Rep. Adams pushed DHS for answers on people sleeping outside Charlotte office
This story was produced in partnership between Enlace Latino NC and The Charlotte Observer. Read it in Spanish here.
U.S. Rep. Alma Adams pressed the Department of Homeland Security to explain why people were sleeping outside its Charlotte office after The Charlotte Observer and Enlace Latino NC reported on the problem.
The two newsrooms first reported in late January that people desperate to make their appointments at the Tyvola Centre Drive office were waiting in the cold for days. Many were asylees, they said at the time, and were afraid of what might happen if they missed their check-ins.
They camped out, sometimes with lawn chairs and blankets, and went to a nearby gas station when they needed to use the restroom.
“This matter raises serious concerns regarding public health, safety, and the humane treatment of individuals interacting with the Department,” Adams, a Charlotte Democrat, wrote in a Feb. 5 letter to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, who is slated to leave her job at the end of the month after President Donald Trump fired her. “It also raises questions about internal coordination, appointment scheduling systems, and contingency planning within DHS.”
Adams wrote that she worried that the department’s current practices fell short of being “orderly, transparent, and consistent with basic standards of human dignity.”
Among her questions: How many appointments have been canceled since last August? Have staffing changes led to longer wait times or unfulfilled appointments? What steps is DHS taking to keep people from sleeping outside the Charlotte office?
The Charlotte Observer and Enlace Latino NC asked DHS whether the federal agency has done anything to reduce wait times since January. The agency did not respond.
DHS oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and other agencies. The department has been especially active in Charlotte, North Carolina’s largest and most diverse city, since Trump returned to the White House.
ICE has arrested people near a magnet school, outside the Mecklenburg County courthouse and in other public places. In a five-day operation in November, masked, armed Border Patrol agents patrolled the Queen City and stopped people, including American citizens.
Adams called the operation “an inhumane and unnecessary campaign of terror” at the time.
She is not the only lawmaker from North Carolina to criticize DHS. Republican Sen. Thom Tillis scolded Noem in a congressional hearing on March 3.
Ryan Oehrli covers criminal justice in the Charlotte region for The Charlotte Observer. His work is produced with financial support from the nonprofit The Just Trust. The Observer maintains full editorial control of its journalism.