CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Almost as quickly as they descended on Charlotte, sending terror coursing through the city's immigrant neighborhoods, the Border Patrol agents appeared mostly to be gone. After a weeklong enforcement surge in which the government said agents arrested hundreds of immigrants, nabbing many as they went about their daily lives, the Border Patrol set its sights on its next target, New Orleans.

But as Charlotte's immigrant communities regroup from what felt like a whiplash operation last month, they're finding that its impacts on their lives and their city have endured, and could last a long time.

"It's like a hurricane came through," said Stephanie Sneed, chair of the Board of Education overseeing Charlotte's public school system, "and then we have to deal with the aftermath

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