NEW ORLEANS (AP) — State and federal authorities are closely tracking online criticism and demonstrations of New Orleans’ immigration crackdown, monitoring message boards around the clock for threats to agents while providing regular updates on the public “sentiment” surrounding the arrests, according to law enforcement records reviewed by The Associated Press.
While officials have released few details about the first arrests in last week’s “Operation Catahoula Crunch,” intelligence gathering continues, prompting calls for greater transparency from local officials who say they are in the dark about nearly every aspect of the operation.
A brief distributed to law enforcement early Sunday said “opinions online remain mixed, with some supporting these operations and others opposing them.” An earlier announcement noted that “multiple groups are urging the public to document ICE and Border Patrol situations” and “other locations where agents can find immigrants.”
Immigration authorities insist the sweep targets “illegal aliens with criminal conduct.” But less than a third of the 38 people arrested in the first two days of the operation had detailed criminal records.
Local leaders told The Associated Press that the data undermined the stated goals of the roundup, and law enforcement officials were warned not to distribute the data to the media. They also expressed concern that online surveillance could stifle free speech, as authorities threaten to prosecute anyone who interferes with immigration enforcement.
“This confirms what we already knew — this is not about public safety but about inciting chaos, fear and intimidating communities,” said Democratic state Sen. Royce Duplessis, who represents New Orleans. “This reinforces a pathological stereotype that immigrants are violent.”
The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to questions about the intelligence collection and referred The Associated Press to a previously issued news release that mentioned “dozens of arrests.” The agency has not released the status of the detainees or their criminal records.
Few of those initially arrested had violent criminal records
The Department of Homeland Security has publicly detailed just six arrests in the operation — all of whom had criminal histories — including a man they vaguely said was convicted of “homicide” and another man found guilty of sexual assault. The agency, which has hundreds of agents deployed across southeastern Louisiana, said it aims to arrest at least 5,000 people in the region in an operation expected to last up to two months.
“Americans should be able to live without fear of violent criminal illegal aliens harming them, their families or their neighbors,” said Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.
The Department of Homeland Security and Republican leaders have framed the crackdown as targeting the most violent criminals. But records reviewed by The Associated Press show that only nine of the 38 people arrested in the first days had criminal records beyond traffic offenses – information that the intelligence bulletin warned “should not be disclosed to the media.”
New Orleans City Council President JP Morrell said the stated goal of arresting violent criminals was inconsistent with the actual situation.
“No information was actually provided to the city of New Orleans,” Morrell said. “If their purpose here is to augment existing law enforcement and go after violent criminals or people with extensive criminal histories, why aren’t you more transparent about who you arrest and why?”
Morel and other officials said the crackdown appeared to be a dragnet targeting brown people, citing videos of encounters such as that of masked agents chasing a 23-year-old U.S. citizen home from a grocery store.
Law enforcement officials have been carefully tracking the footage and the public’s reaction. “For some supporters, the video, accompanied by the sounds of children crying as their parents were arrested, weighed heavily on their hearts,” a brief said.
Authorities monitor public sentiment and protests
The records also shed new light on cooperation between state and federal authorities, something Louisiana Republican Gov. Jeff Landry welcomed. The FBI and Customs and Border Protection both have agents stationed at the Louisiana Analysis and Integration Exchange, an intelligence and data-sharing center that monitors discussions on Reddit, an online forum used by local residents to exchange information about immigration raids.
One brief noted that some “even accused agents of specifically targeting Hispanic areas for racial profiling.” Another flagged social media post suggested agents were “failing in their mission to target only criminal immigrants.” A third noted that critics of the attack “bring up past hurricanes and the work done by immigrants.”
“Chat in the evenings is slower and consists mainly of comments on posts from earlier in the day,” one of the briefings said. “Once daybreak occurs and agencies exit, discussions and new posts resurface.”
The briefing showed there was no threat to law enforcement, but the fusion center sought to debunk false reports that a pedestrian was struck and killed by law enforcement. “It has been confirmed that this did not, in fact, occur,” the center told law enforcement on Saturday.
A brief described an incident involving “suspicious individuals/protesters” who showed up early Saturday at an ICE facility in St. Charles Parish, where records show detainees were expected to be processed.
Some local officials said they were unaware of the state’s role in online surveillance. Louisiana State Police pledged to provide “operational support” to immigration authorities and warned the public that officers would arrest anyone who assaults federal agents or causes criminal damage to property.
“Louisiana State Police remain vigilant in monitoring social media activity related to protests, activism and other forms of public response,” state police spokesman Danny Berrincha wrote in an email to The Associated Press. “Through the LSP Fusion Center, we actively track developments and facilitate information sharing and communication among our partner agencies.”
The fusion center also tracked the tools protesters used to thwart federal immigration enforcement, highlighting the connection to social media with whistle handouts, filming of federal agent training and the emergence of hotlines to report arrests. The surveillance expanded to include active discussions about the presence of immigration authorities near an elementary school and recalled demonstrations at the New Orleans City Council chambers and elsewhere.
“They can spy on me all they want,” said Rachel Taber, an organizer with the Immigration Alliance, a grassroots advocacy group in New Orleans that shares crowdsourced reports and videos of federal immigration enforcement operations. “We didn’t do anything illegal.”
Beth Davis, a spokesperson for Indivisible NOLA, which organized some of the training described in the law enforcement briefing, said it was regrettable that authorities seemed preoccupied with law-abiding citizens. “It shocks me that they feel threatened by a group of community organizers who have nothing but phone calls and whistles.”
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Mastian reported from New York.
