NEW ORLEANS (NewsNation) — Nearly a week into the immigration enforcement crackdown in New Orleans, arrest totals are lagging, well off the pace of the goal of 5,000 migrant apprehensions that federal officials hoped to achieve.
The first day of the operation that is being overseen by Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino yielded only 24 arrests and 14 more on day 2, compared to 81 made by federal agents and officers in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Despite the lack of apprehensions thus far, the Department of Homeland Security insists it is finding success in taking dangerous migrant criminals considered “the worst of the worst” by the Trump administration off the streets.
DHS officials argue that among the arrests made around New Orleans are those involving migrants who have previously been charged or convicted of serious crimes, including forcible rape, aggravated battery, domestic abuse of a child and human smuggling.
The agency also says it has arrested gang members who have been targeted by federal immigration agencies like the U.S. Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“DHS law enforcement continues to arrest rapists, thieves, human smugglers, domestic abusers, and child endangerers who sought sanctuary in New Orleans,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said. “Well, those days are over. President Trump and Secretary Noem have made it abundantly clear: Criminal illegal aliens are NOT welcome in the U.S., even if liberal activists think they are.”
The operation has the full support of Louisiana’s Republican Gov. Jeff Landry, who has requested that National Guard troops be in place around New Orleans by Christmas. Meanwhile, New Orleans’ Mayor-elect, Helena Moreno, a Democrat, says residents are fearful and worried about potential racial profiling.
Some local church leaders, including New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Michael Aymond, are urging fearful migrant Catholics to stay home during the operation. Aymond granted a special dispensation on Monday, allowing some parishioners to miss Mass if they are afraid to leave their homes due to the increased presence of federal agents.
Despite the concern by some elected officials and advocates for local immigrants living in New Orleans, DHS officials are ramping up their messaging on social media platforms. DHS has framed some of its posts around the holidays, including one that uses an AI-generated image of President Donald Trump taking the reins of a sleigh wearing a Santa hat.
Another post includes the image of an airplane called “The Deportation Express” that urges migrants who are in the United States illegally to use the CBP Home mobile app to return to their home country by voluntarily self-deporting.
Yet, the DHS messaging is being considered insensitive by some, who take offense at the Trump administration using the holiday season to continue to target immigrants living in the United States illegally.
“The fact that they are detaining people and taking them away from their families during the holiday season and then making jokes about it is so low class, so upsetting and ridiculous,” Texas-based immigration attorney Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch told NewsNation. “We should expect so much more from our leadership.”