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State and federal authorities are closely tracking online criticism and demonstrations against the immigration crackdown in New Orleans, monitoring message boards around the clock for suspected threats to agents while compiling regular updates on public “sentiment” surrounding the arrests, according to law enforcement records reviewed by the Associated Press.

The intelligence gathering comes even as officials have released few details about the first arrests made last week as part of an operation dubbed Catahoula Crunch, prompting calls for greater transparency from local officials who say they’ve been kept in the dark about virtually every aspect of the mission.

“Online opinions still remain mixed, with some supporting the operations while others are against them,” said a briefing circulated early Sunday to law enforcement. Earlier bulletins noted “a combination of groups urging the public to record ICE and Border Patrol” as well as “additional locations where agents can find immigrants.”

Immigration authorities have insisted the sweeps are targeted at “criminal illegal aliens.” But the law enforcement records detail criminal histories for less than a third of the 38 people arrested in the first two days of the operation.

Local leaders told the AP those numbers — which law enforcement officials were admonished not to distribute to the media — undermined the stated aim of the roundup. They also expressed concern that the online surveillance could chill free speech as authorities threaten to charge anyone interfering with immigration enforcement.

DHS and Republican leaders have framed the crackdown as targeting the most violent offenders. But the records reviewed by the AP identify only nine of the 38 people arrested in the first days as having criminal histories that rose beyond traffic violations — information the intelligence bulletins warn “should not be distributed to the media.”

New Orleans City Council President J.P. Morrell said the stated goals of the operation to arrest violent offenders did not align with the reality of what is taking place.

Monitoring Reddit chats The records also shed new light on cooperation among state and federal authorities in an operation welcomed by Louisiana’s Republican Gov. Jeff Landry. Both the FBI and Customs and Border Protection have stationed agents at the Louisiana State Analytical and Fusion Exchange, an intelligence and data sharing center that is closely following discussions on the online forum Reddit that residents have used to exchange information about the immigration raids.

One briefing noted that some “have gone so far as to accuse agents of racially profiling Hispanic areas specifically.” Another flagged social media posts suggesting that agents “are not keeping with the mission of targeting criminal immigrants only.” And a third pointed out that critics of the raids “bring up past hurricanes and the work done by immigrants” in their aftermath.

“The chatter is slower during the night, mainly just commenting on posts from earlier in the day,” one of the briefings states. “Once daylight arrives and agencies are back out, the chatter and new posts will pick back up.”

The briefings have identified no threats to law enforcement, but the fusion center has sought to debunk what it called false reports that a pedestrian was fatally struck by law enforcement. “It has been confirmed that this actually did not occur,” the center told law enforcement Saturday.

One briefing described an incident involving “suspicious persons/protesters” who showed up early Saturday at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in St. Charles Parish, where records show the detainees were expected to be processed.

Some local officials said they had been unaware of the state’s role in the online monitoring. Louisiana State Police pledged “operational support” to immigration authorities and warned the public that troopers will arrest anyone who assaults a federal agent or causes criminal damage to property.

“The Louisiana State Police remains vigilant in monitoring social media activity related to protests, activism and other forms of public response,” Trooper Danny Berrincha, a state police spokesperson, wrote in an email to the AP. “Through the LSP Fusion Center, we actively track developments and facilitate the sharing of information and communication among our partner agencies.”

The fusion center also has tracked the tools used by protesters to foil federal immigration enforcement, highlighting social media links to whistle handouts, trainings on filming federal agents and the emergence of a hotline for reporting arrests. The surveillance extended to activist discussions about immigration authorities’ presence near an elementary school and recapped demonstrations inside the New Orleans City Council chambers and elsewhere.

“They can monitor me all they want,” said Rachel Taber, an organizer with the New Orleans-based grassroots advocacy group Union Migrante, which shares crowdsourced reports and videos of the federal immigration enforcement operations. “We are not doing anything illegal.”

Beth Davis, a spokesperson for Indivisible NOLA, which has organized some of the trainings described in the law enforcement briefings, said it was sad authorities seemed preoccupied with law-abiding citizens. “That they feel threatened by a bunch of community organizers that have nothing other than phones and whistles blows my mind.”