Another Border Patrol casualty: Charlotte’s image | Opinion
The U.S. Border Patrol’s aggressive operation in Charlotte leaves behind more than 250 families whose lives will never be the same, an immigrant community gripped by fear and an entire city left reeling from what we’ve just seen.
But another casualty has been Charlotte’s reputation and public image.
In an attempt to justify this federal overreach, the Trump administration and Republican politicians have made it seem like the city is in desperate need of saving. The picture they’ve painted is that Charlotte is a cesspool of lawlessness overrun by gangs and dangerous immigrants.
“What I will say about Charlotte, and this is what the local leadership is leaving out of the equation, is that it’s an epicenter for human trafficking,” Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a recent Fox News appearance. “... It’s also become a major hub for gangs, especially MS-13, that’s part of why we are seeing that human and labor trafficking.”
A post from the official DHS account on X further attempted to link human trafficking to immigration and “sanctuary” policies.
“Terrorist organizations and gangs have taken advantage of the city’s highway system and geographic location to exploit their victims,” the post said. “Americans should be able to live without fear of these violent criminals, but the state’s sanctuary politicians have allowed the worst of worst to roam free.”
Meanwhile, on a CNN panel, conservative commentator Scott Jennings defended the Border Patrol operation by saying Charlotte has a “major MS-13 problem” and “huge murder rate issue.”
Even more disappointing is that North Carolina’s own elected officials, some of whose constituents live or work in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, are repeating such nonsense. U.S. Rep. Mark Harris, who represents the state’s 8th Congressional District, falsely claimed that Border Patrol has “taken HUNDREDS of murderers, rapists, MS-13 gang members, child traffickers, and violent felons off Charlotte’s streets.” U.S. Rep. Pat Harrigan suggested that the more than 150,000 “foreign nationals” in Charlotte have contributed to a rise in violent crime and a strain on city resources.
It all makes Charlotte, a city that’s often ranked one of the best places to live in the U.S., sound like some sort of dystopia. It’s part of the president’s ongoing efforts to trash liberal cities, which he has called hellholes and war zones, as a pretext for flexing his power.
Like any other major city, Charlotte has its struggles. There are legitimate concerns about public safety, including an uptick in violence uptown, and the U.S. absolutely has work to do regarding border security and immigration reform. But data shows crime, including violent crime, in Charlotte as a whole has fallen, and there’s no evidence to suggest undocumented immigrants or MS-13 are a major driver of violent crime. Fox News’ own reporting says it’s The Bloods, not MS-13, that are primarily involved with human trafficking in the area, so drawing a connection between immigrants and human trafficking is irresponsible.
It’s also fearmongering, plain and simple. And even if everything they say about Charlotte were true, there’s not much reason to believe the Border Patrol’s efforts to grab immigrants off the streets helped solve it. The limited information DHS has provided suggests that most of those arrested have no criminal record, just two are alleged gang members, and none of them are accused of things like rape or murder. A recent report from The New York Times even found that DHS has slowed efforts to actually combat things like child abuse, human trafficking and terrorism and diverted those resources to carrying out Trump’s mass deportation agenda.
But the problem isn’t just that the misinformation tarnishes the city’s reputation. It’s also a dangerous, divisive narrative that turns an entire community into scapegoats for the city’s supposed problems. Traffic? Crime? Crowded schools? Housing shortages? Blame the undocumented, Trump administration officials say. Your landscaper, your mechanic, the construction workers who helped build the places you live and work in — they want you to think these people are the enemy, because that’s easier than doing the real, hard work of solving our issues. What was once one of Charlotte’s strengths — its identity as a welcoming, multicultural city — now has made it a target for federal overreach and occupation.
Operation Charlotte’s Web was never really about crime or safety. It was about power. The Trump administration has to make Charlotte look like Gotham so that Trump can look like Batman, not someone who’s more interested in punishment than protection. But that’s not going to make Charlotte better. For too many people, it only made it worse.
Paige Masten is a deputy opinion editor for The Charlotte Observer and McClatchy’s North Carolina Opinion team.
