Federal agents fanned across New Orleans on Thursday for the second day of a massive U.S. Border Patrol operation, conducting scattered arrests as pounding rain cleared foot traffic in the kinds of public spaces agents swarmed in force a day prior .

Department of Homeland Security officials touted dozens of arrests in the first 24 hours of the operation dubbed "Catahoula Crunch," specifically naming six people whom the agency said had lengthy criminal histories. Arrestees publicized by DHS ranged from a man with kidnapping and assault convictions to another convicted of possessing marijuana.

Dozens more people appeared to have been detained in the operation in total by Thursday evening, but U.S. officials have repeatedly declined to provide a full tally. Recent Border Patrol sweeps

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