A DHS immigration enforcement operation dubbed "Operation Catahoula Crunch" began earlier this week in New Orleans, Louisiana, with a goal of 5,000 arrests over two months.
Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino, who is leading the operation, arrived in the city earlier in the week.
CBP has posted videos on social media showing arrests. One video shows agents pulling roofers from a job in Kenner, Louisiana, west of New Orleans.
This focus on New Orleans comes after similar high-profile operations in cities like Chicago and LA, as part of the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration.
Target are largely in Democrat-led states and cities identified as sanctuary jurisdictions.
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U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, who is from Louisiana, said Thursday he supported the operation.
"Democrats' sanctuary city policies have failed — making our American communities dangerous. The people of our GREAT city deserve better, and help is now on the ground," Johnson wrote.
On the ground, communities are on edge. Streets and businesses are empty in cities with high concentrations of Hispanic residents and Vietnamese communities.
Many of those Vietnamese residents in particular endured waves of displacement to the U.S. at the end of the Vietnam war, after the fall of Saigon in 1975.
Some have spent the past half century building lives and deep roots in New Orleans.
Thi Bui, a resident who was born at the end of the war, came to the U.S. as a refugee at age 3 and lives in New Orleans. She told Scripps News this DHS operation feels like a betrayal for the community that has sought refuge here and has had a significant cultural impact on cities like New Orleans.
"The folks who came here in the 70s were allies of the U.S. in a proxy war that the U.S. got involved in, you know, probably shouldn't have gotten involved in, but because the U.S. was there, now the refugees of that war have to come here," she said. "And they rebuilt their lives from scratch, and now this is their home. It's been over 50 years that the Vietnamese have been in the U.S. and in New Orleans. They've raised families, opened businesses, become part of the culture, the fabric of this country. And now they're getting ripped apart. Their families are getting torn apart. They are in a constant state of dread. And it's really hard to live like that."
