NEW ORLEANS — Several congressmen convened at a Democratic forum in New Orleans on Monday to hear firsthand accounts regarding the Trump administration's actions during ICE's Operation Catahoula Crunch in Louisiana following a second fatal shooting by a member of ICE in Minneapolis this past week. 

Louisiana Congressman Troy Carter, along with Congressmen Bennie Thompson, Seth Magaziner and Tim Kennedy, was joined by witnesses at the forum including New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno, ACLU Louisiana Executive Director Alanah Odoms, Legal Director for Immigration Services and Legal Advocacy Homero Lopez, Southeast Advocacy Manager for the National Immigration Project Tania Wolf and Pastor of First Grace United Methodist Church Reverend Shawn Anglim. 

During opening statements, Mayor Moreno shared that she and other city leaders received no direct information from Border Patrol despite directly requesting that operations be more transparent on Dec. 5. While Border Patrol claimed to be targeting "the worst of the worst," Moreno does not believe that to be the case. 

"Countless stories were reported by our local media of Hispanic people, including some who are American citizens, being questioned, chased and detained," Moreno said. "It became very clear from the start of Catahoula Crunch that the mode of operation was for agents to find and target groups of predominantly Hispanic individuals and then figure out who they are later." 

Moreno said that the numbers released by Assistant Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Trisha McLaughlin on Jan. 9 claimed that Operation Catahoula made over 560 arrests, claiming to arrest "the worst of the worst," yet "only 6% of those arrested had any type of criminal record."

"What we saw here and now, in a much more severe fashion, in the city of Minneapolis, is no longer an issue of immigration, public safety or even politics. This is a cruel, divisive agenda lacking humanity," Moreno said.

New Orleans Councilmember-At-Large Jean-Paul Morrell shared his thoughts on the matter, saying, "What's happening in Minneapolis is devastating. What may happen in New Orleans could be even worse."

While Minneapolis has a Democratic governor and a Democratic mayor who are working together to protect their city from ICE operations, New Orleans does not. 

"We are a Democratic city in a Republican state governed by leaders who at the state level support the weaponization of ICE agents against anyone who appears to have international heritage," Morrell said. "People don't wear masks in our city unless it's a Mardi Gras parade."

ACLU Louisiana Executive Director Alanah Odoms believes that current ICE operations are reminiscent of slave patrols. 

"As you know, the origins of policing began with slave patrols, where certain citizens were empowered to accost and to take anyone they believed to be a fugitive," Odoms said. "ICE and CBP [U.S. Customs and Border Protection] have adopted these same tactics to capture and brutalize both American citizens and people of diverse backgrounds, assuming they are fugitives and violating their fundamental constitutional rights."

Odoms pointed to the name "Catahoula Crunch" as a direct example. 

"Catahoula is the Louisiana state dog, but it was historically used to hunt and track human beings during the period of slavery. That symbolism is not accidental. It reflects how communities of color experience these operations not as public safety but as human, person, and man hunts." 

Odoms stated that while funding is being funneled towards ICE's operations, she believes some of that money should go towards the legal representation of people being detained by ICE. 

"If there are billions of dollars that are being allocated in order to give people the right to round up people and lock them up, those people need legal representation, and that legal representation should be provided for by the American government if the American government is going to do the seizing." 

Southeast Advocacy Manager for the National Immigration Project, Tania Wolf, said that the performance-based national detention standards allow for legal rights presentations to be conducted inside detention centers. However, ICE has recently been limiting the number of practioners including legal assistants, paralegals and interpreters, that can enter a facility. 

"For the past four years, we've been able to bring anywhere from 10 to 15 practitioners, lawyers and legal assistants into the facility for multiple days," Wolf said. "ICE has now said we can only have six people go into these facilities for one day at a time."

This makes giving legal rights presentations much more difficult, as Winn Correctional Center alone houses about 1,500 people.

"It is impossible to be able to provide that orientation with those severe limitations."

While closing out the meeting, Congressman Carter shared a question he posed to U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. 

"You pay $50,000 for bonuses for ill-trained ICE agents who usually have five to six months of training, [which] has now been reduced to 47 days. ... What do you tell them to look for? What does an immigrant look like? What does an immigrant sound like? No one could answer the question. You're unilaterally stopping people and violating their rights."