After the start of a Border Patrol operation In Charlotte, a plumber who works in construction in the southeast of the city decided not to leave his house for several weeks, fearing he would be arrested and deported.
“We have to hide like criminals, which we aren’t, but that’s how they see us,” he said, asking to remain anonymous. The worker has lived in the United States for 25 years, 13 of them in Charlotte.
Their fear reflects the anxiety that has spread through immigrant communities following the week-long federal operation known as “Charlotte's Webb”Although authorities claimed the mission focused on people with pending deportation orders, initial data and complaints from advocates tell a different story: many of those detained were long-time workers with no criminal record.
On December 3, the Department of Homeland Security reported More than 425 arrests in the Charlotte areaOf the first 130 cases reviewed, only 44 corresponded to people with criminal recordsCommunity groups in the Triangle, such as Siembra NC, also documented dozens of arrests of construction and landscaping workers.
“They say they’re after criminals, people with criminal records, but that’s not true. They’re going after us, the working class,” the plumber told Enlace Latino NC .
As the arrests progressed, fear spread among construction workers in North Carolina, halting projects, delaying contracts, and hitting an industry that relies heavily on immigrant labor.
For the workers themselves, the impact goes far beyond the economic: routines, family decisions, and even the simplest outings continue to be evaluated against the risk of being arrested.
Related: ICE arrests reach a historic record, predominantly of people without criminal records
“Surviving with what I have”
The Charlotte worker, who files taxes as an independent contractor, has been surviving on the money he had set aside to pay them.
“By the end of the year I’m going to owe about five or six thousand dollars,” he said.
His children, who were born in the United States, are distressed. “My son is very scared. At night he checks on me: 'Are you okay, Dad?' And in the morning, before going to school: 'I hope you're okay when I get back,'” he said.
Although the Border Patrol's presence was no longer visible in the state, he stayed home, fearing that the operations would return, as residents in Chicago have reported.
“My plan is to survive with what I have until the second week of December and then see how the situation is so I can go back to work,” he explained.
A transformed routine
Three hours away, in Zebulon, near the capital Raleigh, Carlos, a pseudonym to protect his identity, decided to continue working as an HVAC technician despite the uncertainty.
When he arrived at the construction site, “it looked completely deserted,” he told Enlace Latino NC The worker, who has lived in North Carolina for more than 20 years, said, “Many construction projects stopped because most of us who work in this sector are Latino or Hispanic.”
During the weekend, his family limits outings and relies on his children, one a U.S. citizen and the other a DACA recipient, to buy food.
“Several people I know were affected. Colleagues who unfortunately found themselves in that bad situation were caught by some of their workers,” he said, recalling what his colleagues told him.
Those individual decisions to stay home quickly accumulated, affecting the economy in general already an industry that depends on immigrant labor.
Economic repercussions
In Raleigh, a construction contractor with 23 years of experience and nearly two decades at the helm of his company said that the fear generated The immigration raids had an immediate impact on his business. His team of twelve Hispanic workers decided to stay home for about two weeks.
Some customers agreed to wait for their services. Others did not.
“We lost around $60,000 in contracts,” he told Enlace Latino NC “Some jobs were urgent. If we didn’t go, they would have to hire another company.”
The contractor, who has legal immigration status as does his wife, explained that many of his employees do not. In his experience, Latino workers are the most willing to take on the most demanding jobs to support their families.
“Some of them are the sole breadwinners for their families,” he said. “They fear not only being arrested, but also being beaten and treated inhumanely.”
The construction industry plays a vital role in North Carolina's economy. In 2024 It generated $41.4 billion for the stateThis is largely thanks to immigrant labor. According to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), one in four construction workers in North Carolina is an undocumented immigrant.
NAHB President Buddy Hughes warned that “mass deportation is not the answer” and endorsed immigration reform. “With a shortage of more than 200,000 construction workers, policymakers must consider that any disruption to the workforce would raise housing costs, limit supply, and worsen the nation’s affordability crisis,” Hughes said in a statement to Enlace Latino NC .
At the beginning of December, the pastor, along with volunteers, delivered food supplies to the family of one of the workers.
"With children and nothing to eat, because the man hadn't been able to work," she said.
The lasting impact
For Carlos, who is adjusting his immigration status through his youngest son, the offensive generates fear beyond the week-long operation.
“We’re a little afraid that maybe our process will stop or something will change,” he said. “You know the president has been changing a lot of legislation. It makes you think.”
Since January 2025, the administration of President Donald Trump has stricter enforcement of immigration lawThey have reversed more flexible guidelines, limited procedural discretion, and increased the detention of people with pending immigration cases.
The worker said he perceived a deeper cultural change.
“With this president, it seems that the racism that already existed has awakened what many people had kept hidden,” he stated. “In past years, there wasn’t so much hostility toward immigrants.”
Outside a Home Depot in Charlotte, another Latino construction worker described Enlace Latino NC a similar feeling of fear and disillusionment, even though he has legal status and voted for the president. Recent AP-NORC national polls They show a decline in overall approval of the president's handling of immigration and the economy.
“Being in this chaos, this misfortune is even making me feel disappointed that I voted for this person [Donald Trump],” said Olman Cantarero, originally from Honduras and a resident of the United States for 28 years.
“It’s very stressful, even if you’re doing well, but it’s sad. You have to carry your passport around because you look Latino and they start looking for you just for being Latino,” he added.
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Back to normal?
Construction sites are beginning to resume activity in the state, but caution persists.
“We have to pay attention to the environment, to what we hear and what we see, to know when we can go back to work,” said the other Charlotte worker, who is still sheltering at home.
Anna Hernandez, executive director of the community organization Transforming Nation Ford, told Enlace Latino NC that the atmosphere reminds him of the first months of the pandemic.
“Returning to normal is going to be a long process…not only economically, but also for our health, our safety and our community,” he said.
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