On a chilly November morning in Charlotte, North Carolina, the city’s streets felt emptier than usual. Local schools reported that 15 percent of their students—many from immigrant families—had stayed home, gripped by fear of the latest wave of federal immigration raids. This scene is not unique to Charlotte. Across the United States, a new era of immigration enforcement is unfolding, defined by aggressive tactics, high-profile raids, and a seismic shift in the agencies leading the charge.
According to The Atlantic and NPR, the Trump administration has orchestrated a sweeping campaign of mass deportations, deploying U.S. Border Patrol agents far beyond their traditional posts at the nation’s borders. Once tasked primarily with patrolling the country’s frontiers, Border Patrol agents are now a visible force in cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, and Charlotte, conducting operations that have upended communities and stoked nationwide controversy.
Historically, the roles of Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were clearly defined, as NPR’s Juana Summers and Nick Miroff explain. Border Patrol focused on securing the nation’s boundaries, intercepting those attempting to enter illegally, while ICE handled the complex, targeted work of enforcing immigration law within the country’s interior. That division, however, has blurred dramatically. Under President Trump, Border Patrol has been brought into the heart of American cities to boost arrest numbers and meet an ambitious goal: one million deportations per year.
This surge in enforcement isn’t just a matter of numbers—it’s a matter of methods. ICE, for all its notoriety, typically relied on targeted enforcement, zeroing in on individuals with known immigration violations. Border Patrol, on the other hand, brings an “area control” mentality, treating entire neighborhoods as potential zones of suspicion. As Miroff described, "Your typical Border Patrol agent is doing what is referred to as area control. That means they're looking for anyone coming into their area, and they're seeing them as a potential suspect who they need to go and question."
The result? Sweeping actions that often ensnare not only undocumented immigrants but also legal residents and even U.S. citizens. In Chicago, for instance, agents rappelled from helicopters onto apartment buildings, deploying tear gas in residential neighborhoods. According to Axios, a similar operation in San Antonio targeting alleged Tren de Aragua gang members netted more than 140 arrests—outpacing high-profile surges in Charlotte and Chicago. Yet, in the aftermath of some raids, authorities have struggled to produce evidence of the dangerous criminal activity that supposedly justified such militarized tactics.
The architect behind many of these operations is Gregory Bovino, a career Border Patrol official whose paramilitary approach has made him a favorite of the White House. Bovino’s teams, often clad in camouflage, ballistic helmets, and heavy weapons, have become a familiar sight in cities across the country. His methods, which include staging confrontational arrests in public spaces like Home Depot parking lots and gas stations, have drawn sharp criticism. In one widely reported incident, agents in California smashed car windows and rounded up people who "looked like farm workers." Many turned out to be U.S. citizens or green-card holders; some were deported without a hearing.
One woman in Charlotte, whose last name is Greeley, recounted to reporters that an agent told her, "you don't look like a Greeley," as she was detained. Such stories have become all too common, as the administration’s strategy leans heavily on racial profiling. The legal foundation for these actions was cemented by a Supreme Court opinion authored by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, which upheld the use of ethnic appearance and language as reasonable suspicion for immigration stops.
The Trump administration’s approach has not gone unnoticed—or unchallenged. Lawsuits have been filed over excessive force, warrantless arrests, and racial profiling, particularly in cities like Los Angeles. Community resistance has grown, with protesters in Chicago and North Carolina facing arrests, physical force, and even drone surveillance for opposing federal agents’ actions. As The Atlantic notes, the administration appears to welcome this visibility. The goal is as much psychological as it is operational: to instill fear in immigrant communities, making daily life so fraught that families choose to leave the country on their own.
But the enforcement dragnet is not limited to headline-grabbing raids. According to Axios, ICE and Border Patrol are now supported by joint task forces co-led by the FBI and ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations unit, with outposts already established in Texas, Alaska, and Indiana. These task forces, commanded by Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security’s Kristi Noem, are tasked with combating cartels, gangs, and terror groups. Yet, immigrants without legal status caught in these investigations are routinely deported or used to further criminal prosecutions.
President Trump’s Day One executive order set these task forces in motion, and by September 2025, they were in “full implementation,” the FBI confirmed. The administration’s goal remains ambitious: 3,000 arrests per day, one million deportations per year. But ICE is reportedly behind schedule, prompting a heavier reliance on Border Patrol’s more aggressive tactics. The focus on immigration enforcement has also raised concerns about diverted resources. As the New York Times and Axios report, thousands of law enforcement officers have been reassigned from other critical missions—such as investigating child trafficking and sex crimes—to support the immigration agenda. "D.H.S. keeps being pulled further away from its core missions in protecting the homeland," said David Lapan, former DHS press secretary.
In the midst of these sweeping changes, the human cost is evident. In Charlotte, the chilling effect of federal raids is palpable, with empty schools, churches, and businesses. Across the country, the specter of mass deportation has left millions living in fear, unsure of when or where the next operation will strike. The administration’s strategy, as many observers note, seems designed to maximize this uncertainty—betting that intimidation will succeed where mass arrests cannot.
As the federal government prepares for its next operation, reportedly in New Orleans, the debate over the scope and morality of these tactics intensifies. For now, the faces of mass deportation are not only those of immigrants and their families, but also of the agents in camouflage, the helicopters overhead, and the empty seats in classrooms across America.
