Deacon Eduardo Bernal never thought he would have to prepare his wife and daughter for the possibility of his wrongful arrest. But after returning home this past Saturday after speaking at a retreat, he had to do just that.

“My wife and daughter were both born in this country. I am a naturalized citizen,” Deacon Bernal, the coordinator of Hispanic ministry for the Charlotte vicariate, said. “I said to them, ‘If something happens to me, if I am kidnapped or arrested, you call so-and-so.’”

It was the first time he had to initiate “the talk.”

“I know that African Americans have to do that with their children, with their teenagers. I never thought in my life that I would have to do that. And I’m sure I am not the only father that has had that kind of talk with their family,” he said.

“It’s upsetting because my daughter is an American citizen, and I want her to love her country,” he said.

“That’s my fear—with all our youth, the kind of resentment they are going to have when they remember that their parents were persecuted for having done nothing wrong but were looking for a better life for their children.”

On Nov. 15, the Department of Homeland Security launched “Operation Charlotte’s Web.” Within five hours, Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino announced a record-breaking 81 arrests had been made. As of Nov. 19, federal agents arrested over 250 individuals, according to D.H.S.

That same day, a Saturday, masked agents swarmed congregants outside a church in east Charlotte as they were doing yard work for the church, detaining one of its members, according to The Charlotte Observer. The church, which was unnamed in the report, was not Catholic, according to Liz Chandler, the communications director for the Diocese of Charlotte.

On Nov. 18, Bishop Michael T. Martin of the Diocese of Charlotte released a statement addressing the increased presence of federal immigration officials in the Charlotte metro area. He said that those “afraid to come to church…are not obligated to attend Mass when [they] are inhibited from doing so by circumstances beyond your control, as the Church has always taught.”

Bishop Martin also called for “a day of prayer and fasting in solidarity with all migrants around the world” on Nov. 21. He urged Charlotte Catholics not to “vilify federal agents who have been sent to our community.”

“While I have no words to practically address the fear and uncertainty that many are feeling with the increased presence of federal immigration officials…I want to call upon all Catholics and people of good will to give witness to the message of Jesus,” Bishop Martin wrote.

Latino Catholics have been deeply shaken by the presence of ICE in their communities, according to Deacon Bernal. He spoke about feelings of “desolation,” “desperation” and “persecution” among “honest working people.”

“People are being rounded up at work, at the store, at the laundromat. They are not stealing or doing anything like that,” Deacon Bernal said.

Mass attendance at his parish, Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Charlotte, dropped dramatically this past Sunday. Parishioners were afraid, Deacon Bernal believes, that federal agents would use the Spanish-language Mass as an opportunity to make arrests. 

He said Our Lady of Guadalupe is the second largest parish in the diocese and “100 percent Latino.” Our Lady of Guadalupe hosts an impressive seven Spanish-language Masses on Sundays, but this past weekend its 6:30 a.m. celebration had only about 200 parishioners in attendance, down from 600 on a normal weekend, according to Deacon Bernal. That trend continued all day, he said. Attendance was down by roughly two-thirds.

“What infuriates me is that this is a persecution of Christians by Christians,” Deacon Bernal said.

Just before ICE began its Charlotte operation, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops released a rare “Special Message” decrying the excesses of recent immigration enforcement while supporting the right of a country to protect its borders. President Trump’s “border czar,” Tom Homan, a Catholic, criticized the bishops’ message, suggesting that U.S. bishops should instead focus on “fixing the Catholic Church.”

On the day of his inauguration, President Trump reversed decades of immigration enforcement policy to allow federal authorities to make arrests at churches and other places of worship. In April, a federal judge declined to block the new policy. 

While they are now empowered to do so, D.H.S. press officers have insisted that ICE and other enforcement agencies have refrained from operations inside of churches and will not “indiscriminately take enforcement actions” there, according to the National Catholic Register. There have been reports, however, of federal agents lurking near places of worship, and agents appear to believe that pursuing a suspect onto church property is consistent with current norms.

On June 20, federal agents made arrests on church property at two parishes in the Diocese of San Bernardino, according to the National Catholic Reporter.

Federal agents showed up outside a Spanish-language Mass in Chicago on Oct. 12, although no arrests were made. D.H.S. officials have denied that Border Patrol and ICE agents are deliberately targeting churches.

ICE and D.H.S. did not respond to a request for comment for this report.

Charlotte and its surrounding counties saw a large increase in the Latino population over the last five years. The Charlotte Observer reports that 64,000 new Latino residents came to the region between 2020 and 2024 alone. 

The Latino population growth is part of the reason the Diocese of Charlotte is one of the fastest-growing dioceses in the nation. The number of Catholics rose by 50 percent over the past decade to reach 560,000 in 2025, Catholic News Herald reports.

Charlotte parishes have been proving to be a strong support network for their immigrant members, Deacon Bernal said. “Our pastors, our volunteers and our leadership have been amazing.” 

Now he worries that other immigrant people in the Charlotte community who are not as connected to its parishes may need help as well. He said parish staff and volunteers are reaching out to them.

Ms. Chandler added that parishes are providing virtual alternatives via livestream for parishioners to participate in Mass.

Despite the psychological toll of the enforcement campaigns, Deacon Bernal emphasizes forgiveness and restraint.

“I pray for them,” he said of federal agents who are bringing the Trump administration’s mass deportation effort to Charlotte. “I invite others to pray for them because that is what the Gospel tells us.”

Edward Desciak is an O'Hare Fellow at America Media.