CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Federal Border Patrol agents expanded their operations in North Carolina on Tuesday to include Raleigh, the state capital, and nearby Democratic cities in the latest escalation of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

Since Saturday, the Border Patrol had been focusing its efforts in North Carolina on Charlotte, the state’s largest city, which is home to a growing population of immigrants, especially from Latin America. The expansion to the state’s heavily Democratic Research Triangle region, which includes Durham and Chapel Hill as well as Raleigh, puts a purple state firmly at the center of one of the Trump administration’s most visible immigration strategies.

The full scope of the operation was not immediately clear. Border Patrol agents were see

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