Dozens of DHS employees arrested in Charlotte immigration ‘surge’
The Trump administration’s immigration crackdown escalated in Charlotte, North Carolina, over the weekend.
Police in Charlotte, North Carolina, have arrested a 33-year-old man in connection with a stabbing on a light rail train, just four months after a Ukrainian refugee was killed in a separate attack on the city’s transit system.
Authorities on Dec. 6 charged Oscar Solrazano with three felonies and several misdemeanors, including attempted first-degree murder, assault with a deadly weapon causing serious bodily injury, and breaking and entering a motor vehicle.
Sorazana is accused of breaking into a commuter train and stabbing 24-year-old Kenyon Kareem Shemar Doby with a large knife, according to court documents. According to the arrest warrant, Solrazano appeared to be intoxicated and yelled incoherently at Doby and challenged him to a fight before stabbing him.
Police said Doby was taken to a local hospital where he is currently in serious but stable condition.
Judge Rebecca Howell wrote in a court filing that Sorazano was in the country illegally and had previously been deported. He is being held without bond.
In a Dec. 6 news release, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it had asked local police to detain Mr. Solrazano until he could be taken into custody. Solrazano is originally from Honduras and was deported from the United States in 2018, according to the release. He was arrested at the border in 2021, deported again, and then re-entered the country on an “unknown date and location.”
“This brutal stabbing by a twice-removed illegal alien should never have happened. ICE filed a detainer arrest motion to ensure that Oscar Gerardo Solorzano Garcia is not released into his North Carolina neighborhood,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement.
She accused Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, officials of not cooperating with ICE enforcement in the past. Experts previously told USA TODAY that North Carolina has some of the strictest immigration rules in the country, including a requirement that federal authorities hold immigrants they apprehend in local jails so they can be retrieved.
The stabbing occurred months after an attack that killed a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee on a Charlotte train drew national attention. In the wake of Irina Zalutka’s murder, President Donald Trump launched Operation Charlotte Web, targeting Charlotte as part of a Democratic-led crackdown on crime in the city.
Federal agents arrested more than 130 illegal immigrants in Charlotte as part of the crackdown, including dozens on charges ranging from drunk driving to aggravated assault, DHS said. USA TODAY has not independently verified these numbers.
It’s unclear whether similar immigration efforts are underway in Charlotte. The Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office announced that federal authorities had ended the operation in November, but a DHS spokesperson told USA TODAY at the time that the operation was “not ending anytime soon.”
DHS did not immediately respond to questions from USA TODAY about the latest numbers on the number of people arrested as part of its immigration operations in Charlotte or about the status of enforcement in the southern city.
President Trump referenced the Charlotte stabbing in a Dec. 6 social media post, writing, “Another stabbing by an illegal immigrant in Charlotte, North Carolina. What’s going on in Charlotte?”
North Carolina Governor Josh Stein thanked state law enforcement in a social media post following the Dec. 5 violence.
“I am pleased that Chief Patterson has already raided law enforcement agencies across Charlotte with Operation Safe Season, and I am grateful to the state law enforcement agencies that are supporting the operation. Public safety is a top priority for all of us,” Stein wrote.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department says overall violent crime rates have decreased in Charlotte this year. As of October, the city said crime was down 8% from a year earlier, and violent crimes, including murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, were down 20%.
Contributor: Christopher Cann, USA TODAY
