Border Patrol Chief Behind Chicago Crackdown Prepares New Operation in Charlotte

After a months-long deportation campaign in Chicago, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents are reportedly getting ready to leave the Windy City and depart for Charlotte, North Carolina, and later New Orleans.  

On Monday, CBS News reported that some of the more than 200 “Border Patrol teams dispatched to Chicago could be diverted to Charlotte, North Carolina for an operation that is expected to start there this month.” Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), meanwhile, will continue its work in Chicago. The Charlotte contingent will be led by sector chief Gregory Bovino, who oversaw deployments in Chicago and Los Angeles earlier this year.

Neither CBP nor the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have publicly confirmed the reported redeployment, and local officials in Charlotte say they were caught off guard by the news. Charlotte‑Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) Chief Johnny Jennings told WBTV, a local CBS affiliate, “I don’t know if that’s going to happen or not. They haven’t reached out to me, so I’m not sure what’s going to occur.” In a statement, the department added that it “does not participate in ICE operations, nor are we involved in the planning of these federal activities.” The Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office likewise told WBTV it “had not been contacted by any border patrol representatives, nor has it been involved in any planning or conversations.”

It’s unclear what the motive for this potential deployment will be. While CBP has often been deployed in cities that President Donald Trump deems “lawless,” crime in Charlotte is dropping. The CMPD  reported that from January through September, the city saw an 8 percent decrease in overall crime and a 20 percent drop in violent‐crime incidents, according to its third-quarter crime statistics. 

The legal basis for such deployments also remains murky. CBP’s statutory authority extends within 100 miles of the border, but the agency has long expanded that zone to include major inland cities. Within this area, CBP argues it has broader latitude to conduct stops and limited searches under the “border search” framework—though courts have repeatedly held that many warrantless searches away from the actual border would otherwise be unconstitutional.

But, as the American Civil Liberties Union notes, the Constitution’s protections against “unreasonable searches and seizures” apply throughout the United States, including within the so-called 100-mile border zone. A Congressional Research Service report likewise explains that while the “border search exception” grants CBP broader authority near the border, searches and seizures conducted farther inland are “subject to greater Fourth Amendment scrutiny.”

Questions about the legality of CBP enforcement in Charlotte are sure to be prevalent with Bovino at the helm. While overseeing operations in Chicago, Bonvino has drawn scrutiny for allowing his agent to implement legally dubious riot control tactics, including pepper-spraying a family during a grocery run, tear-gassing peaceful protestors, and pointing guns at veterans. As Reason’s Autumn Billings recently reported, those incidents culminated in a sweeping injunction issued by a federal judge last week, finding that federal agents violated Fourth Amendment protections and used excessive force in multiple encounters.

Whether the Charlotte operation proceeds as reported remains to be seen. But the pattern is clear: if what happened in Chicago is any indication, deployments like this carry a real risk of civil rights violations. And it won’t stop in Charlotte. The administration is already weighing similar operations elsewhere, with New Orleans reportedly next in line, suggesting that these tactics could soon spread across the country. Now, the question is no longer where the border is, but how far these abuses will reach before someone stops them.