In Charlotte, North Carolina, a senior Border Patrol official spotlighted multiple arrests over the weekend, as local residents reported encounters with federal immigration agents around churches, apartment complexes, and retail areas.

Despite declining crime rates and opposition from city officials, the Trump administration has intensified its immigration enforcement in this Democratic stronghold, home to nearly 950,000 people. The goal, according to federal authorities, is to curb crime.

Gregory Bovino, who previously led a similar operation in Chicago, shared on social media that over 80 arrests had been made. He posted images of individuals referred to by the administration as “criminal illegal aliens,” highlighting those alleged to have criminal records, including a man with past drunk driving convictions.

“We apprehended him, removing him from the streets of Charlotte to prevent further violations of our laws and to ensure the safety of roads shared by you and your families,” Bovino stated on the platform X.

This initiative has been named “Operation Charlotte’s Web,” drawing inspiration from a well-known children’s book, despite its lack of connection to North Carolina.

The flurry of activity prompted fear and questions, including where detainees would be held, how long the operation would last and what agents’ tactics – criticized elsewhere as aggressive and racist – would look like in North Carolina. On Saturday, at least one U.S. citizen said he was thrown to the ground and briefly detained.

At Camino, a nonprofit group that offers services to Latino communities, some said they were too afraid to leave their homes to attend school, medical appointments or work. A dental clinic the group runs had nine cancellations on Friday, spokesperson Paola Garcia said.

“Latinos love this country. They came here to escape socialism and communism, and they’re hard workers and people of faith,” Garcia said. “They love their family, and it’s just so sad to see that this community now has this target on their back.”

Bovino’s operations in Chicago and Los Angeles triggered lawsuits over the use of force, including widespread deployment of chemical agents. Democratic leaders in both cities accused agents of inflaming community tensions. Federal agents fatally shot one suburban Chicago man during a traffic stop.

Bovino, head of a Border Patrol sector in El Centro, California, and other Trump administration officials have called their tactics appropriate for growing threats on agents.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees CBP, did not respond to inquiries about the Charlotte arrests. Bovino’s spokesman did not return a request for comment Sunday.

Elsewhere, DHS has not offered many details about its arrests. In the Chicago area, the agency only provided names and details on a handful of its more than 3,000 arrests in the region from September to last week. U.S. citizens were detained during several operations. Dozens of protesters were arrested.

By Sunday, reports of CBP activity around Charlotte were “overwhelming” and difficult to quantify, Greg Asciutto, executive director of the community development group CharlotteEast, said in an email.

“The past two hours we’ve received countless reports of CBP activity at churches, apartment complexes and a hardware store,” he said.

City council member-elect JD Mazuera Arias said federal agents appeared to be focused on churches and apartment buildings.

“Houses of worship. I mean, that’s just awful,” he said. “These are sanctuaries for people who are looking for hope and faith in dark times like these and who no longer can feel safe because of the gross violation of people’s right to worship.”

Two people were arrested during a small protest Sunday outside a DHS office in Charlotte and taken to a local FBI office, said Xavier T. de Janon, an attorney who was representing them. He said it remained unclear what charges they faced.

DHS said it was focusing on North Carolina because of so-called sanctuary policies, which limit cooperation between local authorities and immigration agents.

Several county jails house immigrant arrestees and honor detainers, which allow jails to hold detainees for immigration officers to pick them up. But Mecklenburg County, where Charlotte is located, does not. Also, the city’s police department does not help with immigration enforcement.

DHS alleged that about 1,400 detainers across North Carolina had not been honored, putting the public at risk.

“We are surging DHS law enforcement to Charlotte to ensure Americans are safe and public safety threats are removed,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

Tareen and Dale reported from Chicago. Witte reported from Annapolis, Maryland.