U.S. Border Patrol launched Operation Charlotte’s Web in Charlotte, North Carolina, on November 15, targeting immigrants as part of a national crackdown. The operation, which later extended to the Raleigh and Durham areas with little advance notice to local leaders, unfolded amid secrecy and confusion and prompted a rapid mobilization by immigrant advocacy groups led by Siembra NC.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Operation Charlotte’s Web began in Charlotte on November 15, with agents fanning out across the city as part of a broader Trump administration immigration crackdown in Democratic-led areas.
According to reporting in The Nation, Border Patrol’s presence then expanded to Durham and Raleigh, more than two hours from Charlotte, where the mayors of both cities said they had received no advance notice before agents appeared in their communities.(thenation.com) A week into the operation, Democratic Governor Josh Stein sent a sharply worded letter to the Department of Homeland Security, writing that “state officials have received no notice of planned immigration enforcement actions since these operations began.”(thenation.com)
Siembra NC, a Latino advocacy organization founded in 2017 in response to earlier Trump-era immigration policies, moved quickly to counter the enforcement campaign. The day before Border Patrol arrived in Charlotte, the group launched a website called OJO Obrero—“Lookout, Workers”—to crowdsource and map confirmed sightings of CBP agents and immigration arrests.(thenation.com) On the day agents were raiding neighborhoods and job sites, Siembra NC hosted a training titled “Safe to School, Safe to Work, Safe to Worship,” which drew about 400 participants and covered how to identify federal agents, organize neighborhood patrols, and de‑escalate potential confrontations.(thenation.com)
In the following days, volunteer turnout surged. The Nation reports that more than 1,000 people packed Methodist and Presbyterian churches in Charlotte for additional trainings, with hundreds more signing up when Border Patrol operations spread to Durham and Raleigh. Just over a week after the raids began, Siembra NC said it had trained more than 4,000 patrol volunteers across North Carolina, giving residents a structured way to respond to the enforcement actions.(thenation.com) “People go to a training, take a shift, become shift leads, train other people,” said Nikki Marín Baena, codirector of Siembra NC and the daughter of Colombian immigrants. “Lots of people are suddenly able to take action quickly to help people get home safely, to help kids get home from school.”(thenation.com)
Siembra NC has described Operation Charlotte’s Web as the most urgent situation it has faced, building on prior organizing that included training more than 2,000 people statewide to respond to Immigration and Customs Enforcement through an ICE Watch hotline, according to The Nation.(thenation.com) Mecklenburg County—home to Charlotte—has seen rapid demographic change over the past decade, with large increases in Latino and Asian residents, a backdrop that has intensified local concern over federal enforcement actions. (Precise percentage growth figures cited in some advocacy materials could not be independently verified across multiple outlets.)
The Charlotte operation is being led by Border Patrol official Greg Bovino, who has been associated with aggressive immigration sweeps elsewhere. In a separate report on Charlotte, WBTV noted that the crackdown, which began on Saturday, November 15, led to 130 arrests in its first two days, including a “record‑breaking” 81 arrests within the first five hours, according to Homeland Security.(wbtv.com) By mid‑week, DHS said more than 250 people had been arrested in the Charlotte area, and internal figures later cited by national outlets indicated roughly 270 Border Patrol arrests overall, with fewer than one‑third of those individuals classified as “criminal aliens.”(wbtv.com)
Nationally, advocates have compared Operation Charlotte’s Web to recent federal actions in Chicago. Court filings there show that more than 97 percent of the 614 immigrants detained in a Trump‑era Chicago raid, dubbed Operation Midway Blitz, had no criminal convictions, undermining official claims that the effort was focused on dangerous offenders.(theguardian.com) While the specific percentages differ from the internal breakdown reported in Charlotte, immigrant rights groups argue that both operations demonstrate a pattern of wide‑net arrests that sweep up many people without serious criminal histories.
Confusion also surrounded the status of the North Carolina operation itself. On November 20, Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden said federal officials had informed him that Operation Charlotte’s Web had “officially concluded” and that no further Border Patrol activity was planned in Charlotte that day, a statement echoed in local and national coverage.(wfae.org) But DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin publicly contradicted that assertion, telling reporters and local outlets that “the operation is not over and it is not ending anytime soon,” and that federal agencies would continue targeting what the department described as the “most dangerous criminal illegal aliens.”(cbsnews.com)
The crackdown’s effects rippled through schools and workplaces. Local television station WBTV reported that more than 30,000 Charlotte‑Mecklenburg Schools students were absent on Monday, November 17, as immigration raids intensified, and another Charlotte outlet, WCCB, noted that more than 20,000 students missed school that day.(wbtv.com) News coverage and community groups have described businesses across Charlotte’s immigrant neighborhoods closing their doors or operating with skeletal staff, as workers stayed home for fear of being detained.(axios.com)
In response, Siembra NC and allied organizations set up emergency funds for families who lost income and began working with sympathetic employers who pledged to demand warrants before allowing immigration agents into non‑public areas of their businesses, drawing on long‑standing “know your rights” guidance from civil liberties groups. Details such as the exact number of participating employers vary across advocacy accounts and have not been independently confirmed.
Organizers in North Carolina have also connected with activists in other cities that have experienced large‑scale immigration operations. As The Nation recounts, Siembra NC coordinated with Chicago‑based organizers to hold virtual trainings on neighborhood patrol strategies, communication, and decentralized decision‑making, applying lessons from earlier ICE and Border Patrol raids in the Midwest.(thenation.com)
Beyond immediate relief work, Siembra NC has expanded its voter‑engagement efforts. According to The Nation, the group has registered thousands of Latino voters and knocked on tens of thousands of doors in the 2024 election cycle, seeking to convert the outcry over Operation Charlotte’s Web into long‑term political influence.(thenation.com) While specific future matchups for the 2026 midterms remain uncertain, the organization’s leaders say they are focused on building durable power so communities can better shape state and federal policy. “We have to do the work of taking care of our people, and we have to do the work of helping them navigate the system,” Marín Baena said.(thenation.com)
