CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Local and state Democratic leaders gathered outside the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center on Friday morning demanding transparency from U.S. Border Patrol agents who will be in Charlotte as early as this weekend.

Elected officials said they were blindsided by the news first reported by national news outlets earlier this week and confirmed by Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden Thursday. Leaders say they still have received no explanation for why Charlotte was chosen, what the federal mission is or how long agents might remain in the city.

State Rep. Aisha Dew, a Charlotte Democrat, opened the event by questioning the premise altogether.

“We do not need to have Border Patrol,” she said. “As I’ve already said, I’m not quite sure what border we’re patrolling here. Are we patrolling Rock Hill or South Carolina?”

Local governments, Dew said, never requested federal assistance for law or immigration enforcement.

“No one here has called in the National Guard. No one here has called in Border Patrol,” she said. “We know how to take care of our city.”

Republicans in Congress, however, repeatedly called for National Guard troops to be deployed into Charlotte in response to murders this fall that followed the killing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on the city’s Blue Line light rail.

‘No transparency, no accountability, no explanation’

Speakers Friday repeatedly described a week of uncertainty as agencies, reporters and community leaders all scrambled to verify if and when federal agents might arrive.

There’s been some reports that the operation may be short, lasting only one week. CBS reported the operation is called “Charlotte Web.”

“I mean, what a way to govern, where we have had community members, elected officials, even reporters, on these fact finding missions just to find out whether a federal force is coming into the city of Charlotte,” said State Sen. Caleb Theodros, a Charlotte Democrat. “What part of this governing has been transparent?

The lack of communication, Theodros said, forces residents to rely on rumors instead of facts.

“The only thing you have to go off is Twitter announcements and rumors about what’s going to happen in Charlotte. That is not an effective way to govern,” he said. “If you care about actual safety… you don’t rely on sort of fear tactics and lack of information to hit folks at the local level.

Theodros described the deployment as “political theater” that heightens fear instead of improving safety.

“Folks in Charlotte are not going to be made safe by this,” he said.

Charlotte City Council member-elect Juan Diego Mazuera Arias, the first formerly undocumented person elected to the council, said immigrant families deserve clarity that federal agencies have not provided.

“Yesterday, the sheriff’s office confirmed that CBP will be in our city. However, (there’s been) no transparency, no accountability, no explanation,” he said. “Not to my colleagues behind me, not to the public, not to the families who deserve to know what’s happening in their own city.”

Mazuera Arias said the expected operation is “not about public safety,” but fear, terror and control. CMPD has said it will not work with federal agents, but he said city leaders must still take steps to protect residents.

“We must use every tool within our moral and civic power to protect our residents, and we must make it clear that no city property, no local resources and no taxpayer dollars will ever be used to help carry out these operations that terrorize our people,” Mazuera Arias said.

County leaders: No request, no information

Mecklenburg County commission chair Mark Jerrell said the county has not been briefed by federal agencies and does not understand the scope or purpose of the deployment.

“We don’t have any information. This isn’t a request that came from Mecklenburg County for assistance or for help, and so we don’t understand what the plan is, what the strategy is,” he said. “Everything has been veiled in this cloak of secrecy.”

Jerrell said the county has issued guidance for staff and is directing residents to community organizations that can offer support. But without partnership from federal officials, he said, it is difficult to prepare.

“It would be great to have some partners that were working with us to be able to make sure that we understand exactly what the plan is,” he said.

Jerell said the county stands with community members who are afraid of what Border Patrol will do in Charlotte.

“We will not support any policy that has any of our residents living in fear, that tears families apart or does not reflect the values of this community” Jerrell said. “We don’t bend the knee to a king. When something is wrong, we are going to say it’s wrong.”

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