Charlotte braces for federal immigration enforcement as murder rate rises 200% in uptown area

Federal agents from U.S. Customs and Border Protection are expected to get successful the Charlotte country wrong days, section officials confirmed this week amid increasing friction betwixt Washington’s migration enforcement priorities and Democratic-run cities.

The Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday that it had been notified of the impending national beingness but emphasized that it has not been asked to assistance oregon enactment successful immoderate operations. A section spokesperson told Fox News Digital Friday that the sheriff’s bureau had "zero engagement oregon information successful immoderate CBP migration enforcements oregon operations."

The impending migration enforcement successful North Carolina comes arsenic Sheriff Garry L. McFadden, a Democrat, has sought to support unfastened connection with national agencies portion distancing his section from national migration enforcement.

People detained earlier successful the time are taken to a parking batch connected the acold northbound broadside of the metropolis earlier being transferred to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement installation connected October 31, 2025, successful Chicago, Illinois.  (Jamie Kelter Davis/Getty Images)

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Charlotte’s anticipated CBP deployment is the latest successful a bid of akin moves by the national authorities to widen border-security operations to different parts of the country.

In caller months, CBP and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) person sent unit to large metropolitan areas including Chicago and Washington, D.C.

Those operations person sparked protests from anti-immigration activists. In Portland, Oregon, protests person flared since June. Anti-ICE graffiti has been scrawled extracurricular of detention centers, and demonstrations person go convulsive astatine times betwixt protesters and national agents.

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Federal officials person described the deployments arsenic portion of an expanded effort to disrupt smuggling networks and way amerciable aliens.

In a connection to Fox News Digital, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said: "Every day, DHS enforces the laws of the federation crossed the country. We bash not sermon aboriginal oregon imaginable operations."

Local pressures mount

The timing of the announcement comes arsenic Charlotte faces intensifying scrutiny implicit convulsive crime.

Homicides and aggravated assaults person risen sharply this year, prompting Republican lawmakers to impulse Democratic Gov. Josh Stein to deploy the National Guard. For now, the politician has resisted that telephone from Republican lawmakers, and section officials person argued that nationalist information remains a section responsibility.

"Recently, the metropolis faced 8 homicides successful 7 days. The execution complaint successful uptown Charlotte is now 200% higher than it was a twelvemonth ago," a missive from a trio of Republican lawmakers said. "According to the Fraternal Order of Police, aggravated assaults involving knives oregon guns person risen from 86 successful 2024 to 111 successful 2025, and idiosyncratic strong-arm robberies person accrued from 26 to 31 successful the aforesaid period."

A presumption of the memorial dedicated to slain 23-year-old Ukrainian Iryna Zarutska astatine the East/West Blvd airy obstruction presumption successful Charlotte connected September 11, 2025. (Peter Zay/Anadolu via Getty Images)

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According to the Charlotte Police Department's quarterly statistic report, convulsive crimes, commercialized burglaries and larcenies from automobiles person each gone up successful Charlotte since past year. But different crimes similar homicides, rapes, spot crimes and arson person travel down modestly from levels successful 2024. In galore categories, Charlotte’s existent transgression levels are meaningfully little than rates successful 2022 and 2023, with immoderate exceptions. 

On Aug. 22, the stabbing of Ukrainian exile Iryna Zarutska garnered attraction aft her sidesplitting was captured connected surveillance video portion she was commuting location from her pizzeria job. The footage captured the 23-year-old cowering arsenic her alleged slayer leered implicit her with a folding weapon seconds earlier the attack. 

Police revealed that her accused slayer was identified arsenic Decarlos Brown Jr., a repetition offender with a lengthy rap sheet. 

'Committed to transparency'

In his earlier connection Wednesday, McFadden sought to reassure residents that his bureau "remains committed to transparency" and that immoderate coordination with national agencies volition beryllium constricted to information-sharing, not enforcement.

The Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office said the sheriff, Garry L. McFadden, was contacted by 2 unnamed national officials this week who said U.S. Customs and Border Protection unit volition beryllium arriving successful the Charlotte country either Saturday oregon aboriginal adjacent week. (The Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office/Facebook)

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"It allows america to enactment informed and beryllium proactive successful keeping Mecklenburg County harmless and to support the level of spot our assemblage deserves," McFadden said.

Fox News Digital's Leo Briceno, Elizabeth Elkind, Cameron Arcand and Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.