Federal immigration officers on Saturday began a sweep through Charlotte, the largest city in North Carolina, federal officials confirmed.

Local media reports said that among the locations targeted by masked federal agents was a church in east Charlotte, where an arrest was made while about 15 to 20 church members were doing yard work on the property.

The pastor at the church, who did not want to identify himself or his church, told the Charlotte Observer that agents reportedly asked no questions and showed no identification before taking the man away. The man’s wife and child were inside the church at the time, said the pastor.

“Right now, everybody is scared. Everybody,” he said. “One of these guys with immigration, he said he was going to arrest one of the other guys in the church. He pushed him.”

Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant homeland security secretary, said in a statement to the Associated Press that federal agents “are surging DHS law enforcement to Charlotte to ensure Americans are safe and public safety threats are removed”.

“Americans should be able to live without fear of violent criminal illegal aliens hurting them, their families, or their neighbors,” McLaughlin added.

Local officials including the mayor, Vi Lyles, criticized such actions, saying in a statement that they “are causing unnecessary fear and uncertainty”.

“We want people in Charlotte and Mecklenburg county to know we stand with all residents who simply want to go about their lives,” the statement said.

In another interaction with federal agents in east Charlotte, two workers were hanging Christmas lights in Rheba Hamilton’s front yard when two Customs and Border Protection agents walked up.

One tried to speak to the workers in Spanish, she said. They did not respond, and the agents left without making arrests.

“This is real disconcerting, but the main thing is we’ve got two human beings in my yard trying to make a living. They’ve broken no laws, and that’s what concerns me,” said Hamilton, 73, who recorded the encounter on her cellphone.

Hamilton said that the agents were “looking for easy pickings. There was nobody here with TV cameras, nobody here protesting, there’s just two guys working in a yard and an old white lady with white hair sitting on her porch drinking her coffee.”

Willy Aceituno, a 46-year-old Honduran-born US citizen, said he was on his way to work Saturday when he saw “a lot of Latinos running”, chased by “a lot of border patrol agents”.

Aceituno said he was stopped twice by agents. During the second encounter, he said, he was forced from his vehicle by agents who broke the window of his vehicle.

“I told them: ‘I’m an American citizen,’” he told the Associated Press. “They wanted to know where I was born, or they didn’t believe I was an American citizen.” Aceituno said he was taken to a border patrol vehicle and later released after showing documents proving his citizenship.

Rumors of an impending sweep in the area have been circulating for days after the county sheriff, Garry McFadden, said that two federal officials had told him customs agents would be arriving soon.

Paola Garcia of Camino, a bilingual non-profit serving families in Charlotte, said she and her colleagues had observed an increase in stops since Friday.

“Basically what we’re seeing is that there have been lots of people being pulled over,” Garcia said.

Businesses in the area, including a local Latin American bakery, had closed before the raids, said city council member JD Mazuera Arias.

“This is customs and border patrol. We are not a border city, nor are we a border state. So why are they here?” he said. “This is a gross violation of constitutional rights for not only immigrants but for US citizens.”

Democratic governor Josh Stein said on Friday that the vast majority of people detained in such operations have no criminal convictions, and some are citizens. Stein urged people to record any “inappropriate behavior” and notify local law enforcement.

But Mecklenburg county Republican party chair Kyle Kirby said Democratic officials “have abandoned their duty to uphold law and order” and are “demonizing the brave men and women of federal law enforcement”.

“Let us be clear: President Trump was given a mandate in the 2024 election to secure our borders,” Kirby said in a statement. “Individuals who are in this country legally have nothing to fear.”

The raids on Charlotte come three months after the Trump administration identified the city as an example of a Democratic-led city that was not doing enough to protect citizens, following the fatal stabbing of Ukrainian immigrant Iryna Zarutska aboard a Charlotte light-rail train.

The sweeps follow a pattern of similar immigration enforcement operations across the US, including in Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland and New York City.

The east Charlotte church where the raid took place on Saturday said it was suspending services and yard work until congregants felt safe to gather again, 15-year-old Miguel Vazquez told the Charlotte Observer.

“We thought church was safe and nothing gonna happen,” Vazquez said. “But it did happen.”