NEW ORLEANS (AP) — State and federal authorities are closely monitoring online criticism and protests against immigration crackdowns in New Orleans, monitoring message boards around the clock for threats to agents while gathering regular updates on public “sentiment” surrounding 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 as part of the “Catahoula Crunch,” prompting calls for greater transparency from local officials who say they were kept in the dark about virtually every aspect of the operation.
“Opinions online remain mixed, with some supporting the operations while others are against them,” said a briefing circulated early Sunday to law enforcement. Previous bulletins noted “a combination of groups urging the public to register with ICE and Border Patrol” as well as “additional locations where agents can find immigrants.”
Immigration authorities have insisted that the sweeps are aimed at “criminal illegal aliens.” But law enforcement records detail the criminal history 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 release to the media — undermined the stated goal of the roundup. They also expressed concern that online surveillance could chill free speech as authorities threaten to prosecute anyone who interferes with immigration enforcement.
“This confirms what we already knew — this was not about public safety, it’s about unleashing chaos and fear and terrorizing communities,” said state Sen. Royce Duplessis, a Democrat who represents New Orleans. “You are pushing forward a sick narrative of stereotypes that immigrants are violent.”
The US Department of Homeland Security did not respond to questions about the intelligence gathering and referred the AP to a prior news release announcing “dozens of arrests.” The agency did not release an account of the detainees taken into custody or their criminal histories.
Few who were initially arrested had violent criminal records
DHS has publicly detailed only six arrests that resulted from the operation – all people with criminal histories – including one man they vaguely said was convicted of “homicide” and another was 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 in 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,” said DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin.
DHS and Republican leaders have raised the crackdown as targeting the most violent offenders. But records reviewed by the AP identify only nine of the 38 people arrested in the first few days as having criminal histories that extended beyond traffic violations — information that intelligence bulletins warn “should not be distributed to the media.”
The President of the New Orleans City Council, JP Morrell said that the stated objectives of the operation to arrest violent offenders do not match the reality of what is happening.
“There is literally no information being given to the city of New Orleans whatsoever,” Morrell said. “If the goal was to come here and augment existing law enforcement, to 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 appears to be a dragnet focused on people with brown skin, citing viral videos of encounters such as undercover agents chasing a 23-year-old American citizen returning home from the grocery store.
Law enforcement officials have been carefully monitoring such videos and public reaction. “For some supporters, the videos with the sounds of children crying in the background as their parents are put under arrest, are weighing heavily on their hearts,” stated one briefing.
Authorities monitoring public sentiment and protests
The records also shed new light on cooperation among state and federal authorities in an operation welcomed by Louisiana Republican Governor 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 is closely monitoring discussions on the online forum Reddit that local residents have used to exchange information about the immigration raids.
One informant noted that some “have gone so far as to accuse agents of racially profiling specifically Hispanic areas.” Other posts flagged on social media suggesting that agents “are not sticking to the mission of targeting only criminal immigrants.” And a third pointed out that critics of the raids “bring past hurricanes and the work done by immigrants” behind them.
“Chatter is slower overnight, mainly only commenting on posts from earlier in the day,” reads one of the updates. “Once daylight arrives and the agencies come out again, the chatter and new posts will resume.”
The information did not identify any threats to law enforcement, but the fusion center sought to deny 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 law enforcement on Saturday.
One briefing described an incident involving “suspicious persons/protesters” who showed up early Saturday at an ICE facility in St. Charles Parish, where records show detainees were expected to be processed.
Some local officials said they were unaware of the state’s role in online monitoring. Louisiana State Police promised “operational support” to immigration authorities and warned the public that troops 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,” wrote Trooper Danny Berrincha, a state police spokesman, in an email to the AP. “Through the LSP Fusion Center, we actively follow developments and facilitate information sharing and communication among our partner agencies.”
The fusion center also tracked the tools used by protesters to disrupt federal immigration enforcement, highlighting social media links to whistle-blower handouts, training on filming federal agents and the emergence of a hotline for reporting arrests. The surveillance extended to activists’ discussions about the presence of immigration authorities near an elementary school and gathered 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 grassroots advocacy group Union Migrante, which shares reports and videos of federal immigration enforcement operations. “We are not doing anything illegal.”
Beth Davis, spokeswoman for Indivisible NOLA, which organized some of the training described in the law enforcement briefings, said it was unfortunate that authorities seemed preoccupied with law-abiding citizens. “To feel threatened by a group of community organizers who have nothing but phones and whistles blows my mind.”
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Mustian reported from New York.