Here's the latest
• The immigration enforcement blitz dubbed “Operation Catahoula Crunch” is underway in New Orleans. The Department of Homeland Security aims for 5,000 arrests in the area, it said, and Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino, who is leading a nationwide enforcement crackdown that has targeted Democratic-run cities, is on the ground.
• As volunteers and city officials in New Orleans take action to protect immigrants’ rights, a suburban police chief has welcomed the federal action.
• President Donald Trump has escalated his rhetorical attack on Somalis in Minnesota, reiterating he doesn’t want them in the US. He also said the state’s Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, who was born in Somalia, shouldn’t be allowed to serve in Congress.
• In the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, officials have vowed to defend the Somali community. By executive order, Minneapolis’ mayor banned all government agencies from using city-owned parking lots, ramps, garages or vacant lots for immigration enforcement operations.
Worry strikes New Orleans' Vietnamese community
As ICE cracks down on immigration enforcement in New Orleans, many immigrants in New Orleans’ deeply-rooted Vietnamese community are worried about being targeted, according to CNN affiliate WWL.
Roughly 3,500 residents in New Orleans were born in Vietnam, WWL reported, according to the Census Bureau. Many Vietnamese immigrants came to Louisiana as refugees after the fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War in 1975.
Vietnamese immigrants with criminal convictions or those who have violated immigration laws are facing the highest risk of being deported in the current crackdown.
“A lot of my Vietnamese clients are nervous now,” Michael Gahagan, a local immigration attorney, told WWL. “I’m starting to see a big influx of Vietnamese clients who normally would know they would never get deported. But now the situation has changed.”
Immigration crackdown in Minnesota is about creating fear, lieutenant governor says
The immigration crackdown underway in Minnesota’s Twin Cities is “all about striking fear into the hearts of Minnesotans,” Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan told CNN’s Kate Bolduan on CNN News Central this morning.
Flanagan also took a swipe at comments made by President Donald Trump — who referred to the state’s Somali community as “garbage” who should “go back to where they came from.”
The president’s comments were “vile” and “dehumanizing,” said Flanagan.
“This is just about making people afraid of folks who are our healthcare professionals, our teachers, our congresswomen, our mayors, our neighbors. And it’s disgusting,” she added.
The president yesterday said Minnesota’s US Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar “and her friends” shouldn’t be allowed to serve as members of Congress as he continued to accuse Somalis of destroying the state.
Know the political landscape of states currently experiencing immigration enforcement blitzes
Minnesota:
- Tim Walz is the current governor of Minnesota and a member of the Democratic Party.
- The state’s major cities of Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Rochester are Democratic strongholds.
- The state, as a whole, went 50.9% for Kamala Harris and 46.7% for Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
Louisiana:
- Jeff Landry is the current governor of Louisiana and a member of the Republican Party.
- The state’s major cities of New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Shreveport are Democratic strongholds.
- The state, as a whole, went 60.2% for Donald Trump and 38.2% for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
"Righteous anger" drives community member to document authorities' interactions with immigrants
At a training session aimed at teaching citizens to record immigration enforcement activities in New Orleans one participant said a “righteous anger,” drove them to become involved.
The session was conducted by Union Migrante a grassroots organization who says they want to be the eyes on the government’s activities in the region.
The group has been holding multiple training session in the lead up to the enforcement surge in New Orleans. Session leaders said they aimed to educate the community on how to record encounters and share relevant information.
Nearly twenty people attended Wednesday night’s session held in a large conference hall in Gretna, Louisiana, a town about a 10 minute drive across the Mississippi River from New Orleans. As part of the session they worked thru role-playing scenarios, provided education on basic law around interactions with authorities and instructions on recording their activity.
The group has been quickly posting videos of immigration enforcement encounters to their social media, along with information on where the videos were taken. The posts are in both Spanish and English.
The videos have been widely shared on social media throughout the community.
New Orleans City Council launches online portal for reporting alleged abuse
New Orleans residents can now report alleged “abuse or misconduct” from federal officers through a new online portal opened by the City Council.
The webpage, launched the same day as the federal immigration crackdown in the New Orleans area began, allows users to upload video of possible abuse, and notes users do not need to provide their real name.
The page also provides “Know Your Rights” handouts in English, Spanish and Vietnamese.
“The announcement of Operation Catahoula Crunch has caused significant alarm in our city and created a culture of fear among our most vulnerable residents,” New Orleans Mayor-elect Helena Moreno said in a statement Wednesday.
Moreno emphasized the need to document potential issues during the federal operation and to “ensure due process is followed for all of our residents.”
Council President JP Morrell said the portal will also help provide transparency around federal officers’ activity.
“While the federal government claims they are only targeting violent criminals, we have all seen the reports of law-abiding residents being ripped away from their families and loved ones to serve a political agenda,” he said in the statement.
Here's the latest on the immigration crackdowns in New Orleans and the Twin Cities
Immigration crackdowns are underway in New Orleans and the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul in Minnesota — the latest targets of President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration enforcement push that’s seen a surge of federal agents flood the streets of Democratic-led cities including Los Angeles, Chicago, and Charlotte, North Carolina.
Here’s the latest from our reporters on the ground and beyond:
New Orleans
- “Operation Catahoula Crunch” will seek at least 5,000 arrests, the Department of Homeland Security said, with Secretary Kristi Noem saying it will “remove the worst of the worst.” But that number is “not realistic,” New Orleans City Council member Lesli Harris said, telling CNN: “I don’t think that there are 5,000 worst of the worst out there.”
- Mayor-elect Helena Moreno, who was born in Mexico, said she sees racial profiling in the crackdown.
- Much of the community believes the crackdown is not targeting the most violent people but is instead an effort to “round up one of the most vulnerable populations,” City Council member Oliver Thomas said.
- A 2024 law designed to bar anyone from getting within 25 feet of a law enforcement officer during an active operation was cited last week by police to try to keep a bystander with a camera away. But that law was ruled unconstitutional 10 months ago.
- The ACLU filed a lawsuit challenging a controversial state law making it a crime to “interfere, ignore, or thwart federal immigration enforcement efforts.”
- Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino was seen walking around the French Quarter and at a Home Depot parking lot in suburban Kenner. Bovino is leading the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement crackdown across the country.
Twin Cities
- As President Donald Trump escalated his rhetorical attack on Somalis in Minnesota, reiterating he doesn’t want them in the US, officials in the state vowed to defend the Somali community in the Twin Cities.
- Immigration enforcement authorities are targeting all people of Somali descent, even US citizens, said a Somali refugee who is a Minneapolis City Council member. Minnesota is home to more than 79,000 Somalis, roughly 80% of whom live in the Twin Cities.
- Under a new executive order by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, federal, state and local agencies are banned from using city-owned parking lots, ramps, garages or vacant lots for immigration enforcement operations.
- Protesters gathered near the Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport facility that serves as a base for deportation flights to denounce ICE operations targeting Somalis.
Police chief in Louisiana city welcomes federal crackdown
The police chief of Kenner, Louisiana, welcomed federal immigration enforcement operations in his city, telling CNN affiliate WVUE he has sought federal help for years.
“I’ve been asking for it since I got elected in 2022. The federal government, our federal partners, have resources that we just don’t have,” Kenner Police Chief Keith Conley told WVUE.
Conley pointed to crime in Kenner that he says were committed by undocumented immigrants, telling WVUE: “If there was real immigration reform or if detainers were issued and followed through on, those subjects probably would not have been in the streets of Kenner.”
The Department of Homeland Security said targets of the newly launched immigration enforcement operation include “violent criminals who were released after arrest for home invasion, armed robbery, grand theft auto, and rape.”
But New Orleans Mayor-Elect Helena Moreno has suggested federal agents appear to be racially profiling rather than attempting to arrest violent criminals.
Conley urged people to contact authorities if they feel they have been racially profiled.
“If you feel that you’ve been profiled or, you know, picked out on any bias or you feel that you’ve been unjustly treated in any form or fashion, you can either contact our Internal Affairs Division or…the FBI,” he told WVUE.
Men seen on roof surrounded by federal agents were workers repairing damage, homeowner says
Two men seen on video standing on a roof as federal agents surrounded a home in a New Orleans suburb on Wednesday were roofers, the homeowner told CNN affiliate WVUE.
CNN previously reported on the incident in Kenner, Louisiana, which happened on the first day of the immigration crackdown in the area.
In a video, shot by FNTV, agents wearing Border Patrol vests can be seen swarming the home and detaining at least one person.
One of the agents told FNTV in the video that Border Patrol officers were conducting immigration enforcement operations when people ran onto the roof and were chased. Several people came down on their own and were taken into custody, the agent added.
The homeowner told WVUE the two men on the roof were repairing damage sustained by last year’s Hurricane Francine when federal agents arrived.
CNN has reached out to Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
Video taken in Kenner, Louisiana shows two men standing on a roof Wednesday as federal agents surround a home in a suburb outside of New Orleans. It’s not clear why Border Patrol agents did not attempt to get the two men off the roof before leaving the scene or if the men are undocumented.
Somali shopping center goes quiet amid Minneapolis immigration crackdown
A usually bustling Minneapolis mall that hosts dozens of Somali shops was largely quiet Wednesday as anxiety over the federal immigration operation in the Twin Cities spreads.
“We’ve never been empty like this,” a woman who runs a hair salon told CNN. She said usually “we are busy, always working, but today there is nobody … they are hiding.”
The Karmel Mall is filled with rows of boutiques selling traditional Somali attire, colorful prayer mats and gold jewelry. Offices interspersed offer visa and overseas shipping services.
Some members of the Somali community at the mall are carrying their US passports on them everywhere where they go.
“I got my passport right here, I’m not going to lie to you,” said Edil, a 24-year-old American-born Somali woman who only wanted to give her first name, describing the situation as “insane.”
Mohamed Amin Ahmed said the mall typically has “amazing” energy. “Commerce is something that the Somali community does very well,” he added.
Ahmed told CNN he’s faced backlash within his community because he campaigned for President Donald Trump during last year’s election.
“People are saying ‘we told you so … you gave us this presidency, and now we are being called garbage,’” he said.
Despite this, Ahmed said he maintains hope in Trump. He said if he could speak to the president he would implore him to “differentiate between good, bad, and evil.”
What the Somali community in Minneapolis is saying
With Minneapolis a major target of President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown, CNN found anxiety and outright fear there this week.
A man working at a bakery at the Karmel Mall who gave only his first name, Fawzi, was nervous even though he was born in the Minnesota city, he said.
Outside the 24 Somali Mall, a man panhandling on a snowy street was approached by armed men in law enforcement vests marked “ERO,” or Enforcement and Removal Operations, CNN witnessed. They asked him for his identification before letting him go, said the man, who declined to give CNN his name and said he is a US citizen born in Buffalo, New York.
The man showed the agents his “papers,” he told CNN, adding he wouldn’t have had a problem with doing so had the agents not been so “aggressive.”
Kamal Ali, who runs a dump truck business with his father and brother, made sure to stick his passport in his wallet before heading to Karmel Mall.
“I don’t want no issues,” said Ali, who told CNN he came to the US at age 10 with his parents after living in a refugee camp in Somalia.
Abdul Abdullahi, who runs an employment office, said he finds Trump’s words about the Somali community “shameful.”
Some Minnesotans CNN spoke to had voted for Trump. A patron at Karmel Mall said he attended a Trump rally in Minneapolis in 2019 but was turned away as the venue was full.
Trump’s rhetoric, Mohamud said, will boost the president’s standing at the expense of the local Somali community.
Rep. Omar says Trump is trying to deflect from his failures
After President Donald Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric against Somalis and Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, the congresswoman told CNN’s Jake Tapper she why is not surprised.
Why the New Orleans immigration crackdown is called "Operation Catahoula Crunch"
The Department of Homeland Security has favored catchy names for its immigration crackdowns in major US cities – including “Operation Midway Blitz” in Chicago and “Operation Charlotte’s Web” in Charlotte, North Carolina.
But Wednesday’s official announcement of its new operation in New Orleans left many rushing to Google for an explanation.
“Catahoula Crunch targets include violent criminals who were released after arrest for home invasion, armed robbery, grand theft auto, and rape,” said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in a statement.
So, what does Catahoula Crunch mean? The Catahoula Leopard Dog is the officially recognized state dog of Louisiana, a hunting and herding breed described by the American Kennel Club as having high energy and a tendency to be protective.
The breed typically has distinctive light-colored eyes and spotted fur that gives rise to its “leopard” name. It became Louisiana’s official state dog in 1979, and is said to be the only breed of dog with historical origins in the state.
The National Association of Louisiana Catahoulas warns that although they can be good family dogs, they are not docile pets.
“NALC’s motto is ‘not everyone needs a Louisiana Catahoula’ and we stand by that fact,” the organization says.
