A major immigration crackdown is underway in New Orleans and the surrounding areas of Louisiana, dubbed "Operation Catahoula Crunch" by the Trump administration. According to planning documents, 250 federal agents will aim to make 5,000 arrests over two months. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says the operation will target "the worst of the worst," though the number of arrests being planned suggests that authorities will conduct broad sweeps including those who have no criminal records, as has happened in other immigration crackdowns.
"They're going to target whoever they can, and as the Supreme Court has unfortunately authorized them, they're using racial profiling as part of that approach," says Homero López, legal director for the New Orleans-based organization Immigration Services and Legal Advocacy, or ISLA. "What they're doing is they're taking folks out of our community: our neighbors, our friends, our family members."
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