ICE raids continue to roll out in cities throughout the country. Charlotte, North Carolina, is the latest in a growing list of Democratic-run cities that have seen masked agents sweep in and detain people suspected of being in the US without legal authorization. New Orleans is reported to be next on the list.
Gone is the pretext that those detained have been carefully targeted because they have criminal records. The goal of these operations is “detain first, ask questions later.” Gone also is the promise that the detentions will not create family separations. They do.
Sometimes the operations are given clever names. Chicago’s Operation Midway Blitz preceded Operation Charlotte’s Web. This may be an attempt to confer legitimacy on an action intended to terrify and humiliate people, often just because of their skin color.
Access to the detention centers is tightly controlled. Even elected officials have been barred. But many of those held there, often for weeks, have reported crowded conditions, substandard food and lack of access to medical care.
Beyond these abuses, the raids have normalized the appearance of armed agents on our streets. They have met with widespread resistance from city residents, but in other quarters, some people – even those here legally – are frightened to go out and risk mistreatment or arrest. Most worryingly, intimidation of this sort may work to keep voters away from the polls in 2026 and 2028.
I’m Deborah Booth and that’s my perspective.
