The operation implemented by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) aimed at detaining nearly 5,000 foreigners lacking legal status with the support of at least 250 agents It is becoming very uncomfortable for the citizens of New Orleans and for this reason some union leaders have expressed their repudiation.
Tricia McLaughlin, deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, stated that the objective of the operation is to detain immigrants lacking legal status released by local authorities despite having committed crimes such as home invasion, armed robbery, vehicle theft and rape.
“It is absurd that these monsters have been released back into the streets of New Orleans to commit more crimes and cause more victims,” he said recently through a message shared on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter.
Since last week, By orders of President Donald Trump, ICE operations began in New Orleans with Gregory Bovino, head of the border patrol, leading a group of masked agents who toured several parking lots, Home Depot branches, restaurants and some fast food outlets, hoping to find immigrants to detain them.
Faced with this panorama, Matt Wood, president of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO); Tiger Hammond, president of the Greater New Orleans Central Union Council; and Chip Fleetwood, secretary-treasurer of said organization, issued a joint statement through which they point out that ICE operatives implemented in the city, far from guaranteeing greater security, is dividing citizens, since a large sector of them feels afraid.
“What we are witnessing right now is a direct attack on working people in New Orleans. All over the city, people who sit in the same church pews and send their children to the same schools as us are being harassed and even separated from their families simply because of their appearance.
It is clear that this operation will do nothing to make New Orleans safer. Even workers with legal status are being stopped and harassed on the way to work. This political theater only benefits the billionaire class. Fear will not divide us. “Immigrants helped rebuild New Orleans after it was devastated by Hurricane Katrina: they are part of our community and our union movement from beginning to end,” the text indicates.
For its part, Jeff Landry, Republican governor of Louisiananot only supports the presence of ICE in New Orleans, but warns that its operations will not cease.
“This is going to continue until we get them all off the streets,” he recently declared regarding immigrants lacking legal status.
Keep reading:
• NPNA condemns violence in Louisiana: “A betrayal of those who promoted and rebuilt New Orleans”
• Trump administration deployed agents to New Orleans to detain immigrants
• ICE operations began to detain immigrants in New Orleans and Minneapolis