Records reviewed by AP detail online monitoring, arrests in New Orleans immigration crackdown

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — State and federal authorities are closely tracking online criticism and protests against the immigration crackdown in New Orleans, monitoring message boards around the clock for threats to agents while compiling regular updates on public “sentiment” surrounding the arrests, according to law enforcement records reviewed by The Associated Press.

The intelligence gathering comes even as officials have released few details about the first arrests made last week as part of “Catahoula Crunch,” prompting calls for greater transparency from local officials who say they've been kept in the dark about virtually every aspect of the operation.

“Online opinions still remain mixed, with some supporting the operations while others are against them,” said a briefing circulated early Sunday to law enforcement. Earlier bulletins noted “a combination of groups urging the public to record ICE and Border Patrol” as well as "additional locations where agents can find immigrants.”

Immigration authorities have insisted the sweeps are targeted at “criminal illegal aliens.” But the law enforcement records detail criminal histories for less than a third of the 38 people arrested in the first two days of the operation.

Local leaders told the AP those numbers — which law enforcement officials were admonished not to distribute to the media — undermined the stated aim of the roundup. They also expressed concern that the online surveillance could chill free speech as authorities threaten to charge anyone interfering with immigration enforcement.

“It confirms what we already knew — this was not about public safety, it’s about stoking chaos and fear and terrorizing communities,” said state Sen. Royce Duplessis, a Democrat who represents New Orleans. “It’s furthering a sick narrative of stereotypes that immigrants are violent.”

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not respond to questions about the intelligence gathering and referred the AP to a prior news release touting “dozens of arrests.” The agency has not released an accounting of the detainees taken into custody or their criminal histories.

DHS has publicly detailed only six arrests stemming from the operation — all people with criminal histories — including a man they vaguely said was convicted of “homicide” and another convicted of sexual assault. The agency, which has several hundred agents on the ground in southeast Louisiana, has said it aims to make at least 5,000 arrests in the region over an operation expected to last up to two months.

“Americans should be able to live without fear of violent criminal illegal aliens harming them, their families or their neighbors,” DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said.

DHS and Republican leaders have framed the crackdown as targeting the most violent offenders. But the records reviewed by the AP identify only nine of the 38 people arrested in the first days as having criminal histories that rose beyond traffic violations — information the intelligence bulletins warn “should not be distributed to the media.”

New Orleans City Council President J.P. Morrell said the stated goals of the operation to arrest violent offenders did not align with the reality of what is taking place.

“There’s literally no information being given to the city of New Orleans whatsoever,” Morrell said. “If the goal was for them to come here and augment existing law enforcement, to pursue violent criminals or people with extensive criminal histories, why wouldn’t you be more transparent about who you’ve arrested and why?”

Morrell and other officials have said the crackdown appears to be a dragnet focused on people with brown skin, citing viral videos of encounters such as masked agents chasing a 23-year-old U.S. citizen returning home from the grocery store.

Law enforcement officials have been carefully tracking such footage and public reaction. “For some supporters, the videos with sounds of children crying in the background as their parents are placed under arrest, is weighing heavy on their hearts,” one briefing stated.

The records also shed new light on cooperation among state and federal authorities in an operation welcomed by Louisiana’s Republican Gov. Jeff Landry. Both the FBI and Customs and Border Protection have stationed agents at the Louisiana State Analytical and Fusion Exchange, an intelligence and data sharing center that is closely following discussions on the online forum Reddit that local residents have used to exchange information about the immigration raids.

One briefing noted that some “have gone so far as to accuse agents of racially profiling Hispanic areas specifically.” Another flagged social media posts suggesting agents “are not keeping with the mission of targeting criminal immigrants only.” And a third pointed out that critics of the raids “bring up past hurricanes and the work done by immigrants” in their aftermath.

“The chatter is slower during the night, mainly just commenting on posts from earlier in the day,” one of the briefings states. “Once daylight arrives and agencies are back out, the chatter and new posts will pick back up.”

The briefings have identified no threats to law enforcement, but the fusion center has sought to debunk what it called false reports that a pedestrian was fatally struck by law enforcement. “It has been confirmed that this actually did not occur,” the center told law enforcement on Saturday.

One briefing described an incident involving “suspicious persons/protesters” who showed up early Saturday at an ICE facility in St. Charles Parish, where records show the detainees were expected to be processed.

Some local officials said they had been unaware of the state's role in the online monitoring. Louisiana State Police pledged “operational support” to immigration authorities and warned the public that troopers will arrest anyone who assaults a federal agent or causes criminal damage to property.

“The Louisiana State Police remains vigilant in monitoring social media activity related to protests, activism and other forms of public response,” Trooper Danny Berrincha, a state police spokesperson, wrote in an email to the AP. “Through the LSP Fusion Center, we actively track developments and facilitate the sharing of information and communication among our partner agencies.”

The fusion center also has tracked the tools used by protesters to foil federal immigration enforcement, highlighting social media links to whistle handouts, trainings on filming federal agents and the emergence of a hotline for reporting arrests. The surveillance extended to activist discussions about immigration authorities’ presence near an elementary school and recapped demonstrations inside the New Orleans City Council chambers and elsewhere.

“They can monitor me all they want,” said Rachel Taber, an organizer with the New Orleans-based grassroots advocacy group Union Migrante, which shares crowdsourced reports and videos of the federal immigration enforcement operations. “We are not doing anything illegal."

Beth Davis, a spokesperson for Indivisible NOLA, which has organized some of the trainings described in the law enforcement briefings, said it was sad authorities seemed preoccupied with law-abiding citizens. “That they feel threatened by a bunch of community organizers that have nothing other than phones and whistles blows my mind.”

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Mustian reported from New York.

FILE - U.S. Border Patrol Commander at large Gregory Bovino, center, walks on the street in New Orleans, La., Dec. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

FILE - U.S. Border Patrol Commander at large Gregory Bovino talks to the media in Kenner, La., Dec. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

FILE - Customs and Border Patrol agents question occupants of a vehicle they pulled over, during an immigration crackdown in Kenner, La., Dec. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

FILE - Wilma Fuentes yells at Customs and Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino and some of his agents as they walk through a neighborhood during an immigration crackdown, in Kenner, La., Dec. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — The FBI said Tuesday that it found explosive residue in a Pennsylvania storage unit as part of an investigation into two men charged with bringing homemade bombs to a protest outside the home of New York City’s mayor.

Emir Balat, 18, and Ibrahim Kayumi, 19, told police after their arrests that they were inspired by the Islamic State group, according to law enforcement officials and a criminal complaint.

The men live in the Philadelphia suburbs and drove together to New York City on Saturday to carry out the attack near Gracie Mansion in Manhattan, officials said.

In response to police questioning, Balat said he hoped to accomplish something “even bigger” than the Boston Marathon bombing, which killed three people, the complaint said.

Overnight Monday, FBI bomb technicians conducted controlled detonations of the explosive residue found at a public storage facility in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, near where Balat’s family lives, the agency said.

The explosion resulted in “several loud bangs,” the Middletown Township Police Department said Tuesday, adding that there was no threat to residents. The FBI said it has conducted multiple searches in connection with the investigation.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday called the attack "absolutely despicable" and said government investigators and prosecutors won’t rest until the perpetrators are brought to justice.

Much remains unknown about the motives, planning and relationship between Balat and Kayumi.

Court documents show Emir Balat’s father, Selahattin Balat, is a native of Turkey who was granted asylum in the United States in 1998 and later became a U.S. citizen. In a 2009 bankruptcy filing, he listed his occupation as painter and said he had three children.

Emir Balat is a senior at Neshaminy High School in Langhorne. A school spokesperson said he enrolled in a virtual program in September and had not attended in-person classes since.

His lawyer, Mehdi Essmidi, said his client had “complicated stuff going on” in his personal life, without elaborating. Essmidi said he did not believe the two young men had known each other for long.

Kayumi is from Newtown, about 4 miles (6.5 kilometers) north of Langhorne. He graduated in 2024 from Council Rock High School North, according to a school spokesperson.

His attorney did not speak to reporters following a court hearing Monday and declined to comment when reached by The Associated Press.

Online records show that Kayumi's parents have owned and worked at multiple Popeyes fast food locations, including in Philadelphia, Brooklyn and Atlantic City.

His mother filed a missing person report with police Saturday, the day of the protest, saying her son had not been seen since that morning, according to the complaint.

Prosecutors, police and FBI officials say Balat and Kayumi joined a throng of counterprotesters at a small, anti-Muslim rally organized by far-right activist Jake Lang. A Christian nationalist, Lang is a critic of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a Democrat and the first Muslim to hold the office.

Journalists photographed Balat hurling a device, smoking with a lit fuse, that was later found to contain the explosive TATP. The object, which also contained nuts and bolts, extinguished itself without harming anyone.

Balat then dropped a second object near some police officers and tried to run, but was tackled and arrested, according to a court complaint.

Balat and Kayumi were being held without bail after their court appearance on charges that include attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and using a weapon of mass destruction. They were not required to enter a plea.

New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Monday there were no indications that the attack was connected to the ongoing war in Iran, but said the city remained on a heightened state of alert.

On Tuesday afternoon, a park near the mayor’s residence was evacuated and several surrounding streets were closed as police investigated reports of a “suspicious device.”

The object was later determined to be nonthreatening.

Mamdani was not home at the time and Gracie Mansion was not evacuated, a City Hall spokesperson said.

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Associated Press reporter Anthony Izaguirre contributed to this report.

NYPD police officer and K-9 dog walks outside Carl Schurz Park as they investigate suspicious device, Tuesday, March 10, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Jake Lang demonstrates outside Gracie Mansion after a news conference by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani , Monday, March 9, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during a news conference at Gracie Mansion, Monday, March 9, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

Emir Balat, left, and Ibrahim Kayumi, far right, are escorted into Manhattan federal court in New York, Monday, March, 9, 2026, for arraignment on charges that include attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization and using a weapon of mass destruction after they were arrested for bringing and throwing explosives at a protest two days earlier. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

From left, defense attorney Mehdi Essmidi, defendant Emir Balat, defense attorney Michael Arthus and defendant Ibrahim Kayumi wait for the start of arraignment proceedings in Manhattan federal court in New York, Monday, March, 9, 2026, on charges that include attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization and using a weapon of mass destruction in New York after Balat and Kayumi were arrested for bringing and throwing explosives at a protest two days earlier. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

Police detain Emir Balat after he attempted to detonate an improvised explosive device during a counterprotest against far right influencer Jake Lang staging an anti-Islam protest outside Gracie Mansion, Saturday, March 7, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Julius Constantine Motal)