NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New Orleans’ mayor-elect said Friday that a federal immigration crackdown launched this week is already causing harm as encounters between masked agents and residents, including some
caught on video, has prompted public backlash in the blue city.
Frustrated city officials pointed to the case of Jacelynn Guzman, a 23-year-old U.S. citizen who was walking back to her Louisiana home from a trip to the grocery store on Wednesday when a truck pulled up beside her and two masked federal agents approached her, according to security footage obtained by The Associated Press.
Guzman began running away as a second vehicle arrived and the agents pursued her down the sidewalk until she reached her family's home in Marrero, a neighborhood across the Mississippi River from downtown New Orleans. Guzman's mother has lived there her entire life.
“We’re legal, we are from here, born and raised,” Guzman shouted back at the agents. “Don’t chase me, that is disgusting.”
Several hundred agents under Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino have converged on Southeast Louisiana this week as part of an immigration enforcement operation seeking to arrest 5,000 people. The Department of Homeland Security has touted dozens of arrests with only limited details released. Many Hispanic residents have said they feel their community is at risk of being abused or detained by agents regardless of their legal status.
Alongside city council members, Democratic Congressman Troy Carter, Hispanic leaders and civil rights advocates, Mayor-elect Helena Moreno expressed “deep concern over recent actions” by federal agents. She said the operation is causing harm — forcing businesses to shutter and workers to stay home out of fear of mass arrests.
While federal officials have repeatedly said the goal of the operation is to target dangerous criminals who entered the country illegally, Moreno argued “that does not appear to be the case.”
Moreno said she is asking for regular public briefings from federal agencies, which she asks includes data on the stops, detentions, charges, warrants, outcomes and if any of the people detained have violent criminal histories.
“Without this full visibility into these enforcement actions, it is impossible to determine whether this particular operation is actually targeting the most dangerous offenders,” Moreno said.
Guzman’s stepfather, Juan Anglin, said he understood federal agents had a job to do but believed they were going about it in the wrong way.
Anglin heard his stepdaughter screaming outside and went out to confront the agents. He told the AP that Guzman ran from the agents because she was a young woman surrounded by aggressive masked men.
“I thought she was going to be kidnapped, honestly,” Anglin said. “I thought somebody was going to hurt her."
In response to the incident, the Department of Homeland Security said Border Patrol had been searching for a “criminal illegal alien previously charged with felony theft and convicted of illegal possession of stolen property.”
DHS said the agents “encountered a female matching the description of the target” and that agents “identified themselves" and left when they realized Guzman was not who they were seeking.
Anglin disputes the government's narrative and says she was stopped solely because of her appearance.
“Just because you look brown, you look Hispanic, you're going to get stopped,” he said. “Because now it doesn’t matter you have papers, you speak English or you are a citizen, it’s not enough."
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Sara Cline contributed reporting from Baton Rouge.
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Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
