NEW ORLEANS — 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, have prompted public backlash in the Democratic 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 Wednesday when a truck pulled up and two masked federal agents approached her, according to security video 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.”
Guzman, who has no criminal record, told the Associated Press that she panicked when agents approached.
“That was my only thought that they were going to take me and I wasn’t going to get to have a say in that decision,” Guzman said. “Because most likely they didn’t care that I was saying I was a U.S. citizen. So why would they care what else I had to say?”
Several hundred agents under Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino have converged on southeastern 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 while releasing only limited details. Many Latino residents have said they believe members of their community are at risk of being abused or detained by agents regardless of their legal status.
Alongside New Orleans City Council members, Democratic U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, Latino 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 close 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 said that “that does not appear to be the case.”
She said she is asking for regular public briefings from federal agencies, which she asks to include 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 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 that the agents “encountered a female matching the description of the target” and that agents “identified themselves” and left when they realized Guzman was not the woman they were seeking.
Anglin disputes the government’s narrative and says Guzman 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 if you have papers, you speak English or you are a citizen, it’s not enough.”
Brook writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Sara Cline in Baton Rouge, La., contributed to this report.