic leadership is now bracing for impact.
New Orleans City Council Vice President and Democratic Mayor-elect Helena Moreno recently launched a website to instruct immigrants on how to navigate encounters with Border Patrol agents.
“My first priority is to keep our community safe. The reports of due process violations and potential abuses in other cities are concerning. I want our community to be aware and informed of the protections available under law,” Moreno said in a recent statement.
“We must demand accountability and that people’s rights are not violated. I’m also calling on our legal community to step up and provide whatever assistance they can to help protect and preserve individual rights.”
New Orleans is home to more than 23,000 immigrants who account for roughly 6.5% of the city’s population, according to CNN. Roughly half of the city’s immigrants are noncitizens.
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Bracing for impact, some immigrants have already started to call out of work, leaving local businesses scrambling.
Ingrid Ferguson, who owns several grocery stores in New Orleans specializing in Central American products, told CNN that her immigrant employees are fearful to show up to work, forcing her and her family to pick up extra shifts.
Business revenue has been nearly cut in half with fewer Latino customers coming in.
Ferguson has started offering a free delivery service to immigrants hiding out at home and has considered temporarily closing all but one store location next week, according to CNN.
Louisiana is a major staging point for deportation flights and is home to eight federal immigration detention centers. Federal authorities across the country often funnel illegal immigrants with deportation orders to Louisiana as the final step in their one-way journey home.
In September, the Trump administration opened “Louisiana Lockup” to hold up to 416 illegal immigrants inside the state-run Angola Prison. The new detention center received the support of Republican Governor Jeff Landry.
“Together, we’re making Louisiana and America safer,” Landry said at the time of the state’s partnership with the Department of Homeland Security.
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