NEW ORLEANS (AP) — State and federal authorities are closely monitoring online criticism and demonstrations against an immigration crackdown in New Orleans, monitoring message boards around the clock for threats against agents while compiling regular updates on public “sentiment” around the arrests, according to law enforcement records reviewed by The Associated Press.
The intelligence gathering comes even as officials released few details about the first arrests made last week in the “Catahoula Crunch,” prompting calls for greater transparency from local officials who say they were kept in the dark about nearly every aspect of the operation.
“Opinions online still remain mixed, with some supporting the operations while others are against them,” said a briefing released Sunday morning to law enforcement. Previous bulletins have noted “a mix of groups urging the public to register ICE and Border Patrol,” as well as “additional locations where agents may find immigrants.”
Immigration officials have insisted the measures are aimed at “criminal illegal aliens”. But law enforcement records detail criminal records for less than a third of the 38 people arrested in the first two days of the operation.
Local leaders told the AP that those numbers — which law enforcement officials have been warned not to share with the media — undermined the stated purpose of the brief. They also expressed concern that online surveillance could freeze free speech as authorities threaten to charge anyone who interferes with immigration enforcement.
“It confirms what we already knew — it wasn’t about public safety, it was about stirring up chaos and fear and terrorizing communities,” said state Sen. Royce Duplessis, a Democrat who represents New Orleans. “It promotes a sick narrative of stereotypes that immigrants are violent.”
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not respond to questions about the intelligence collection and referred the AP to an earlier news release outlining “dozens of arrests.” The agency has not released an accounting of the detainees taken into custody or their criminal records.
Few initially arrested had violent criminal records
DHS has publicly detailed only six arrests resulting from the operation — all of them with criminal records — including one man they vaguely said was convicted of “homicide” and another convicted of sexual assault. The agency, which has several hundred agents on the ground in southeast Louisiana, said it aims to make at least 5,000 arrests in the region during 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,” DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said.
DHS and Republican leaders have framed the crackdown as targeting the most violent criminals. But records reviewed by the AP identify only nine of the 38 people arrested in the first few days as having criminal records beyond traffic violations — information the fact sheets warn “should not be released to the media.”
New Orleans City Council President JP Morrell said the stated goals of the operation to arrest violent criminals do not align with the reality of what is happening.
“Literally no information is being given to the city of New Orleans,” Morrell said. “If the goal was for them to come here and augment existing law enforcement, go after violent criminals or people with extensive criminal histories, why not be more transparent about who you arrested and why?”
Morrell and other officials said the crackdown appeared to be a network focused on brown-skinned people, citing viral videos of encounters such as masked agents following a 23-year-old American citizen returning home from the store.
Law enforcement officers have been closely watching such footage and the public’s reaction. “For some supporters, the videos with the sounds of children crying in the background while their parents are arrested weigh heavily on their hearts,” a briefing said.
Authorities monitoring public sentiment and protests
The records also shed new light on the cooperation between state and federal authorities in an operation hailed by Republican Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry. Both the FBI and Customs and Border Protection have stationed agents at the Louisiana State Analytical and Fusion Exchange, an intelligence and data-sharing center that closely monitors discussions on the online forum Reddit that local residents have used to exchange information about immigration raids.
One briefing noted that some “went so far as to accuse agents of racially profiling specifically Hispanic areas.” Another flagged post on social media suggests that agents “are not following the mission of targeting only criminal immigrants.” And a third pointed out that critics of the raids “bring up past hurricanes and the work done by immigrants” in their wake.
“Conversation is slower at night, mainly just commenting on posts from earlier in the day,” states one of the briefings. “Once the daylight comes and the agencies come back, the talk and the new posts will come back.”
The briefings identified no threat to law enforcement, but the fusion center sought to debunk what it called false reports that a pedestrian had been fatally struck by law enforcement. “It has been confirmed that this did not actually happen,” the center told police on Saturday.
A briefing described an incident involving “suspicious persons/protesters” who showed up early Saturday at an ICE facility in St. Charles, where records show the inmates were to be processed.
Some local officials said they were unaware of the state’s role in online monitoring. Louisiana State Police pledged “operational support” to immigration authorities and warned the public that troopers will arrest anyone who assaults a federal agent 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 Trooper Danny Berrincha wrote in an email to the AP. “Through the LSP Fusion Center, we actively monitor developments and facilitate information sharing and communication between our partner agencies.”
The Fusion Center also tracked the tools protesters used to thwart federal immigration enforcement, highlighting social media links to whistle-blowing documents, training on filming federal agents and the emergence of a hotline to report arrests. The surveillance extended to activist discussions about the presence of immigration authorities near an elementary school and recapped demonstrations inside the New Orleans City Council chambers and elsewhere.
“They can monitor me all they want,” said Rachel Taber, an organizer with the New Orleans-based advocacy group Union Migrante, which shares reports and crowdsourced videos of federal immigration enforcement operations. “We’re not doing anything illegal.”
Beth Davis, spokeswoman for Indivisible NOLA, which organized some of the classes described in the law enforcement briefings, said it was sad that authorities seemed concerned about law-abiding citizens. “It amazes me that they feel threatened by a bunch of community organizers who have nothing but phones and whistles.”
__
Mustian reported from New York.