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The Mayor of New Orleans-Elect said Friday that the crackdown on Federal immigration launched this week has already caused injuries among agents and residents, including some behind the backlash.
Frustrated city authorities point to the case of Jacelyn Guzman, a 23-year-old American citizen who was returning to her home in Louisiana from a trip to her grocery store on Wednesday when a truck pulled up next to her, according to security updates obtained by the Associated Press.
Guzman began to flee as a second car arrived and agents followed him down the side of the road until he reached his family’s home in Marrero, a neighborhood across the Mississippi River from downtown New Orleans. Guzman’s mother has lived there all her life.
“We’re legal, we’re from here, we’re born and raised,” said Guzman, who will go back to being an agent. “You can fire me, that’s unacceptable.”
Several hundred agents under Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino converged on southeast Louisiana this week as part of an immigration enforcement operation seeking to detain 5,000 people. The Department of Homeland Security issued a series of arrests with only limited details released. Many Hispanic residents said they feel their community is at risk of being harassed or arrested by agents regardless of their legal status.
Next to the members of the Council, Rep. He said the operation was causing harm – forcing businesses to close and workers living in fear of mass arrests.
While federal officials have also said the goal of the operation is to target dangerous criminals who entered the country illegally, Moreno argued “that doesn’t seem right.”
Moreno said that he is requesting general public information from federal agencies, which requests include information on stops, arrests, charges, warrants, results and if the people arrested have violent crime results.
“Without this full visibility of these enforcement actions, it is impossible to determine whether this operation is actually aimed at the most dangerous,” said Moreno.
Guzman’s Stessin’s father, Juan Anglin, said Hedcores agents have a job to do but believe they are going about it the wrong way.
Anglin heard his stepdaughter screaming outside and went out with the agents. She said she ran to the agent because she was a young woman surrounded by aggressive men.
“I thought he was going to be kidnapped, honestly,” Anglin said. “I thought someone was going to hurt him.”
In response, the Department of Homeland Security said the Border Patrol was searching for “an illegal alien who was charged with immigration and convicted of possession of stolen property.”
DHS said that agents “encountered a woman matching the description of the stone” and that the agents who identified themselves and left when they saw Guzman were not looking for Jehovah.
Anglin disputes the government’s narrative that he was only invited because of his appearance.
“Because you look brown, you look Hispanic, you’re going to stop,” she said. “Because now it doesn’t matter if you have papers, speak English or are a citizen, it’s not enough.”
