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A “voodoo doll” resembling an ICE agent was found tied to a tree new Orleans As the Department of Homeland Security’s deportation campaign moves forward in the Big Easy.
New Orleans has been its latest target President Donald Trump’s immigration actionsAccording to DHS, Operation “Catahoula Crunch” has resulted in more than 250 arrests since December 3,
Photos capture a doll made of felt, depicting a masked agent with a black vest “snow” and a matching hat, which was found tied to a tree and pricked with dozens of pins. Voodoo is prevalent in Louisiana, and shops in New Orleans will sell artifacts related to the religious practice.
It is not immediately clear who made the doll or who tied it to the tree.
“You can tell the pro-illegal immigration radicals are losing the argument [resort] To @ICEgov Voodoo dolls and harassing Internet crimes against children task force in New Orleans, Louisiana GOP Attorney General Liz Murrill wrote in a social media PostWith a picture of the doll.
Independent DHS has been contacted for comment.
New Orleans is the latest target for Trump’s immigration crackdown following similar operations in Chicago, Charlotte and Los Angeles. The federal deployment has sparked protests in Louisiana’s largest city.
New Orleans Mayor-elect Helena Moreno has said that Operation Catahoula Crunch has caused “significant concern” and created a “culture of fear” in the city.
Moreno launches “Know Your Rights” web page which advises residents what to do if they are contacted by federal immigration agents and provides links to legal resources; The New Orleans City Council also launched a portal To report abuse or misconduct by federal agents.
While DHS has said the raids are to target “criminal illegal aliens”, law enforcement records obtained associated Press found that less than a third of the 38 people arrested in the first two days of the New Orleans operation had a criminal history.
“This confirms what we already knew — this was not about public safety, this is about creating chaos and fear and terrorizing communities,” Senator Royce Duplessis, a Democrat who represents New Orleans, told the AP earlier this month. “It’s furthering the stereotype that immigrants are violent.”
The reporting from New Orleans appears to be consistent with a larger pattern across the country.
As of Nov. 30, about 73 percent of people held in ICE custody have no criminal convictions, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a nonprofit that collects the data.
No end date for the New Orleans immigration operation has been announced.