New Orleans leaders demand DHS transparency in immigration crackdown
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New Orleans City Council leaders are demanding the Department of Homeland Security release arrest data, its agents remove their masks and the department offer clear due process protections as an immigration blitz is underway in the metro area.
Why it matters: The move represents the first organized political effort to push back against what DHS is calling "Operation Catahoula Crunch."
The latest: Surrounded by her fellow City Council-members, Congressman Troy Carter, Urban League CEO Marc Morial and local advocacy leaders, Mayor-elect Helena Moreno issued five demands she says were sent in directly to Border Patrol agent-in-charge Gregory Bovino, who is leading the New Orleans-area operation for DHS.
- Though the group "recognizes federal law and authority," Moreno said, the demands are a direct response to community fear and confusion and negative economic impact, as some people choose to stay home instead of risk time in public.
- "Everything that you've been told by these federal agencies is about getting the most violent, the very 'worst of the worst,'" Moreno said. "But that's not what's happening. ... What is happening here, where people are disappearing off of our streets and we don't even know where they went, this is many, many steps way too far."
The demands include:
- Regular public updates and data reports on Border Patrol stops, detentions warrants and outcomes.
- Due process protections for people stopped by federal agents.
- Federal agents' removal of masks and clear identification as law enforcement.
- That no one be stopped based on race, ethnicity, national origin, language or perceived immigration status.
- A guarantee of humanitarian protections, including access to medical care, language interpretation and family member notification of detention.
Between the lines: New Orleans will likely stand alone in its demands.
- Law enforcement agencies in the rest of the state are among the nation's most cooperative with federal immigration efforts.
- "When we're doing the right thing, just because other surrounding parishes don't want to do it, that's not a reason not to do it," Council president JP Morrell said.
What we're watching: Carter said he plans to request a field hearing on the New Orleans-based operation in an effort to compel DHS compliance.
- Morial also noted that civil rights organizations are already considering additional legal challenges over the crackdown.