{"id":15974,"date":"2025-11-23T15:02:39","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T15:02:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/is-the-price-of-doing-this-worth-it-north-carolina-republicans-worry-about-trump-immigration-raids\/"},"modified":"2025-11-23T15:02:39","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T15:02:39","slug":"is-the-price-of-doing-this-worth-it-north-carolina-republicans-worry-about-trump-immigration-raids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/is-the-price-of-doing-this-worth-it-north-carolina-republicans-worry-about-trump-immigration-raids\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Is the price of doing this worth it?\u2019: North Carolina Republicans worry about Trump immigration raids"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Some North Carolina Republicans are worried President Donald Trump\u2019s aggressive immigration crackdown in the battleground state could backfire.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has touted its North Carolina surge as a successful operation targeting the\u201cworst of the worst\u201d<\/u><\/a> criminals, but some Republicans in the state \u2014 which will feature one of the most expensive and hotly contested Senate races next year \u2014 fear that message is not breaking through with voters.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s strategy can hold up in a purple state.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cRepublicans had the upper hand on immigration, as long as they were going after the criminals and the gangs, but I think they\u2019re losing the upper hand on that issue because of the apparent disjointed implementation of arrest,\u201d McCrory said in an interview. \u201cFrom a PR and political standpoint, for the first time, immigration is maybe having a negative impact on my party.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cif I were the administration, I would be really emphasizing who they\u2019ve arrested and the negative impact they\u2019ve had on the community, but we\u2019re not hearing that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The concerns surrounding Trump\u2019s Tar Heel State clampdown underscore a tension at the center of the president\u2019s immigration agenda. The White House\u2019s 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 \u2014 potentially treacherous territory for swing-state Republicans.<\/p>\n

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 \u201ca real sour aftertaste\u201d with voters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs the price of doing this worth it?\u201d Peacock added. \u201cI don\u2019t see this cloud moving away [from] what will be in the voters\u2019 minds.\u201d<\/p>\n

In line with the administration\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

National polls in recent months<\/u><\/a> show voters largely support removing immigrants living in the country illegally, but believe the Trump administration\u2019s tactics have gone too far. Other polls show<\/u><\/a> 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<\/u><\/a>, after Trump made significant inroads with those voters \u2014 including in North Carolina \u2014 last year. From July through October, the proportion of Latino voters who say the president\u2019s deportation agenda has gone too far has increased from 66 percent to 79 percent, according to a BLN poll<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rep. Maria Salazar (R-Fla.) this week noted 200 people were arrested over 48 hours in Charlotte. Seventy percent of them didn\u2019t have a criminal record, according to the Department of Homeland Security, Salazar added in a BLN interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cKick out the ones that are bad hombres, the ones who have criminal records, the murderers and the rapists,\u201d she said. \u201cBut do not touch the lady who has been here for 10, 20 years, contributing to the economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patrick Sebastian, a GOP pollster based in North Carolina, said voters \u201cdraw a clear line\u201d between deporting immigrants who are living in the country illegally and working but not breaking other laws, and unauthorized immigrants who have committed crimes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn purple states, there\u2019s broad support for removing the latter \u2014 and the left looks foolish protesting that,\u201d Sebastian said. \u201cBut the other narrative has gotten more play over the past week, and that could be a problem for Republicans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump administration officials have defended the administration\u2019s North Carolina efforts, with DHS Secretary Kristi Noem telling Fox this week that the agency is going after the \u201cworst of the worst,\u201d people who have \u201ccommitted robberies, assaults, DUIs, getting them off the streets and keeping people safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only way to fix that problem and solve it is to aggressively deport these illegal criminals,\u201d the official said. \u201cAnd so the administration is definitely going to keep doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Department of Homeland Security said<\/u><\/a> Thursday that \u201cOperation Charlotte\u2019s Web isn\u2019t ending anytime soon,\u201d as some North Carolina residents remain on edge. Some local businesses are closed, and residents have gone into hiding. Viral videos filmed<\/u><\/a> by locals have made national news, and Democratic Gov. Josh Stein warned<\/u><\/a> that \u201cmasked, heavily armed agents in paramilitary garb\u201d were targeting American citizens and \u201cracially profiling.\u201d<\/p>\n

A DHS spokesperson said on Thursday the enforcement surge in the Charlotte area has resulted in 370 arrests targeting \u201csome of the most dangerous criminal illegal aliens,\u201d though the agency refused to say how many of those arrested had criminal records. Earlier this week,<\/u><\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re seeing social media creating a hyper sense of what may be going on, and it doesn\u2019t always provide a full context. You\u2019ve seen, in response, the administration talking through, \u2018here\u2019s what\u2019s actually going on. Here are the criminals that we are taking off the streets,\u2019\u201d said North Carolina GOP chair Jason Simmons. \u201cYou\u2019re talking about individuals that have committed abhorrent acts \u2014 murder, sexual assault, again, trafficking of all kinds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile ICE and Border Patrol\u2019s presence in North Carolina has become a feature in the contentious Senate race.<\/p>\n

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<\/u><\/a> this week, Whatley said if Cooper hadn\u2019t vetoed bills requiring local law enforcement to honor ICE detainers, \u201cthen these people would not have been on the street.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since he entered the race in July, Whatley has primarily attacked Cooper\u2019s record as governor, calling him \u201csoft on crime.\u201d<\/u><\/a> That became a particularly potent attack in August, after a video of the murder of Iryna Zarutska on Charlotte\u2019s light rail went viral<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cRemoving criminal illegal aliens isn\u2019t politics \u2014 it\u2019s about keeping our communities safe,\u201d Danielle Alvarez, a senior adviser to Whatley\u2019s campaign, said in a statement. \u201cIf deporting illegal aliens who\u2019ve 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 \u2014 period.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, Cooper criticized<\/u><\/a> the Trump administration\u2019s operation for \u201crandomly sweeping up people based on what they look like.\u201d<\/p>\n

And in a statement, Cooper campaign spokesperson Kate Smart defended the governor\u2019s record: \u201cRoy 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s elections were the \u201cmidterms before the midterms.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know Whatley and his team aren\u2019t looking at [Charlotte] as a place they can win, but what they\u2019re 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],\u201d Peacock said.<\/p>\n

One GOP strategist working on races in North Carolina, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly, said there\u2019s 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, \u201cYou don\u2019t know what the enduring image is going to be in voters\u2019 minds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Diana Nerozzi contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some North Carolina Republicans are worried President Donald Trump\u2019s aggressive immigration crackdown in the battleground state could backfire. The Trump administration has touted its North Carolina surge as a successful operation targeting the\u201cworst of the worst\u201d criminals, but some Republicans in the state \u2014 which will feature one of the most expensive and hotly contested […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15974\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}