Nearly half of all people detained by federal immigration agents during "Operation Charlotte's Web" last November had no criminal record, according to new data obtained by the Deportation Data Project.
The records show that 402 people were arrested in North Carolina during the first week of the operation, from Nov. 15 to Nov. 23.
Just over a quarter of those arrested, 107 people, had prior criminal convictions. Nearly half — 195 people — had no criminal record, while roughly 100 had pending criminal charges. The dataset does not include details about the nature of those convictions and charges.
The vast majority of those detained were men, making up more than 90% of arrests. Only about a dozen people were from countries outside Latin America.
The data also highlights how dramatically enforcement activity increased during that week. ICE arrests in North Carolina rose by about 240% compared to the previous week.
The dataset also provides information on what happened after those arrests. Many of those detained were transferred out of state to the Folkston ICE Processing Center in Georgia, about a six-hour drive from Charlotte. About a dozen were taken to ICE detention facilities in Arizona, California and Nebraska.
The records show that roughly three-quarters of those detained have already been deported, either through formal removal or voluntary departure.
While the dataset provides new insight into the scope of the operation, it also has some limitations. The records list ICE as the arresting agency in every arrest, even though U.S. Border Patrol agents were known to play a major role in the operation. The dataset also does not include information about U.S. citizens who were detained.
WFAE has reached out to ICE and CBP for comment on the data, but has not received a response.
