In mid-November 2025, as federal agents swept through Charlotte, North Carolina in Operation Charlotte’s Web targeting illegal immigrants, city leaders rushed to create a $100,000 fund set aside to “help” Charlotteans affected by the ICE raids. Now, six months after the operation, none of those funds have reportedly gone into helping anyone “affected” by the fall ICE raids.

The qualifications required that applicants be residents of Charlotte, qualify financially, provide a valid picture ID, and show valid Social Security documentation. 

The city, which had planned to use the Charlotte-area organization Crisis Assistance Ministry to distribute the funds, said that only three people qualified to receive any of the $100,000 set aside, but did not receive any of the city funding.

Carol Hardison, CEO of Crisis Assistance Ministry, claimed that the eligibility requirements imposed by the city placed the funds out of reach of those most affected by the ICE raids. “Nobody who was documented sought these dollars,” she said.

Charlotte officials told WBTV that the Crisis Assistance Ministry used internal funds to help the three families that actually qualified for the city-granted assistance. Charlotte officials said that the taxpayer money was redistributed for various housing initiatives around the city after the fund proved ineffective.

North Carolina has seen an increase in its illegal immigrant population in the last ten years, with Pew Research finding that roughly 425,000 illegal aliens reside in the state as of 2023, making up four percent of the Tar Heel state’s overall population. Mecklenburg County, which Charlotte resides entirely in, is now home to roughly 100,000 illegal aliens.