New data from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement shows a 160% increase in the number of daily arrests across North Carolina compared to the same period last year.
According to data obtained through the Deportation Data Project, in the timeframe since Trump began his second term through early June, ICE arrested nearly 1,600 people in North Carolina. A quarter of those arrests were tied to operations conducted in the Charlotte region.
May marked the biggest spike, with more than 400 arrests statewide. That same month, ICE conducted a larger-scale operation in Charlotte.
Nearly half of those arrested had no prior criminal convictions, and 20% were arrested solely for being undocumented. Over 80% of those arrested were from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador.
By early June, close to 1,000 of those arrested had been deported.
Becca O’Neill, an immigration attorney with Carolina Migrant Network, which provides pro bono legal services to those arrested, says ICE is following the Trump administration’s promise of mass deportations.
“They sort of promote this narrative that all immigrants are criminals," O'Neill said. "The intent — and it's been pretty successful — it’s to criminalize immigrant communities.”
O’Neill says immigration attorneys have struggled to keep up with the uptick in ICE arrests, making it harder to ensure people have access to due process.
