Federal agents have now arrested more than 250 people during a North Carolina immigration crackdown centred around Charlotte, the State's largest city, the US Department of Homeland Security said on Wednesday (November 20, 2025).
The operation that began over the weekend is the latest phase of Republican President Donald Trump's aggressive mass deportation efforts that have sent the military and immigration agents into Democratic-run cities — from Chicago to Los Angeles.
Immigration officials have blanketed the country since January, pushing detention counts to all-time highs above 60,000. Big cities and small towns across the country are targeted daily amid higher-profile pushes in places such as Portland, Oregon, where more than 560 immigration arrests were made in October. Smaller bursts of enforcement have popped up elsewhere.
The push to carry out arrests in North Carolina expanded to areas around the state capital of Raleigh on Tuesday, spreading fear in at least one immigrant-heavy suburb.
Late Wednesday, Raleigh Mayor Janet Cowell said via the social platform X that “border patrol enforcement appears to have been suspended” in the city. DHS did not announce a change to its presence and did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
