new orleans — New Orleans, the sleepy city known as the Big Easy and the birthplace of jazz, where lavish parades, bead-throwing debauchery and Creole cuisine attract tourists from around the world, is about to become the next launching pad for the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda.
practical “Clearing the swamp.” A massive, months-long anti-immigration campaign in southeastern Louisiana is expected to begin on December 1, but Democratic-run New Orleans expects up to 250 federal troops to arrive on Friday, all with the support of the state’s Republican governor.
Gov. Jeff Landry has sought to align New Orleans with federal immigration enforcement efforts through legislation and legal challenges, and the Border Patrol deployment is just the latest campaign to increase that pressure. With the New Orleans Police Department releasing A.J Federal Reform Charter On Wednesday, its officers will lose the legal machinery that has long protected them from having to engage in immigration enforcement.
The US Department of Homeland Security operation will be led by the Commander of the Border Patrol gregory bovino, who has already overseen aggressive campaigns in Los Angeles, Chicago and Charlotte, North Carolina.
Landry, who has close ties to the nation’s top immigration officials, has made immigration enforcement a priority.
Louisiana does not share a border with another state, yet it has become one of the nation’s largest detention centers for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with capacity for up to 6,000 detainees. In September, the Bayou State opened “Louisiana Lock” Inside a state prison notorious for holding immigrants deemed dangerous by federal officials.
The governor also highlighted crimes where the suspect’s immigration status is questionable, e.g A tour guide was killed in the French Quarter By a group that included a Honduran man who entered the country illegally.
Democratic leaders in New Orleans frequently spar with Landry and other state officials who accuse the city of lax law enforcement and are pushing for cooperation with the Trump administration’s sweeping anti-immigration crackdown.
Elected mayor Helena MorenoA Mexican-American immigrant told The Associated Press that there is “a lot of fear” in her city, and she is working to ensure those who could be targeted by federal agents know their rights.
“I’m very concerned about due process being violated, and I’m very concerned about racial profiling,” Moreno said.
New Orleans is known for its rich blend of French, Spanish, African, and Native American cultures. It is home to more than 10,000 ethnic Vietnamese who arrived after the Vietnam War. A monument in the city honors the thousands of Latino workers who helped rebuild New Orleans afterward Hurricane Katrina. South Louisiana’s distinct Cajun heritage arose from French-speaking colonists exiled there in the 18th century.
In September, Landry requested the deployment of the National Guard to New Orleans, citing an increase in violent crimes City police say crime has decreased Its elected leaders say federal troops are unnecessary. Operation Swamp Sweep is focused on “getting dangerous criminals off the street,” Landry told Newsmax on Wednesday.
A Landry spokesman declined to comment to The Associated Press about Border Patrol operations.
Rachel Taber, an organizer with the New Orleans-based advocacy group Union Migrante, said the influx of federal agents will have far-reaching negative effects.
“The same people who are pushing this attack on immigrants are profiting from migrant labor and the exploitation of immigrants,” Tapper said. “Who do they think is going to clean the hotels from Mardi Gras or clean them up after the fancy Mardi Gras parade?”
In August, Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell saying the city “engages in sanctuary policies and practices that frustrate the enforcement of federal immigration laws.” The city has been barred from receiving some federal law enforcement grants, according to Jim Craft, executive director of the Louisiana Law Enforcement Commission, which distributes federal funds. Cantrell did not respond to a request for comment.
Under Landry, Louisiana’s GOP-dominated Legislature has targeted New Orleans’ immigration policies, including by passing a law that threatens jail time for law enforcement officials who delay or ignore federal law enforcement efforts. Another measure directs state agencies to verify, track and report anyone who is illegally in the United States and receives state services, and another measures blocks city policies prohibiting cooperation with federal immigration agencies.
“Their enforcement is haphazard at best, and corrupt at worst,” said Republican state Sen. Jay Morris, who was behind a law punishing obstruction of immigration enforcement. “Clearly we should have a law telling people not to break the law.”
The Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office and New Orleans Police Department were involved in the matter Longstanding federal oversight Which prevented them from participating in immigration enforcement.
Police oversight ended Wednesday, leaving officers in an uncertain legal position if they receive conflicting directives from city and state leaders, according to the city’s independent police superintendent, Stella Chement.
Moreno, who is scheduled to take office as mayor on Jan. 12, said city police will follow state law, but the department’s policy considers immigration enforcement a civil matter outside its jurisdiction. New Orleans Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick said the department’s policies preventing immigration enforcement were “not inconsistent” with state laws.
Kirkpatrick said she met with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials this week and her department will work with federal agents to ensure public safety.
“Our support is to ensure that they do not come to harm and that our community is not in danger,” she said.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Morrill, with support from the Justice Department, has asked for an end to federal oversight of the Sheriff’s Office, saying it hinders the state’s ability to enforce immigration law.
The Sheriff’s Office, which runs the city jail, has a federally mandated policy of not detaining people at ICE unless they have committed a serious crime. The US government says that since 2022, the prison has only responded to two of the detainees’ 170 requests, court filings show. Sheriff-elect Michelle Woodfork told the AP she would abide by state law if federal oversight ended.
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Klein reported from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.