Starting this weekend, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will implement a massive operation to detain immigrants without legal status located in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Through a statement issued by the Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office (MCSO), it was announced that, On Saturday or early next week, an immigration enforcement operation will take place targeting foreigners whose criminal records define them as dangerous to the rest of the community.

“The MCSO will remain vigilant and continue to address and focus on the needs of our community, as it does every day. However, it will not participate in any enforcement actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP),” the statement reads.

Various posts had begun circulating on social media alerting people to the presence of ICE agents in various areas of Charlotte, but these reports turned out to be false alarms, as the agents in the area were not immigration officers, but rather officers from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department searching for a suspect in connection with a recent shooting.

Some immigrant and human rights advocacy organizations have begun to provide guidance to people at risk of being targeted. detainees are informed about their rights and what to do if they are unable to evade ICE personnel during upcoming operations.

Since the removal of some mid-level ICE officials was announced, following President Donald Trump's expressed dissatisfaction with the slow pace of immigrant arrests, the planning of new raids has begun to expand to cities not previously considered.

Unlike a few months ago, the federal government now has new detention centers to which immigrants can be transferred to begin the process of deporting them to their countries of origin.

Furthermore,With the reopening of the government, hundreds of millions of dollars can be allocated to hiring more personnel to join ICE.