CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Fears and outrage grow as Border Patrol swarms Charlotte. More than 130 people have been arrested in three days of Operation Charlotte’s Web.
“This is the worst period that we ever experienced in Charlotte, North Carolina,” James Mitchell, Charlotte City Council at Large said. “I just feel helpless. I wish we had more, more guidelines, more authority.”
Border Patrol says most of the people arrested violated immigration laws and some have violent criminal histories, but some citizens are even scared. Businesses are closing, people aren’t showing up to work, more than 20,000 students didn’t show up to school Monday.
“Here’s the opportunity for you to be that true ally,” Lawana Mayfield, Charlotte City Council at large said. Like I said, do the grocery shopping, pick up the meds if you need to, make sure that the children have what they need.”
Charlotte’s Mayor has limited power for executive orders, but the city council budget committee voted to fund organizations that are working with impacted residents.
“What we ended up doing was making a decision that we have to allocate funding with the county to be able to determine where we can make people whole,” Mayor Vi Lyles said.
Community organizers are grateful for the financial support, but there are questions about the timeline for distributing funds.
“What I heard is that they’ve got to work with the county on it to come up with a plan, because they don’t trust the groups to adequately get the money and get the job done,” Robert Dawkins, Action NC Policy Director said.
In the meantime, city leaders are urging residents to lean on Charlotte Mecklenburg Police to ensure agents are legit and working within the law.
“These are things that are very real,” Mayor Lyles said. “So let’s just hope that we can put things back together when this is over.”
City council will vote on supporting the organizations at the next meeting on November 24th. We’re still working to learn how much the city will commit and when organizations would be eligible to receive the funds.
