The immigration enforcement operationlaunched Wednesdayin Louisiana is pitting New Orleans' sanctuary city policies against state laws favored by Republican lawmakers.
Officials in New Orleans have expressed an unwillingness to aid the operation in a city rich with diversity. But unlike stateslike CaliforniaandIllinois,where Democratic governors and lawmakers opposed to President Donald Trump's immigration policies have pushed back, Louisiana's top officials welcome federal intervention.
"Louisiana will not be a refuge for violent offenders. We stand with our federal partners and the law enforcement officers who protect our people every day," Gov. Jeff Landry said in asocial media postWednesday. "Thank you to President [Donald Trump] and [Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem] for ensuring Louisiana has the resources and coordination needed to keep our citizens safe."
"Operation Catahoula Crunch," the name given by the Department of Homeland Security to immigration enforcement efforts in Louisiana, is the latest in a series of escalations unfolding in Democratic-led cities like Los Angeles, Chicago and, most recently, Minneapolis. It is unfolding, in part, at the behest of Landry, who has said an enforcement crackdown is key to fighting crime — even as police data shows violent crime, such as nonfatal shootings, burglary and assault, is on a downward trend in New Orleans.
The city is on pace to have its lowest number of homicides in nearly 50 years, according to the New Orleans Police Department. As of early November, there have been 97 reported murders in 2025 compared to124 in 2024.
Stronger state-federal cooperation
Local leaders have decried the enforcement escalation, calling it unnecessary and harmful.
"The announcement of Operation Catahoula Crunch has caused significant alarm in our city and created a culture of fear among our most vulnerable residents," New Orleans Mayor-elect Helena Moreno said in a statement.
But New Orleans officials have little recourse to resist federal enforcement. Landry has steadily steered state immigration policy toward the right and signed legislation aimed at strengthening ties between the state and federal officials.
In May, Landry issued an executive order directing state law enforcement agencies to help in federal immigration operations. This included encouraging local departments to sign on to DHS'287(g) program, which allows Immigration and Customs Enforcement to delegate to local and state agencies its power to enforce federal laws.
More than 20 parishes havesigned agreementswith federal immigration officials, including Jefferson Parish, which is home to the largest Latino population in the state and is adjacent to Orleans Parish. Hispanic people comprise some 30% of residents in the city of Kenner, wherePolice Chief Keith Conley has saidhe welcomes federal agents.
On Saturday, Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol commander overseeing the Louisiana sweep, applauded Landry and Kenner police for helping federal agents.
"Massive support. THIS is America," heposted on X.
Landry also created an expedited"alien removal"process to speed up and assist in the deportation of prison inmates found to be in the U.S. illegally.
Consent decree
The policies mirror similar efforts in other Republican-led states, like Oklahoma and South Dakota, but conflict with local policies in New Orleans, which is a sanctuary city and limits cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
In 2016, the New Orleans Police Department adopted a policy that prohibits officers from assisting federal immigration authorities except in limited instances, like a threat to public life or safety and when services are needed to execute a court-issued warrant.
The policy stems from a 2013 federal consent decree intended to address a history of corruption and unconstitutional practices, including racial profiling, within NOPD.
On Nov. 19, less than two weeks before immigration officials deployed agents to New Orleans, a federal judge ended the consent decree at the request of city leaders and the U.S Department of Justice.
At the time, police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said her department had "graduated" from federal oversight after years of implementing reforms addressing racial profiling.
"Our support is to make sure they are not going to get hurt and our community is not in danger," she told reporters, referring to New Orleans' immigrant community. Kirkpatrick added that immigration is a civil issue and that her department would not enforce civil laws.
On Friday, state Attorney General Liz Murrill, a Trump loyalist, issueda letter to Kirkpatrickencouraging 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 afederal lawthat 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 Morrelltold reportersthat 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."
