New Orleans city council meeting erupts as anti-ICE protesters clash

A metropolis council assembly in New Orleans descended into chaos Thursday as anti-ICE protesters stormed the council chambers, shouted down officers and clashed with police over the launch of a serious federal immigration enforcement wave now underway in southeastern Louisiana.

The outburst got here a day after the Division of Homeland Safety introduced Operation Catahoula Crunch, a two-month federal initiative that deployed 250 Border Patrol brokers to New Orleans and surrounding areas. The operation, dubbed “Swamp Sweep” by protesters, has intensified opposition from immigrant rights teams and led to rising unrest at Metropolis Corridor.

Protesters started gathering outdoors Metropolis Corridor round 9:30 a.m., holding indicators, chanting by megaphones and denouncing the operation. When officers later allowed protesters into the council chamber, tensions instantly escalated.

A number of protesters marched to the rostrum and tried to talk, however council members interrupted them, saying their feedback weren’t associated to the agenda merchandise. The room erupted with cries of “Disgrace!” and “Coward!” echoed by the room, till council members abruptly interrupted the assembly and walked outdoors, permitting protesters to take over the room.

DHS LAUNCHES NEW IMMIGRATION ACTION IN NEW ORLEANS

Anti-ICE and Border Patrol agitators are eliminated by New Orleans Police Division officers after disrupting a council assembly at Metropolis Corridor in New Orleans on December 4, 2025. (Adam Grey/AFP by way of Getty Photographs)

About 30 to 40 protesters refused to adjust to repeated police orders to go away. Officers started escorting folks out, and in a single heated second, an officer bodily lifted a protester and carried him out of the room as others screamed in outrage.

‘Disgrace on you. He’s a peaceable protester,” one lady shouted. “You do not drag folks alongside like that, that is felony.”

One other protester confronted officers on the room doorways, shouting: “Our persons are being attacked and also you’re dragging him out? Who do you’re employed for?’

DHS LAUNCHES HUGE IMMIGRATION OPERATION IN LOUISIANA, MISSISSIPPI: ‘SWAMP SWEEP’

New Orleans cops carry a person out of Metropolis Corridor after he took half in a protest in opposition to the deployment of federal brokers within the metropolis throughout a metropolis council assembly on December 4, 2025 in New Orleans. (Ryan Murphy/Getty Photographs)

Exterior the barricades, activists took out officers and shouted obscenities as police held their positions behind a steel fence. No arrests or detentions had been reported as of Thursday afternoon.

Contained in the room, protesters broke right into a sustained chant, shouting, “No ICE! No KKK! No racist USA!”

The Division of Homeland Safety says Operation Catahoula Crunch is geared toward eradicating “felony unlawful aliens who’re on the unfastened due to sanctuary insurance policies” that forestall native authorities from honoring ICE detainees.

WATCH: Anti-ICE Protesters Dragged From New Orleans Metropolis Corridor

In a sharply worded assertion, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin stated the shelter coverage “endangers American communities by releasing unlawful felony aliens and forcing DHS regulation enforcement officers to threat their lives to take away felony unlawful aliens who ought to by no means have been put again on the streets.”

She added that it was “unusual that these monsters have been launched again into the streets of New Orleans to COMMIT MORE CRIMES and trigger extra victims.”

McLaughlin additionally emphasised that Operation Catahoula Crunch targets perpetrators whom she described as “violent criminals launched after arrest for house invasion, armed theft, auto theft and rape,” including, “Underneath President Trump and Secretary Noem, we’re restoring regulation and order to the American folks.”

AS THE ICE GET READY FOR ‘MASS SWEEPING,’ MISSISSIPPI PROMISES TO SUPPORT – NOT BLOCK FEDERAL CRACKDOWN

Thursday’s confrontation got here after an indication Monday outdoors Metropolis Corridor, the place dozens of individuals gathered to oppose the upcoming cleanup. According to local outlet WWNO, Monday’s occasion featured emotional speeches accusing DHS of retraumatizing immigrant communities.

One protester informed the gang, “We have been in ache, we have been deserted and as an alternative of assist we obtained troopers with weapons,” including that the neighborhood wanted “housing, well being care, actual jobs, not troopers.”

One other protester turned emotional whereas shouting a couple of deceased relative, saying, “You may’t crush the flame of somebody who’s already gone.”

Organizers on Monday accused federal authorities and native police of “concentrating on weak communities” and vowed to proceed demonstrating “so long as Operation Swamp Sweep stays in impact.”

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WWNO reported that Monday’s occasion was organized by the New Orleans Alliance In opposition to Racist and Political Repression with help from the Freedom Highway Socialist Group, Indivisible NOLA, Union Migrante and others.

DHS has not offered an finish date aside from confirming that the operation is predicted to final roughly two months.

Stepheny Worth covers crime together with lacking individuals, murders and migrant crime. Ship story tricks to stepheny.value@fox.com.