CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The latest city bracing for the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown is Charlotte, North Carolina, which could see an influx of federal agents as early as this weekend, a county sheriff said Thursday.
Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden said in a statement that two federal officials confirmed a plan for U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents to start an enforcement operation Saturday or early next week in North Carolina’s largest city. His office declined to identify those officials. McFadden said details about the operation haven’t been disclosed and his office hasn’t been asked to assist.
Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin declined to comment, saying, “Every day, DHS enforces the laws of the nation across the country. We do not discuss future or potential operations.”
President Donald Trump has defended sending the military and immigration agents into Democratic-run cities like Los Angeles, Chicago and even the nation’s capital, saying the unprecedented operations are needed to fight crime and carry out his mass deportation agenda.
Charlotte is another such Democratic stronghold. A statement of solidarity from several local and state officials estimated the city is home to more than 150,000 foreign-born people. The city's population is about 40% white, 33% Black, 16% Hispanic and 7% Asian.
The Trump administration has used this summer's fatal stabbing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutskahas on a light-rail train in Charlotte as proof that Democratic-led cities fail to protect their residents from violent crime. A man with a lengthy criminal record has been charged with murder.
Activists, faith leaders, and local and state officials say they already started preparing the immigrant community for a crackdown, sharing information about resources and attempting to calm fears. Nearly 500 people participated in a call organized by the group CharlotteEAST on Wednesday.
“The purpose of this call was to create a mutual aid network,” said City Councilmember-Elect JD Mazuera Arias. CharlotteEAST executive director Greg Asciutto urged residents to connect with groups providing support.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department has clarified that it "has no authority to enforce federal immigration laws,” and is not involved in planning or carrying out these operations.
Mazuera Arias and others said they had already begun receiving unconfirmed reports of what appeared to be plainclothes officers in neighborhoods and on transit.
“This is some of the chaos that we also saw in Chicago,” state Sen. Caleb Theodros, who represents Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, said Thursday.
Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol chief who led Customs and Border Protection's recent Chicago operation and was central to the immigration operation in Los Angeles, had been coy about where agents would target next.
The Trump administration's “ Operation Midway Blitz ” began in the Chicago area in early September, over the objections of local leaders. It initially involved limited arrests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in the suburbs but expanded to include hundreds of Customs and Border Protection agents.
Their tactics grew increasingly aggressive. More than 3,200 people suspected of violating immigration laws have been arrested across the region.
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees both immigration agencies, has offered few details on the arrests beyond highlighting a handful of people who were living in the U.S. without legal permission and had criminal records.
The group Indivisible Charlotte and the Carolina Migrant Network will train volunteers Friday on what rights people have when interacting with immigration authorities and how to spot federal immigration agents.
“They’re not always wearing vests that say ‘ICE,’" said Tony Siracusa, spokesperson for Indivisible Charlotte.
The groups will also discuss potential “pop up protests,” but he stressed that the activists weren't encouraging people to go get arrested.
Siracusa said locals are “not freaking out, but very definitely concerned."
Daniela Andrade, communications director at the Carolina Migrant Network, noted that organizers canceled a Hispanic heritage festival this year out of concerns about immigration enforcement. The group had been holding in-person “know your rights” sessions for immigrants since the beginning of the year but switched to virtual events even before Thursday’s news.
“It’s the concern of family separation, of being removed from a community where many people have lived here for years,” she said.
Breed reported from Wake Forest, North Carolina. Associated Press writer Sophia Tareen in Chicago contributed to this report.
A sign in Spanish that reads at top: "Know Your Rights" is displayed outside of a restaurant store front, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Matt Kelley)
FILE - A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer is seen on March 16, 2025, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
FILE - A federal agent wears an Immigration and Customs Enforcement badge outside an immigration courtroom at the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building in New York, June 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)
U.S. President Donald Trump said the military could end its Iran offensive in two to three weeks and will shift responsibility for the Strait of Hormuz to countries that rely on it for oil and shipping as the White House announced a prime-time presidential address Wednesday evening on the war.
Trump expressed frustration Tuesday with allies who have been unwilling to do more to support the U.S. war effort, telling them to “go get your own oil.” Trump recently has vacillated between insisting there is progress in diplomatic talks with Iran and threatening to widen the war.
He said the U.S. “will not have anything to do with” what happens next in the vital waterway that has been closed by the Islamic Republic. Instead, he told reporters, the responsibility for keeping the strait open will rest with countries that rely on it. Gulf states rely on the waterway for both exports and imports, including food, and 20 percent of the world's oil supply flows through it.
U.S. gas prices jumped past an average of $4 a gallon for the first time since 2022 on Tuesday, as the Iran war continues to push fuel prices higher worldwide. Analysts say those high fuel costs will trickle into groceries as businesses’ transportation and packaging costs pile up.
Here is the latest:
Iran’s foreign minister has acknowledged receiving direct messages from U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff.
The comments by Abbas Araghchi came in an interview with pan-Arab broadcaster Al Jazeera aired late Tuesday. He insisted that the messages didn’t constitute negotiations.
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly described Iran and America has having talks over the war, while Pakistan has been a key intermediary along with Egypt and Turkey during the conflict.
“I receive messages from Witkoff directly, as before, and this does not mean that we are in negotiations,” he said.
He added: “We do not have any faith that negotiations with the U.S. will yield any results. The trust level is at zero.”
Asked about a possible ground offensive by the U.S., Araghchi said “we are waiting for them.”
“We know very well how to defend ourselves,” Araghchi reportedly told the Qatar-based broadcaster. “In a ground war, we can do it even better. We are completely ready to confront any sort of ground attack. We hope they do not make such a mistake.”
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said in a preliminary count early Wednesday 21 people were also wounded in the strike in Jnah.
The strike came without warning, and Israel did not declare the target. When it does, it often says it is targeting operatives from the Hezbollah militant group.
Emergency workers rushed to the scene to search for victims.
Israel’s military warned the public Wednesday a missile was incoming from Yemen, yet another attack from the country’s Houthi rebels who have just entered the war on Iran’s side.
Air raid sirens went off in southern Israel, from Beersheba to the Mediterranean coast.
The warning, just around dawn, broke a long lull, more than 19 hours since the last time Israel’s military warned of an incoming missile launch from Iran, and more than six hours from the last alarms in the northern part of Israel, which in past days received near-constant fire from Hezbollah in Lebanon.
A drone attack by Iran and its allies hit a fuel tank at Kuwait International Airport, sparking a fire, authorities said.
The state-run KUNA news agency said the attack early Wednesday sparked a “large fire” at the airport.
It said there were no immediate injuries from the attack and firefighters were working to control the blaze.
Kuwait International Airport has been attacked before by Iran during the war. The KUNA report suggested the attack may have been launched by Iranian-supported militias in Iraq with Tehran’s support.
In another strike, Bahrain said early on Wednesday morning that it was working to extinguish a fire at a business facility that resulted from an Iranian attack.
Israel said early Wednesday it struck a plant supplying Iran’s theocracy with fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, to allegedly use in a chemical weapons program. Iran acknowledged the strike on Tofigh Daru factory, but insisted it only supplied “hospital drugs” used in medical operations.
The strike happened Tuesday, both the Israelis and the Iranians said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted a picture of the factory in Tehran, writing on X: “The war criminals in Israel are now openly and unashamedly bombing pharmaceutical companies.”
Hospitals extensively use fentanyl to treat severe pain. But a small amount of the drug can be fatal.
Both Israel and the United States have warned in recent years Iran was experimenting with fentanyl in munitions. The U.S. previously pointed to Iranian academic research studying how Russia likely used a fentanyl derivative during the 2002 Moscow theater hostage seizure by Chechen militants.
Israel alleged Tofigh Daru supplied fentanyl to an advanced research institute in Tehran, known by its acronym SPND. The U.S alleges SPND has conducted research and testing that could be applicable to the development of nuclear explosive devices and other weapons.
The United Arab Emirates has barred Iranians from entering or transiting the country as the war rages, three major airlines said Wednesday.
Long-haul carriers Emirates and Etihad, as well as the lower-cost airline FlyDubai, made the announcements on their websites.
Entry rules can sometimes be opaque in the autocratic United Arab Emirates, a federation of seven sheikhdoms, the three airlines agreed on the order. It said holders of 10-year Golden Visa residency permits could still enter the country.
Authorities have offered no official comment. But Dubai has already shut down the city-state’s Iranian Hospital and Iranian Club, institutions that date back to the time of the shah.
Residents and Israeli security forces inspect a site struck by an Iranian missile in Petah Tikva, Israel, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
A man inspect the wreckage of an Iranian missile that landed near the West Bank village of Marda, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)
Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike hits a building near the airport road in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A family who fled Israeli shelling in southern Lebanon warm themselves by a bonfire next to tents used as shelters in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
