Multicultural New Orleans awaits arrival of ‘Swamp Sweep’ immigration crackdown

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New Orleans, the laid-back city known as the Big Easy and the birthplace of jazz, where lavish parades, bead-throwing debauchery and Creole cuisine attract tourists from around the globe, is about to become the next staging ground for the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda.

Operation “Swamp Sweep,” an expansive, monthslong immigration crackdown, is expected to launch in southeast Louisiana Dec. 1, but Democrat-run New Orleans is anticipating the arrival of as many as 250 federal troops as soon as Friday, all with the backing of the state’s Republican governor.

Governor Jeff Landry has sought to align New Orleans with federal immigration enforcement efforts through legislation and legal challenges, and the Border Patrol deployment is just the latest drive to ramp up that pressure. And with the New Orleans Police Department being released from a federal reform pact Wednesday, its officers have lost a legal mechanism that has long-shielded them from having to participate in immigration enforcement.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security operation will be led by Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, who has already overseen aggressive campaigns in Los Angeles, Chicago and Charlotte, North Carolina.

A gung-ho Republican governor

Landry, who has close ties to the nation’s top immigration officials, has made immigration enforcement a priority.

Louisiana does not share a border with another country, yet it has become one of the nation’s largest detention hubs for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with a capacity upward of 6,000 detainees. In September, the Bayou State opened the “Louisiana Lockup” inside a notorious state prison to hold immigrants whom federal officials consider dangerous.

The governor has also highlighted crimes in which the suspect’s immigration status is in question, such as the killing of a French Quarter tour guide by a group that included a Honduran man who entered the country illegally.

New Orleans’ deep-rooted immigrant communities

New Orleans’ Democratic leaders frequently butt heads with Landry and other state officials who accuse the city of lax law enforcement and have pushed for collaboration with the Trump administration’s sweeping immigration crackdown.

Mayor-elect Helena Moreno, a Mexican-American immigrant, told The Associated Press there is “a lot of fear” in her city and that she is working to ensure those who could be targeted by federal agents know their rights.

“I’m very concerned about due process being violated, I’m very concerned about racial profiling,” Moreno said.

New Orleans is known for its rich blend of French, Spanish, African and Native American cultures. It is home to more than 10,000 ethnic Vietnamese who arrived after the Vietnam War. A city monument recognizes the thousands of Latino workers who helped rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. South Louisiana’s distinctive Cajun heritage emerged from French-speaking colonists exiled there in the 18th century.

In September, Landry requested a National Guard deployment to New Orleans, citing rising violent crime, even though city police say crime is down and its elected leaders say federal troops are unnecessary. Landry told Newsmax on Wednesday that the “Swamp Sweep” operation is focused on “taking dangerous criminals off the street.”

A Landry spokesperson declined to comment to the AP on Border Patrol operations.

Rachel Taber, an organizer with the New Orleans-based advocacy group Union Migrante, said the influx of federal agents would have far-reaching negative impacts.

“The same people pushing for this attack on immigrants benefit from immigrant labor and the exploitation of immigrants,” Taber said. “Who do they think is going to clean the hotels from Mardi Gras or clean up after their fancy Mardi Gras parade?”

Conflict over the city’s immigration policies

In August, Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell saying the city “engages in sanctuary policies and practices that thwart federal immigration enforcement.” The city has been barred from receiving certain federal law enforcement grants, according to Jim Craft, executive director of the Louisiana Commission on Law Enforcement, which distributes federal funds. Cantrell did not respond to a request for comment.

Under Landry, the GOP-dominated Louisiana Legislature has targeted New Orleans’ immigration policies, including by passing a law threatening jail time for law enforcement officials who delay or ignore federal enforcement efforts. Another measure directs state agencies to verify, track and report anyone illegally in the U.S. who is receiving state services, and one more bans city policies that prohibit cooperation with federal immigration agencies.

“Their enforcement of laws is indiscriminate at best, corrupt at worst,” said Republican state Sen. Jay Morris, who was behind the law punishing obstruction of immigration enforcement. “Apparently we have to have a law to tell people not to break the law.”

Federal oversight of local law enforcement

The Orleans Parish Sheriff’s office and the New Orleans Police Department have been subject to longstanding federal oversight that barred them from engaging in immigration enforcement.

The police oversight ended Wednesday, leaving officers in an uncertain legal position if they receive conflicting directives from city and state leaders, according to the city’s Independent Police Monitor Stella Cziment.

Moreno, set to take office as mayor on Jan. 12, said the city’s police will follow state law, but that department policy viewed immigration enforcement as a civil matter outside its jurisdiction. New Orleans Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick said department policies barring immigration enforcement “are not in conflict” with state laws.

Kirkpatrick said she met with ICE officials this week and her department will work with federal agents to ensure public safety.

“Our support is to make sure they are not going to get hurt and that our community is not in danger,” she said.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, backed by the Department of Justice, has requested an end to federal oversight of the sheriff’s office, saying it impedes the state’s ability to enforce immigration law.

The sheriff’s office, which operates the city’s jail, has a policy under federal mandate to not hold people for ICE unless they have committed a serious crime. Court filings show the U.S. government says that since 2022, the jail has only complied with two of its 170 detainer requests. Sheriff-elect Michelle Woodfork told AP she will comply with state law if federal oversight ends.

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Cline reported from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.