North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis is pressing the Department of Homeland Security for answers about the U.S. Border Patrol’s Charlotte operation last November.
In a four-page letter sent Monday to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Tillis asked her to turn over detailed records from “Operation Charlotte’s Web.”
Tillis applauded the arrests of immigrants with criminal records. Still, he also cited media reports that U.S. citizens may have been detained, subjected to force or had property damaged during the operation.
Federal agents have provided limited information so far about their operations in Charlotte. They have not provided full identification of people they arrested, instead only releasing a few names out of the hundreds taken into custody.
Tillis is asking DHS to provide encounter-level data on agents’ interactions with the public, including whether force was used, whether U.S. citizens were involved and how agents justified each stop.
He also wants totals on how many people were detained during the Charlotte operation, and how many had prior criminal convictions.
Tillis requested that the information be provided before Noem’s testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 3.
