State and federal authorities are closely tracking online criticism and demonstrations against the immigration enforcement operation in New Orleans, monitoring message boards around the clock for threats to agents while compiling regular updates on public "sentiment" surrounding the arrests, according to law enforcement records reviewed by the AP. The intelligence gathering comes as officials release few details about the first arrests made last week as part of "Catahoula Crunch," prompting calls for greater transparency from local officials who say they've been kept in the dark about virtually every aspect of the operation.
"Online opinions still remain mixed, with some supporting the operations while others are against them," said a briefing circulated early Sunday to law enforcement. Earlier bulletins noted "a combination of groups urging the public to record ICE and Border Patrol" as well as "additional locations where agents can find immigrants." Immigration authorities have insisted the sweeps are targeted at "criminal illegal aliens." But the law enforcement records list criminal histories for less than one-third of the 38 people arrested in the first two days of the operation. Local leaders said those numbers undermine the stated aim of the roundup. They also expressed concern that the online surveillance could chill free speech as authorities threaten to charge anyone interfering with immigration enforcement.
"It confirms what we already knew—this was not about public safety, it's about stoking chaos and fear and terrorizing communities," said Democratic state Sen. Royce Duplessis, who represents New Orleans. "It's furthering a sick narrative of stereotypes that immigrants are violent." The US Department of Homeland Security did not respond to questions about the intelligence gathering, instead referring the AP to a prior news release touting "dozens of arrests." The agency has not released an accounting of the detainees taken into custody or their criminal histories. "Americans should be able to live without fear of violent criminal illegal aliens harming them, their families or their neighbors," DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin has said.+
The records shed new light on cooperation among state and federal authorities in an operation welcomed by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry. Both the FBI and Customs and Border Protection have stationed agents at the state's Analytical and Fusion Exchange, an intelligence and data sharing center closely following discussions on the online forum Reddit that local residents have used to exchange information about the raids. The center also has tracked the tools used by protesters to foil federal enforcement, highlighting social media links to whistle handouts, trainings on filming federal agents, and the emergence of a hotline for reporting arrests. Beth Davis of Indivisible NOLA, which has organized trainings described in the law enforcement briefings, said it's sad that authorities seem preoccupied with law-abiding citizens. "That they feel threatened by a bunch of community organizers that have nothing other than phones and whistles blows my mind," Davis said.
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