A demonstrator waves a Mexican flag during a protest outside the Department of Homeland Security office, after federal authorities conducted raids, expanding their crackdown on illegal immigration, in Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S. November 16, 2025. REUTERS/Sam Wolfe

By Brad Brooks

(Reuters) -The status of a Border Patrol operation targeting suspected undocumented migrants in Charlotte, North Carolina was in doubt on Thursday, with the local sheriff's office saying they were told by federal officials it had ended, which the Department of Homeland Security said was false.

Charlotte was the latest city run by Democrats targeted by U.S. President Donald Trump's mass deportation push, which has seen federal agents using aggressive tactics in Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington and elsewhere to apprehend immigrants suspected of being in the country illegally. Local residents have taken to the streets in protest and in efforts to warn people about the presence of immigration officers.

Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden said in a Thursday statement that federal officials confirmed with his office that the Border Patrol operation had ended, writing that "as a result, there will be no CBP operations" on Thursday.

"It is important to clarify that while the 'Charlotte’s Web' operation has ended, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will continue to operate in Mecklenburg County as they always have," the Mecklenburg Sheriff's Department statement read. "ICE maintains full authority to detain, apprehend, and take into custody any undocumented immigrant in accordance with federal law."

Asked if Operation Charlotte's Web had ended, Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Reuters by email that "the operation is not over and it is not ending anytime soon."

The Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office, asked about McLaughlin's comment, said in an emailed reply that it was standing by its earlier statement that the operation was over.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security had said that the raids in Charlotte were a response to the refusal of local officials to comply with requests to hold suspects for immigration police.

Homeland Security said on Thursday that around 370 arrests had been made in Charlotte and the surrounding area in the previous five days. Border Patrol expanded its operations to Raleigh, North Carolina, about 130 miles northeast of Charlotte, earlier this week.

Charlotte saw peaceful protests in response to the crackdown, including a walkout by the students of East Mecklenburg High School, and videos of arrests have been posted across social media, including one showing masked agents smashing a pickup window and dragging a man out.

Some Latino-run businesses closed over the weekend and remained shuttered this week in Charlotte, a city of 943,000 people and one of the fastest growing areas in the U.S., according to the Census Bureau. Many people are drawn to Charlotte by higher-paying jobs in the growing finance, tech and logistics sectors.

(Reporting by Brad Brooks; Additional reporting by Ted Hesson and Jasper Ward in Washington; Editing by Donna Bryson and Alistair Bell)