New Orleans On Edge As Border Patrol Lands In Backyards And On Rooftops
On Wednesday, federal officials announced operation “Catahoula Crunch” — a sweeping immigration crackdown centered on New Orleans and surrounding areas.
The name, “Catahoula,” is a reference to the Catahoula leopard dog, Louisiana's official state dog.
The operation is part of the government’s broader effort to ramp up immigration enforcement in Democratic-led cities, and has already triggered fear, disruption, and new oversight measures at the local level.
Homeland Security officials shared that the multiday crackdown will deploy Border Patrol and other federal agents to track down immigrants they describe as “violent “offenders.
Agents in tactical gear have already been seen moving through the city in marked and unmarked cars, detaining multiple people in residential raids.
On Wednesday afternoon in Kenner, a suburb of New Orleans, one resident reported nearly a dozen agents pulling up to her home in SUVs, with several agents climbing up on her rooftop. Two of the 10 or so workers who had been pulling off the asphalt shingles and doing work on the home were put in handcuffs and taken away,
“My doorstep would have been the last place I’d have thought (Border Patrol) would have showed up,” Althea Vallotton told NOLA news.
As news of the crackdown spread online and across communities, local advocates and leaders are urging workers and families to stay inside. Some have also shared tips on how people can protect themselves from unlawful searches and strategic intimidation.
“Be aware, Officers must have a warrant signed by a judge to enter your home,” said Helena Moreno, New Orleans’ Democratic mayor-elect, in a community resources page set up by her team. “ICE ‘warrants’ are not signed by judges; they are ICE forms signed by ICE officers, and they do not grant authority to enter a home without consent of the occupant(s).”
The New Orleans City Council has also launched an online portal where residents can upload videos of alleged misconduct by federal agents and access multilingual rights pamphlets, a move leaders say is aimed at increasing transparency and protecting due process.
