ICE Sweep Sparks Outcry in New Orleans Over Alleged Racial Profiling

A wave of arrests across New Orleans has ignited anger and fear among local residents after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents carried out what community advocates are calling a “targeted siege.”
 
The operation, which unfolded early this week, resulted in several people being detained—most of them from Latino and Black immigrant neighborhoods.
 
Witnesses described the scenes as tense and chaotic. Dozens of ICE vehicles reportedly moved through residential areas before dawn, with agents knocking on doors and questioning people in the streets. Civil rights groups claim that these actions relied on racial profiling, targeting individuals based on appearance and language rather than verified immigration status.
 
Community leaders say the timing of the raids, taking place just before the holiday season, has intensified emotional and financial stress for families already struggling with housing and employment instability. “They’re tearing communities apart,” said one organizer from a local immigrant rights network. “Children are waking up to find their parents gone—and that’s not about safety. That’s about power.”
 
ICE officials defended the operation in a brief statement, calling it part of an ongoing national initiative to locate individuals considered “public safety threats” or “in violation of federal immigration law.” However, the agency did not provide details about the number of arrests or the specific criteria used in this New Orleans sweep.
 
Local activists, clergy members, and human rights lawyers gathered at City Hall on Wednesday to demand an end to what they call “indiscriminate enforcement.” They are urging city officials to adopt stronger sanctuary policies and provide legal assistance to affected families.
 
The event has also sparked broader debate about racial profiling and immigrant policing in southern cities with complex multicultural histories like New Orleans. Residents say the raids threaten to erode trust between law enforcement and communitie

For now, the city remains on edge, with families seeking safe spaces while legal aid groups race to locate those detained. The raids have once again forced New Orleans to confront a familiar question: what does justice look like in a city defined by both diversity and deep division?s of color—trust that local leaders have spent years trying to rebuild.
 
Calls for transparency and accountability are growing, with demands that ICE disclose how targeting decisions are made and whether racial identifiers play a role. While federal officials insist their operations are data-driven, civil rights advocates argue that enforcement patterns tell a different story—one of systemic bias disguised as law enforcement.