The Department of Homeland Security publicly pushed back on former North Carolina Gov. and U.S. Senate candidate Roy Cooper after he objected to tactics used in an immigration enforcement surge in Charlotte. Cooper warned against sweeps based on appearance; DHS pointed to years of detainer refusals and said the operation netted more than 130 arrests in its first two days.
On November 17, 2025, former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper — now a 2026 U.S. Senate candidate — posted on social media that he supports deporting violent offenders but opposes “randomly sweeping up people based on what they look like,” arguing that such tactics could leave dangerous criminals at large while hurting families and the economy. Multiple local outlets and wire services reported the statement as Charlotte saw stepped-up federal enforcement.
DHS responded on November 18 on its official social media accounts, highlighting the case of Jordan Renato Castillo‑Chavez, whom the department described as a Costa Rican national with prior child‑sex related charges, and asserted that North Carolina authorities had previously declined to transfer him to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Those details were presented by DHS on social media and in supportive coverage; independent outlets have not yet published court records for that specific individual.
Senior DHS officials amplified the rebuttal. Tricia McLaughlin, the department’s Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, said on X that more than 1,400 immigration detainers in North Carolina went unhonored in recent years and rejected claims of racial profiling. Reuters likewise reported that DHS justified the Charlotte action by citing nearly 1,400 detainer requests that local officials did not comply with.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem defended the enforcement surge — dubbed “Operation Charlotte’s Web” — and urged local cooperation. DHS said the first two days of the operation (November 16–17) resulted in more than 130 arrests; subsequent updates indicated that 44 of those detained had known criminal histories (about 32%), with offenses that DHS listed as including DUI, assault and weapons‑related charges. Reuters, the Washington Post, WFAE and Charlotte television stations reported the initial totals and the 44‑person subset with criminal records, and Axios Charlotte reported DHS later raised the running total above 250 arrests in the first four days.
DHS also asserted on social media that Charlotte has become a hub for human trafficking and that criminal networks exploit the region’s highways and geography. Those characterizations reflect DHS’s public messaging; they have not been independently quantified in agency data released about the Charlotte operation.
Context from Cooper’s tenure: North Carolina’s Department of Public Safety agreed in February 2021 to a court settlement in NAACP v. Cooper that accelerated the early reentry or release of at least 3,500 incarcerated people over six months to address COVID‑19 risks in prisons. Cooper also vetoed legislation related to ICE cooperation in 2019 and 2022, and again in 2024; the General Assembly later overrode the 2024 veto and enacted a law requiring sheriffs to cooperate with ICE detainers.
Reaction in North Carolina has split along party lines. Republican leaders — including Senate candidate Michael Whatley and legislative leadership — praised the DHS action and linked it to what they describe as years of non‑cooperation with ICE under Democratic officials. Local and state Democratic officials, including Gov. Josh Stein and Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles, criticized alleged profiling and urged that constitutional rights be protected as federal operations continue.
