After U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested at least 130 people in the Charlotte area over the weekend, Democratic lawmakers representing the region said the arrests amount to racist profiling.

Mecklenburg County Democratic Rep. Carolyn Logan spent her career in law enforcement and said people who do that work are supposed to make people “ feel safe and secure, and this is not what they’re doing.”

“It’s hard to believe that this is going on in Charlotte-Mecklenburg,” Logan, who is retired from the N.C. Highway Patrol, told reporters at the Legislative Building on Monday at an unrelated news conference. “ I’m very saddened about what is going on — to think that I’ve put my life on the line, all of my life, to keep people safe, and this is happening.”

Logan called it “just a common case of profiling, is what they’re doing. So they’re just reaching and grabbing ... for whoever they can see and grabbing them off the street. They don’t know if they’re criminals, they’re just looking to skin color.”

The Border Patrol has been in Charlotte since Saturday morning for an operation called “Charlotte’s Web,” named after the children’s book. Agents targeted immigrant communities, arresting people at a church, grocery stores, Home Depot parking lots and restaurants, The Observer previously reported. The arrests have also sparked protests.

Democratic Rep. Becky Carney said that “when you snatch and grab people away from their jobs, on private property, it’s wrong.”

Lawmaker calls it ‘a racist, bigoted attack’

Democratic Rep. Julia Greenfield, who also represents Mecklenburg County, said that there’s “no rhyme or reason” to how the Border Patrol has been conducting arrests.

“They are just targeting brown-skinned people who have an accent. They don’t have any kind of documentation that anyone they’re picking up is some heinous criminal. They’re just snatching people out of their cars. They’re snatching people out of front yards. They’re snatching people out of Walmart because immigrants make so much money that they get to shop at the fanciest of stores, and they’re snatching people out of Home Depot, where they’re going to collect the tools they need to complete the work, the job that they’re legitimately on,” Greenfield said Monday at the Legislative Building in Raleigh.

“So this is a racist, bigoted attack on brown-skinned people who have an accent,” Greenfield said. “It has nothing to do about safety. It has nothing to do about keeping Charlotte safe.”

“It’s a political motivation to appease Donald Trump,” she said.

Republican response to Border Patrol arrests

Few Republicans were at the General Assembly on Monday, as the only scheduled session was in the morning, and procedural. Republican House Majority Leader John Bell declined to comment about the Border Patrol in Charlotte, as did Republican Sen. Carl Ford.

In a statement, Senate leader Phil Berger, an Eden Republican, said “Republicans in the General Assembly have made it a top priority to crack down on illegal immigration in our state and look forward to working with President Trump’s administration to continue those efforts.”

Republican House Speaker Destin Hall criticized Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden on social media Monday, saying that the Border Patrol is in Charlotte “because Sheriff McFadden refused to do his job.”

“His sanctuary policies blocked hundreds of ICE detainers and pushed criminal illegal aliens right back onto the streets. They’re stepping in to clean up his mess and restore safety to the city,” Hall said.

Gov. Stein says public safety about ‘fighting crime, not stoking fear’

On Sunday, Democratic Gov. Josh Stein said that “public safety is the top priority for all of us in government – that means fighting crime, not stoking fear or causing division. We should all focus on and arrest violent criminals and drug traffickers.”

“Unfortunately, that’s not always what we have seen with ICE and Border Patrol Agents in Chicago and elsewhere around the country. The vast majority of people they have detained have no criminal convictions, and some are American citizens,” said Stein, who is the former state attorney general.

“I want to encourage North Carolinians to remember our values. We follow the law. We remain peaceful. We do not allow ourselves to be provoked. We stand with our neighbors. And when we see injustice, we bear witness. If you see any inappropriate behavior, use your phones to record and notify local law enforcement, who will continue to keep our communities safe long after these federal agents leave. That’s the North Carolina way,” he said.

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Reporter Kyle Ingram contributed.

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