Across Charlotte, the noise of cranes, saws and nail guns has suddenly gone quiet.
Where there were usually crews swarming over apartments and home remodels, WCNC anchor Jane Monreal and reporter Myles Harris say many sites now sit empty.
The reason, they report, isn’t weather or supply shortages.
It’s fear of Border Patrol.
Operation Charlotte’s Web Brings Work To A Standstill
In the WCNC studio, Jane Monreal lays out the backdrop.
She explains that Customs and Border Protection is running “Operation Charlotte’s Web”, a federal enforcement push that has already led to more than 250 arrests in the Charlotte area since Saturday.
Harris tells Monreal that he has been tracking how this operation is hitting one of the region’s biggest economic engines: construction.
He says construction is “a massive” industry not just in Charlotte, but in North Carolina as a whole.
Yet when he went out to look at job sites this week, what he saw was startling.
“You go to construction sites all around Charlotte right now,” Harris says. “There’s like nobody on site right now.”
For a booming Sun Belt city to suddenly go quiet like that is more than just a scheduling hiccup.
It’s a sign that fear alone can freeze an entire sector.
Contractor: “My Entire Operation Is Grounded. Nobody’s Working.”
In a separate field report, Myles Harris speaks with local contractor Face Fakhry, owner of F2 Construction.
Fakhry says his company normally relies on skilled crews to handle everything from high-rise work to home projects.
But once news spread that Border Patrol and immigration agents were operating in Charlotte, he watched the confidence of his workers collapse.
“My entire operation is grounded,” Fakhry tells Harris. “Nobody’s working.”
In the earlier studio conversation, Harris says one contractor he spoke with has paused around 12 to 15 projects, mostly in-house renovations like bathrooms and other residential work.
Fakhry later confirms to Harris in the field that he made the same call across his company: he hit pause on all projects, not just a few.
He describes getting videos from staff who are too scared to even leave their homes.
“What’s really unfortunate,” Fakhry says, is receiving videos of workers “hiding behind their curtains and recording violent behavior from ICE right outside of their door.”
From his perspective, once your crews are filming raids out their windows instead of loading tools into their trucks, you don’t really have a functioning construction company anymore.
Workers Are Documented – But Still Afraid
One of the most striking points Harris and Monreal emphasize is that this isn’t just about undocumented workers.
In the studio, Harris tells Jane Monreal that the company he interviewed – like F2 Construction – says its staff are all legal, with documents on file.
“They do their due diligence,” Harris explains. “There’s no concerns about whether or not these people are documented.”
And yet, the fear is still there.
Fakhry tells Harris in the field that, to protect his team, he urged them to stay home:
“In order to keep everybody safe, we just told everybody, ‘Hey, stay home until you feel safe enough to get out.’”
He says that even if it costs the company business, overhead, or lost revenue, “we will take care of it. That’s just the right thing to do.”
In the studio, Monreal puts her finger on what a lot of workers are feeling.
She suggests that even if you have papers, you can still walk around feeling like you’re one encounter away from losing everything.
“You might be documented,” she says, “but it’s more than just having the documentation. It’s that… keeping it.”
Her point is simple: people aren’t just worried about what they are on paper. They’re worried about what happens in the heat of the moment when agents show up and questions start flying.
“Looking Over Their Shoulder” Instead Of Focusing On Work
Harris says the company he spoke with isn’t just thinking about arrests.
They’re thinking about performance.
He explains that owners are worried their staff can’t do their jobs “as professionally or as high profile as they’d like for it to be” if they’re constantly stressed about Border Patrol.
In other words, you can’t focus on fine trim work or tile cuts when your brain is stuck in survival mode.
Monreal suggests that many workers now feel like they’re always “looking over their shoulder” instead of looking at their plans and blueprints.
So, construction owners are making a tradeoff:
Short-term financial pain now, in exchange for workers who don’t feel hunted while they’re trying to earn a living.
From a commentary standpoint, that choice says a lot about how deep this fear runs.
People don’t willingly pause revenue, risk contracts, and anger clients unless they think the alternative could be worse.
Holiday Projects Delayed And Paychecks In Limbo
The timing, as Harris notes, makes the impact even more painful.
He reminds Monreal that this is the holiday season, a time when homeowners rush to finish bathroom remodels, kitchen upgrades, and apartment build-outs before guests arrive.
“People either want to get those projects done, or they’re hoping to get done in that deadline or that timeline frame,” Harris says.
With projects paused, timelines stretch and expectations get crushed.
And then there’s the workers’ side.
Harris raises the obvious but uncomfortable question:
If crews are staying home for safety, are they still getting paid?
He tells Monreal that every contractor and company is different, so there’s no single answer.
But he also points out the harsh reality: “It’s the holiday season… it’s not like we can just take time off to not get a paycheck for Christmas.”
That’s the human tension here.
You have people trying to avoid encounters with federal agents – and at the same time trying to keep the lights on, buy gifts and groceries, and cover rent.
It’s easy to talk about enforcement in the abstract.
It’s much harder when you picture a drywall finisher or tile setter staring at an empty job calendar a week before Thanksgiving.
A Heavy Hit To A Critical Industry
In his field report, Myles Harris explains why this isn’t just a “niche” problem.
He cites data from the Migration Policy Institute, noting that 75% of adult immigrants living illegally in Mecklenburg County are employed, and that the top industry is construction.
He also reminds viewers that the construction industry contributes billions of dollars to North Carolina each year.
So when Harris stands in southwest Charlotte and says projects are “either slowing down or being put on pause altogether,” he’s describing more than just a few delayed remodels.
He’s talking about ripple effects across:
- Apartment developments that lose time and money
- Homeowners stuck with half-finished bathrooms and kitchens
- Subcontractors who can’t schedule crews
- Small firms like F2 Construction eating overhead to keep people safe
Harris says F2 doesn’t expect to be back anywhere close to full operations until at least Monday or Tuesday of next week, and even that, he adds, is “likely best case scenario.”
In the studio, both he and Monreal describe driving through their own neighborhood near NoDa and seeing something they almost never see in Charlotte:
Completely quiet job sites.
“You can actually see it for yourself,” Harris says.
Monreal agrees, saying that at 7 a.m., when she normally sees workers streaming into the site, there is “nothing, not a peep.”
For a city built on growth and constant building, that silence is its own kind of warning.
Fear, Work, And What Happens Next
At the heart of Harris’ and Monreal’s reporting is a simple but powerful idea: enforcement actions don’t just touch the people directly arrested.
They send a shockwave through entire communities and industries.
Contractors like Face Fakhry are now trying to balance legal compliance, worker safety, customer expectations, and basic human fear – all at the same time.
From a broader perspective, it raises tough questions.
What happens to a city when a major industry can be paused overnight because workers are afraid to be seen doing the very jobs that keep the local economy moving?
How long can projects stay frozen before clients walk away or companies start failing?
And what does it do to trust – not just between immigrants and federal agents, but between workers and employers, and between entire neighborhoods and government in general?
For now, as Harris and Monreal make clear, Charlotte’s construction world is in a strange limbo.
Workers are home.
Sites are quiet.
And as Face Fakhry puts it, bluntly and painfully:
“My entire operation is grounded. Nobody’s working.”
Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, John developed a love for the great outdoors early on. With years of experience as a wilderness guide, he’s navigated rugged terrains and unpredictable weather patterns. John is also an avid hunter and fisherman who believes in sustainable living. His focus on practical survival skills, from building shelters to purifying water, reflects his passion for preparedness. When he’s not out in the wild, you can find him sharing his knowledge through writing, hoping to inspire others to embrace self-reliance.
