CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Officials and community leaders opposing a pending federal immigration crackdown in North Carolina’s largest city characterized it Friday as an invasion, and urged Charlotte residents to protest peacefully and record agents’ actions from a distance.

“We are living in the strangest of times,” said Mecklenburg County Commissioner Susan Rodriguez-McDowell, the granddaughter and wife of immigrants. “A time when a felonious reality TV personality is occupying the White House. Unfortunately, we have seen this movie before, and now they want to film an episode of Shock and Awe show here in our city.”

The gathering comes a day after Sheriff Garry McFadden confirmed that federal officials, whom he declined to identify, told him U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents would start an enforcement operation there by Saturday or early next week. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees CBP, won’t comment on future or potential operations. But the community is preparing for the types of enforcement actions seen in Chicago and other Democratic-led cities.

“We’ve seen what has taken place in other cities across this country when the federal government gets involved,” said state Rep. Jordan Lopez. “We have seen the undisciplined agents pointing weapons at unarmed civilians, the indiscriminate rounding up of civilians who are sleeping in their homes in the middle of their night in Chicago. We have seen the worst of law enforcement.”

Local and state officials say they have received no formal notification from President Donald Trump’s administration about a mission to Charlotte. But local organizations are training volunteers on how to protest and to safely document any attempts to perform a sweep, as well as informing immigrants of their rights.

Héctor Vaca, training and immigrant justice director for the group Action NC, said they’re reacting to an “invasion” and “racist campaign of terror” by the Trump administration.

Trump has defended sending the National Guard and immigration agents into Democratic-run cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, and even the nation’s capital, saying the unprecedented operations are needed to fight crime and carry out his mass deportation agenda.