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On Friday, state Attorney General Liz Murrill, a Trump loyalist, issued a letter to Kirkpatrick encouraging her to direct officers to “fully cooperate” with agents from ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
“ICE and CBP are our law enforcement partners in New Orleans and across Louisiana, where public safety is our collective mission,” Murrill’s letter read in part. “Extremists have targeted ICE and CBP officers with threats of violence that have been carried out in other jurisdictions, and it is important that all law enforcement, including the NOPD, oppose such violence and uphold and enforce the rule of law.”
Murrill’s letter cited a state law that makes it a felony for municipal employees to refuse to cooperate with federal immigration agencies, and also referred to a federal law that prohibits a person from knowingly concealing or shielding from detection someone who is in the country illegally.
Murrill is also embroiled in a legal battle with the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office, which operates city jails. It remains under a consent decree that has been in place since 2013 when the department settled a federal case involving two immigrants who were held in jail after their sentences were completed.
Murrill has asked a federal judge to strike down the sheriff’s department policy prohibiting jails from holding immigration detainees. Hearings are ongoing, according to the attorney general’s office.
“While it is under review, it is still important to remember that nothing in the consent decree permits obstructing or interfering with ICE and federal immigration enforcement,” Murrill said in a statement to NBC News.
‘It feels a lot like a storm’
Immigration advocates in New Orleans say they understand the conflict between state and local policies, but want to see city officials take a stronger stance against Trump’s immigration enforcement tactics.
“They don’t want to be the nail that sticks out and gets hammered,” organizer Rachel Taber with Union Migrante, an immigrant advocacy group, said of New Orleans leadership.
Taber has seen immigrant communities shrink into the shadows as the recent operation has gotten underway. Parents are keeping their children home from school, businesses are closing and employees are not reporting to work.
“It feels a lot like a storm where people have to stay inside and not go out,” she said. “But it’s heartbreaking because it’s a storm that’s only affecting a third of the population and other people may not even be aware of it.”
So far, “dozens” have been arrested in the first few days of enforcement, representing a small fraction of the 5,000 people the administration aims to arrest, according to DHS.
Last week, a New Orleans City Council meeting devolved into shouts and shoves as law enforcement officers forcibly removed a small group of anti-ICE protesters.
Dozens of demonstrators called for city leaders to adopt “ICE-free” zones similar to those established in Chicago earlier this year. The Chicago executive order, signed into law in October by Mayor Brandon Johnson, limits federal access to municipally owned properties, such as parking lots and garages, for immigration enforcement activities.
New Orleans City Council member JP Morrell told reporters that city officials “are doing everything possible under the law to make it as difficult as possible for ICE to operate here.”
Speaking after the meeting, Mayor LaToya Cantrell said New Orleans “stands in solidarity with every resident within our community in making sure they know their rights.”
“They feel safe, and we’re going to continue to ensure that,” she continued.
But not all immigrants do feel safe, said New Orleans resident Alfredo Salazar. He has lived in the United States for nearly three decades and is a naturalized citizen.
About two months ago, before enforcement efforts ramped up, Salazar said he was stopped by federal immigration agents outside a Home Depot. He was briefly questioned in the back of a car and released a few minutes later, after showing documentation, Salazar said.
He said he remains shaken by the experience.
“It’s a crime to be a Latino right now in New Orleans,” he said. “I can be arrested just because of my face.”
