A “voodoo doll” that resembled an ICE agent was discovered strapped to a tree in New Orleans as the Department of Homeland Security’s deportation operation drags on in the Big Easy.
New Orleans has been the latest target of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Since December 3, Operation “Catahoula Crunch” has led to more than 250 arrests, according to DHS.
Photos captured a doll made of felt, depicting a masked agent with a black vest emblazoned with “ICE” and a matching hat, which was found tied to a tree and poked with dozens of pins. Voodoo is prevalent in Louisiana, and shops in New Orleans will sell artifacts related to the religious practice.
It’s not immediately clear who made the doll or strapped it to the tree.
“You can tell the pro-illegal immigration radicals are losing the argument when they [resort] to @ICEgov voodoo dolls and harassing the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force in New Orleans,” Louisiana GOP Attorney General Liz Murrill wrote in a social media post, along with a photo of the doll.
The Independent has contacted DHS for comment.
New Orleans marks the latest target for Trump’s immigration after similar operations in Chicago, Charlotte, and Los Angeles. The federal deployment to Louisiana’s largest city has sparked protests.
Helena Moreno, the mayor-elect of New Orleans, has said that Operation Catahoula Crunch has caused “significant alarm” and created a “culture of fear” in the city.
Moreno launched a “Know Your Rights” webpage that advises residents what to do if they’re approached 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 meant to target “criminal illegal aliens,” law enforcement records obtained by the Associated Press found that less than one-third of the 38 people arrested in the first two days of the New Orleans operation included criminal histories.
“It confirms what we already knew — this was not about public safety, it’s about stoking chaos and fear and terrorizing communities,” state Sen. Royce Duplessis, a Democrat who represents New Orleans, told the AP earlier this month. “It’s furthering a sick narrative of stereotypes that immigrants are violent.”
Reporting out of New Orleans appears to fit a larger pattern across the country.
As of November 30, roughly 73 percent of people held in ICE detention have no criminal convictions, according to data-gathering nonprofit Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.
No end date for the New Orleans immigration operation has been announced.
