As New Orleans mayor-elect Helena Moreno called out Trump administration officials over their secrecy surrounding the immigration sweeps that have gripped the region, U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino was busy ordering cracklins and smiling for selfies on Friday afternoon inside a Kenner convenience store.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, meanwhile, was warning New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick in a letter that an NOPD policy that limits support for immigration agents could open her up to a criminal charge.
The third day of “Operation Catahoula Crunch,” the latest round of immigration sweeps from President Donald Trump’s administration after similar campaigns in Chicago and Charlotte, N.C., brought a rise of political tensions amid more sightings of mask-clad agents but few official details on the number of people detained or for what.
New Orleans Mayor-elect Helena Moreno, center, talks with U.S. Congressman Troy Carter Sr., left, and former New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial, right, in a hallway at City Hall following the presser she hosted about the U.S. Border Patrol sweeps in the metro area on Friday, December 5, 2025. (Photo by Chris Granger, The Times-Picayune)
Moreno led the calls for transparency, joined Friday by U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, D-New Orleans, and former mayor Marc Morial, among others. Moreno said at a news conference that she’d sent a letter to Bovino demanding basic information about the stops and arrests his agents are making, their legal bases, any criminal charges and warrants.
She also demanded that agents remove masks and show clear identification, and probable cause for arrests.
“Our points are just very simple,” she said. “I don’t believe that we’re asking for too much here.”
Bovino demurred, however, as he strode armed down Martinique Avenue in Kenner with masked agents, in search of a suspect.
“I think this is about as transparent as it gets right here,” he said.
Customs and Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino, center, walks with border patrol agents through a neighborhood in Kenner on Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (Staff photo by Brett Duke, The Times-Picayune)
Department of Homeland Security officials have repeatedly declined to share specifics on people detained in their immigration sweeps, though they’ve said dozens have been arrested in the New Orleans area so far.
Asked if the goal remained 5,000 arrests from the operation, as previously stated, Bovino responded: “The goal is as many as we possibly can. It could be 100,000, you never know.”
He said they were in the area targeting someone with “a significant immigration history” but declined details.
“You know what? Nothing to fear if you’re an American citizen,” Bovino told a reporter. “If you’re not an American citizen, then look out. Legal residents tend to know that we’re friends. We’re friends with all legal residents.”
While DHS has not provided a full list of those who they’ve detained, they have touted some of the arrests. On social media Friday, for example, DHS posted a photo of a man in a vehicle.
Customs and Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino, center, walks with border patrol agents through a neighborhood in Kenner on Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (Staff photo by Brett Duke, The Times-Picayune)
“Another sicko off the streets of New Orleans, Louisiana,” the department’s account posted on the social media website X, without naming him. “This criminal illegal alien from Honduras has a rap sheet that includes charges for strangulation, simple battery, domestic abuse, child endangerment, and simple battery. He will be REMOVED from our country!”
In recent Border Patrol sweeps in Chicago and North Carolina, a vast majority of detainees had no criminal backgrounds. Since the operation launched Wednesday in Louisiana, allegations have mounted of agents detaining people with work permits and American citizenship.
Immigration Services and Legal Advocacy, which provides free legal assistance, has been contacted by loved ones of 15 detainees, said Homero Lopez, the group’s director. He said a majority of those clients either have legal status or are in the process of obtaining it.
“What we are hearing from our clients is exactly what we have seen happen in other cities. Folks are being arrested indiscriminately, targeted for the color of their skin, the language they speak, the location where they are working,” Lopez said.
One video that spread nationwide showed a 23-year-old mother fleeing to her West Bank home as agents chased her. The woman told the Times-Picayune that an agent asked her to come toward him as more began to approach. She said she twice told them she was a citizen before running to her Marrero home.
In a statement Friday, the Department of Homeland Security called its pursuit of the woman part of a targeted operation against “a criminal illegal alien previously charged with felony theft and convicted of illegal possession of stolen property.” She’d matched the description of the wanted subject, and the agents identified themselves, DHS said.
“Agents immediately stopped upon reaching the property, determined the individual in question was not the target, and all agents departed the area,” the agency said. “No arrests were made.”
But the mother of the Marrero woman rejected the agency’s explanation.
“We’ve seen this, and they’re just trying to cover their asses because they did not identify themselves or ask her,” said Ramona Anglin.
Morial, who heads the National Urban League, said the tactics of the masked federal agents reminded him of those of the Klu Klux Klan.
“I do not suggest that ICE are the Klu Klux Klan, but in this country, there are zero precedents for sworn law enforcement officers to mask themselves,” he said. “If they’re insisting on wearing a mask, they can ride in Rex, Zulu or Endymion.”
Bovino’s agents appeared to focus their attention Friday outside of New Orleans, anyway.
New Orleans Mayor-elect Helena Moreno, center, is surrounded by local officials and advocates as she talks about the U.S. Border Patrol sweeps during a presser held at New Orleans City Hall on Friday, December 5, 2025. (Photo by Chris Granger, The Times-Picayune)
In Kenner, some locals blew whistles, recorded the agents and yelled for people to stay inside their homes. A trail of cars followed Border Patrol agents. Some formed a blockade on Friday.
Bovino said roughly 30 cars in all “were harassing Border Patrol and causing severe traffic problems.” But Kenner police soon intervened, halting traffic on West Esplanade Avenue to help he and his agents clear out.
Bovino was soon praising Kenner Police Chief Keith Conley on social media, calling the move “the first that has ever happened by a state or local (agency).”
Staff Writer James Finn contributed to this report.
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