Politics

‘Is the price of doing this worth it?’: North Carolina Republicans worry about Trump immigration raids

Published

9 months ago

November 23, 2025

Some North Carolina Republicans are worried President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown in the battleground state could backfire.

The Trump administration has touted its North Carolina surge as a successful operation targeting the“worst of the worst” criminals, but some Republicans in the state — which will feature one of the most expensive and hotly contested Senate races next year — fear that message is not breaking through with voters.

The White House has largely focused its immigration sweeps on blue states that Trump officials have decried as sanctuaries for unauthorized immigrants. But the move to expand immigration arrests into North Carolina, mostly in the Charlotte area, offered the first test for whether the White House’s strategy can hold up in a purple state.

Former Republican Gov. Pat McCrory warned that recent local coverage, like an incident at a Charlotte shopping center, when masked agents arrested a man who said he was a U.S. citizen, and a raid at a local country club, may hurt the GOP on an issue it has long dominated.

“Republicans had the upper hand on immigration, as long as they were going after the criminals and the gangs, but I think they’re losing the upper hand on that issue because of the apparent disjointed implementation of arrest,” McCrory said in an interview. “From a PR and political standpoint, for the first time, immigration is maybe having a negative impact on my party.”

He added, “if I were the administration, I would be really emphasizing who they’ve arrested and the negative impact they’ve had on the community, but we’re not hearing that.”

The concerns surrounding Trump’s Tar Heel State clampdown underscore a tension at the center of the president’s immigration agenda. The White House’s message, since January, has tied illegal immigration to violent crime in U.S. cities. But immigration officials are simultaneously under sustained pressure from the White House to increase arrests and deportation numbers, an effort that requires targeting immigrants well beyond violent criminal offenders — potentially treacherous territory for swing-state Republicans.

Edwin Peacock III, a moderate Republican who lost an at-large Charlotte City Council race to Democrats earlier this month, warned of the raids leaving “a real sour aftertaste” with voters.

“Is the price of doing this worth it?” Peacock added. “I don’t see this cloud moving away [from] what will be in the voters’ minds.”

In line with the administration’s messaging, North Carolina Republicans have sought to keep public attention on criminal arrests. But their narrative has been overshadowed by viral social media footage highlighting arrests of immigrants without criminal records and local media reports documenting the fear coursing through churches, schools and local businesses, these Republicans said.

National polls in recent months show voters largely support removing immigrants living in the country illegally, but believe the Trump administration’s tactics have gone too far. Other polls show that voters support deporting immigrants with criminal records living in the country illegally, but that support falls when those surveyed are asked about the broader pool of immigrants. And Republicans are losing Latino support, after Trump made significant inroads with those voters — including in North Carolina — last year. From July through October, the proportion of Latino voters who say the president’s deportation agenda has gone too far has increased from 66 percent to 79 percent, according to a BLN poll.

Rep. Maria Salazar (R-Fla.) this week noted 200 people were arrested over 48 hours in Charlotte. Seventy percent of them didn’t have a criminal record, according to the Department of Homeland Security, Salazar added in a BLN interview.

“Kick out the ones that are bad hombres, the ones who have criminal records, the murderers and the rapists,” she said. “But do not touch the lady who has been here for 10, 20 years, contributing to the economy.”

Patrick Sebastian, a GOP pollster based in North Carolina, said voters “draw a clear line” between deporting immigrants who are living in the country illegally and working but not breaking other laws, and unauthorized immigrants who have committed crimes.

“In purple states, there’s broad support for removing the latter — and the left looks foolish protesting that,” Sebastian said. “But the other narrative has gotten more play over the past week, and that could be a problem for Republicans.”

Trump administration officials have defended the administration’s North Carolina efforts, with DHS Secretary Kristi Noem telling Fox this week that the agency is going after the “worst of the worst,” people who have “committed robberies, assaults, DUIs, getting them off the streets and keeping people safe.”

A senior White House official, granted anonymity to speak about internal thinking, argued that the president is making good on his campaign to execute mass deportations. The official said the previous administration allowed for millions of unauthorized immigrants to enter the country.

“The only way to fix that problem and solve it is to aggressively deport these illegal criminals,” the official said. “And so the administration is definitely going to keep doing that.”

The Department of Homeland Security said Thursday that “Operation Charlotte’s Web isn’t ending anytime soon,” as some North Carolina residents remain on edge. Some local businesses are closed, and residents have gone into hiding. Viral videos filmed by locals have made national news, and Democratic Gov. Josh Stein warned that “masked, heavily armed agents in paramilitary garb” were targeting American citizens and “racially profiling.”

A DHS spokesperson said on Thursday the enforcement surge in the Charlotte area has resulted in 370 arrests targeting “some of the most dangerous criminal illegal aliens,” though the agency refused to say how many of those arrested had criminal records. Earlier this week, DHS said that over two days, 44 of the 130 people arrested had committed crimes that include aggravated assault, assault with a dangerous weapon, assault on a police officer, battery, driving under the influence and hit-and-runs. The spokesperson said the arrests also included two known gang members.

“You’re seeing social media creating a hyper sense of what may be going on, and it doesn’t always provide a full context. You’ve seen, in response, the administration talking through, ‘here’s what’s actually going on. Here are the criminals that we are taking off the streets,’” said North Carolina GOP chair Jason Simmons. “You’re talking about individuals that have committed abhorrent acts — murder, sexual assault, again, trafficking of all kinds.”

Meanwhile ICE and Border Patrol’s presence in North Carolina has become a feature in the contentious Senate race.

Michael Whatley, the former Republican National Committee chair running for the open Senate seat, has used the raids to attack his opponent, former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. In an interview on Fox News this week, Whatley said if Cooper hadn’t vetoed bills requiring local law enforcement to honor ICE detainers, “then these people would not have been on the street.”

Since he entered the race in July, Whatley has primarily attacked Cooper’s record as governor, calling him “soft on crime.” That became a particularly potent attack in August, after a video of the murder of Iryna Zarutska on Charlotte’s light rail went viral.

“Removing criminal illegal aliens isn’t politics — it’s about keeping our communities safe,” Danielle Alvarez, a senior adviser to Whatley’s campaign, said in a statement. “If deporting illegal aliens who’ve molested children, assaulted women, or been convicted of weapons charges is something Democrats want to oppose, that says everything about how far left Roy Cooper and the NC Democratic Party have drifted. Michael Whatley stands with law enforcement and with North Carolina families — period.”

Earlier this week, Cooper criticized the Trump administration’s operation for “randomly sweeping up people based on what they look like.”

And in a statement, Cooper campaign spokesperson Kate Smart defended the governor’s record: “Roy Cooper is the only candidate who spent his career prosecuting violent criminals and keeping thousands of them behind bars, and numerous North Carolina sheriffs spoke out against this legislation at the time because of a lack of resources; a problem that Washington D.C. insider and Big Oil lobbyist Michael Whatley has made worse because of his support for cuts to local law enforcement.”

The raids come weeks after Democrats swept off-year elections across the country, including in municipal and county-level positions in North Carolina. Peacock, who lost his own at-large Charlotte City Council bid, said he warned his fellow Republicans that this month’s elections were the “midterms before the midterms.”

“I know Whatley and his team aren’t looking at [Charlotte] as a place they can win, but what they’re probably not considering yet is that this region, this city, could define your loss because [Democratic turnout] could be at such exponential levels compared to traditional [norms],” Peacock said.

One GOP strategist working on races in North Carolina, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly, said there’s a risk that the picture of a citizen being separated from their family, rather than the arrests of unauthorized immigrants with criminal records, will stick, adding, “You don’t know what the enduring image is going to be in voters’ minds.”

Diana Nerozzi contributed to this report.

Politics

Trump invites battleground Republicans to Rose Garden dinner

Published

3 hours ago

September 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

President Donald Trump has invited a group of GOP lawmakers including Republicans in competitive races to dine with him Wednesday night at the White House as many in the party press the president to unleash his massive war chest ahead of the November elections, according to four people with direct knowledge of the matter.

The White House plans to hold the dinner in the Rose Garden, according to two of the people who know about the invitation. The people were granted anonymity to discuss private planning. Some House Republicans in tough races were sent invitations, including Reps. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) and Tom Barrett (R-Mich.), who are planning to attend, along with a wider group of GOP lawmakers and senators.

“Of course,” Van Orden said when asked if he would go to the dinner.

The White House invited at least several dozen lawmakers, according to two people familiar with the invitation list. The dinner also comes ahead of next week’s GOP midterm convention in Dallas, though attendance from Republican lawmakers is expected to be mixed. Barrett, for example, said in an interview Tuesday he is not planning to attend the convention and will instead campaign and spend time with his family. A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump’s political operation, MAGA Inc., has spent little of its $400 million war chest to help GOP lawmakers. But he recently helped boost Sen. Darline Graham over the line in her heated primary.

Senate Republicans are eager for him to start spending for Ken Paxton in Texas as he has thus far been outspent on the airwaves by Democrat James Talarico and his allies.

Politics

Susan Collins on Trump, tariffs and her fight for Maine

Published

8 hours ago

September 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Susan Collins on Trump, tariffs and her fight for Maine

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Politics

JD Vance courts Jewish Republicans. Tucker Carlson still looms.

Published

17 hours ago

September 2, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

LAS VEGAS — Vice President JD Vance tried to make inroads with Jewish Republicans. Not everyone is sold.

Vance’s closed-door speech at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership summit Monday night went a long way in alleviating top pro-Israel donors’ concerns about his support for the U.S.-Israeli relationship, and it cemented their view that Vance would be a preferable choice to whomever the Democratic Party nominee is in 2028.

But some attendees still have questions for Vance — particularly around his relationship with conservative pundit Tucker Carlson, who has long drawn ire from the Republican Jewish leaders for his criticism of Israel and outraged many when he hosted the antisemite Nick Fuentes for a lengthy podcast interview last year.

“He allayed a lot of concern, but he failed to address his relationship with Tucker Carlson, and that left a lot of people wondering why,” said Josh Katzen, a real estate developer and member of the RJC board, speaking in his personal capacity.

Vance, the current front-runner for the Republican nomination in 2028, has long faced skepticism from Jewish Republicans who question his commitment to the U.S.-Israeli relationship and his response to antisemitism within the GOP. In his speech Monday, he took both issues head-on, and largely appeased the skeptical crowd with his answers, declaring that “Jew-hatred is corrosive to the soul” and saying Republicans need to articulate to young Americans why an alliance with Israel is in the best interest of the U.S.

But his meandering response to a question about Carlson and other podcasters left some in attendance yearning for more.

“A few names: Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Joe Rogan, Nick Fuentes. They have platformed antisemites,” former Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), the RJC’s board chair, asked Vance. “How do you draw the line, in terms of … the platforms that you appear on?

“I recognize a lot of people in this room may disagree with things that Tucker Carlson or Megyn Kelly or Joe Rogan have said,” Vance said, before pivoting to discuss Rogan and Fuentes, saying those are “two very, very different categories of people” and suggesting people like Rogan should be reasoned with, even when there are disagreements.

The answer was not sufficient to some, who wonder about his longtime relationship with Carlson. Vance was a regular on Carlson’s Fox News show and creditedCarlson for helping carry him to victory in his 2022 U.S. Senate primary in Ohio. In 2024, Carlson pushed for Trump to pick Vance as his running mate.

“JD Vance allying himself with an individual who has called for Trump’s immediate removal from office will make it harder for many of us Jewish conservatives to consider his candidacy,” said Shabbos Kestenbaum, a pro-Israel campus activist who spoke at the Republican National Convention in 2024 and spoke at last year’s RJC conference. “We hope this issue is resolved quickly so we can focus on policy, not personality.”

Eric Levine, a major GOP donor and member of the RJC board, said Vance could’ve had “an incredible Sister Souljah moment” if he took on Carlson.

“In my view, on the issue of Jews and Israel, there is no difference between Hasan Piker, Zohran Mamdani, Abdul El-Sayed and the DSA writ large on the one hand and Tucker Carlson, Nick Fuentes, Marjorie Taylor Green and neo-Nazis on the other hand,” said Levine, speaking in his personal capacity. “That is why I wish the vice president had unambiguously separated himself and condemned Tucker by name.”

Conservative radio host Sid Rosenberg also wasn’t satisfied. Just hours after urging RJC attendees in a speech onstage to “give Vance a chance,” he was critical of how Vance handled that opportunity.

“He had a chance to hammer @TuckerCarlson and @megynkelly but instead spent all his time defending @joerogan over Nick Fuentes,” Rosenberg wrote on X. “Look, he’s still better than any Democrat candidate but I don’t think he wowed the STRONG Jews in the room tonight.”

Carlson, in a text message, said, “An organization that promotes and defends genocide is continuing to insist that they’re the real victims? I can’t imagine who buys this nonsense anymore.”

Human rights groups have accused Israel of genocide over its conduct in the war in Gaza, which the country’s leaders vehemently deny. Vance’s office did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

An individual close to Vance, granted anonymity to describe sentiment within the vice president’s orbit, said there was no illusion Vance would win over every person in attendance, “or that every single person would love every single answer.”

“The goal was to lower the temperature, extend an olive branch, and make clear that the vice president is an ally, not an enemy,” the person said, arguing that goal was “achieved.”

Sam Markstein, spokesperson for the RJC, emphasized that the organization is a coalition.

“There will always be many opinions within the organization,” Markstein said. “In an hour when too many public figures are walking away from the Jewish community and the U.S.-Israel relationship, the Republican Jewish Coalition will always stand with the leaders who show up. Vice President JD Vance shows up — and received multiple standing ovations with thunderous applause.”

Vance, who was elected to the Senate in 2022, faces a fundamental disadvantage among potential Republican 2028ers: He’s still a relative newcomer to the Republican political scene.

Others, like Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), have developed relationships with pro-Israel Republicans in both the Jewish and evangelical Christian communities for years, going well back before their respective 2016 presidential runs. Rubio has pushed to revoke visas from individuals accused of promoting antisemitism or supporting terrorism. Cruz has publicly sparred with Carlson, criticizing him of antisemitism. A Cruz-aligned nonprofit recently launched to take on right-wing antisemitism.

Vance’s speech was his first at an RJC leadership summit, though he attended in 2022. It was the first time since 2019 a sitting president or vice president attended the conference, which draws some of the country’s most influential Republican donors.

Not being a favorite among RJC leaders wasn’t an impediment to Donald Trump’s political outsider 2016 presidential bid. During that campaign, he was accused of invoking antisemitic stereotypes during a speech to the RJC and in a social media post. But upon taking office, he formed a strong relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, culminating in the Abraham Accords and moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Speakers at the RJC’s two-day summit this week frequently referred to Trump as the most pro-Israel president in U.S. history.

But Rubio and Cruz have been fixtures at past iterations of the RJC’s annual leadership summit, and they maintain strong ties with the group’s leadership. (None have announced whether they’ll seek the presidential nomination, though Rubio has stated he will not run if Vance does.)

Many attendees said Rubio is still the favorite amongst the crowd.

“Every time Marco Rubio’s name is mentioned in this conference, there’s a spontaneous round of applause,” said Katzen, the RJC board member. Indeed, when Rosenberg urged attendees to welcome Vance in a speech Monday, he mentioned the hypothetical, “If Marco Rubio was here tonight—” and was drowned out by applause.

Should Rubio not run for the nomination against Vance, other observers think Cruz will have the inside lane among the RJC crowd.

“Ted Cruz is loved here, and he deserves to be loved here,” said Levine, prior to Vance’s speech. “Look, if it’s Cruz and Vance, I expect that this crowd would be 90 percent Cruz.”

Ari Fleischer, an RJC board member and a former White House press secretary, said Vance made inroads — but building a relationship with the pro-Israel community takes time.

“It’s fair to say hearts and minds are changing, but I think it’s also fair to say that when you come before the Republican Jewish Coalition, it’s like when you come to New Hampshire to campaign,” Fleischer said. “After the third or fourth time, we let you know how you’re doing.”