Immigration agents accused of targeting parents taking their kids to school

Immigration agents accused of targeting parents taking their kids to school
by Trevor Hughes

DENVER – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are drawing more criticism for detaining parents taking their kids to school, although officials said they primarily target undocumented adults with criminal records, not specific parents or schools in general.

Immigrant rights activists said there were three incidents in Colorado in the past week in which fathers were stopped before or after dropping their kids off. School officials at a district outside Portland, Oregon, said ICE agents arrested a father last week shortly after his kids got on the school bus. This month, ICE agents detained a mother after she dropped her child off at a South Philadelphia school.

ICE has a "sensitive location" policy generally barring agents from detaining people at schools, hospitals, churches, funerals and weddings. The policy bars them from detaining people at school bus stops but only if children are present. Activists said the ICE detentions scare families and shatter communities.

“The Colorado Field Office’s use of this cruel tactic targeting families violates the spirit of the sensitive locations policies, which include schools,” said Jordan Garcia, a spokesman for the American Friends Service Committee of Colorado. “The point of the sensitive locations policy is to protect the safety of children and community members from the trauma of witnessing enforcement.”

ICE officials said they simply enforce U.S. law as written by Congress and anyone with concerns should take them up with their elected officials. Last year, 86% of the people arrested by ICE had either a previous criminal conviction or pending criminal charges, in addition to being suspected of immigration violations, the agency said.

“We will and do stop vehicles that are traveling, and we have probable cause that they are the person we have targeted,” the Denver ICE office said in a statement. “We are not targeting fathers specifically or schools generally. We do target criminal aliens, there is no shortage of them here.”

Activists said the enforcement is part of a larger effort by the Trump administration to scare undocumented residents into leaving the country voluntarily. What it actually does is drive them underground, tears apart families and ruins communities, activists said.

"The trauma that ICE creates with this intimidation and surveillance of principally neighborhoods of color is intergenerational," said Wendolyne Omana, an activist in southwestern Colorado where ICE stopped a father on the way to school with his kids. "Many adolescents lose their desire to live and to love life after watching their parents be detained.”

The names of the detainees were not released by activists, and it is unclear why they were targeted.

The Colorado detentions come amidst a backdrop of an increasingly bitter fight between the Trump administration and liberal states and local governments that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. The Justice Department sued New Jersey and Washington state for creating "sanctuary" policies, and Attorney General Bill Barr warned he might prosecute officials who refuse to help ICE.

President Donald Trump has long argued for stricter immigration enforcement and stronger borders. At a campaign rally in Colorado last week, he referred to a Mexican national who is accused of stabbing a Denver-area county judge during a robbery. The suspect had been detained by law enforcement in Colorado three times before the stabbing, but each time was released from jail without ICE being given what it called adequate notification that he was in custody. He was deported in 1999 but returned to the USA illegally and used a different name, ICE said.

ICE officers said they prefer to detain people at courthouses and jails because the suspect has already been screened for weapons and is away from the general public, limiting risk.

"Our officers do their jobs professionally, humanely, and treat those they encounter with dignity and respect," the Denver ICE office said. "These actions serve to make our communities and our country safer. It is unconscionable when those who have ideological or political beliefs that differ from the law, misdirect their attacks on ICE officers who are charged with upholding laws passed by Congress."

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