Issues Under Fire: Who, How & Where ICE Agents Hunt for the Undocumented
Initially, Americans were told ICE would be targeting known gang members, drug dealers and those convicted of violent crimes like rape, armed robbery, and assault. Any undocumented person who engaged in such criminal activities could expect to be a top priority for deportation. It was intimated ICE would be hunting down the worst of the worst. Americans were led to believe law-abiding, taxpaying undocumented persons who were productive and contributing members of their communities would be given a low priority status. Well, at least until Congress could reach an agreement over comprehensive immigration reform. Unfortunately, that's not quite true. Not by any measure.
While ICE is arresting and detaining people by the thousands every month, the net being used to capture the undocumented criminal has widened so much, just about every Non-White American has come to understand, skin color, accent or foreign-sounding surnames can get the attention of an ICE agent just as easily as a gang tattoo. Showing up at churches, hospitals, job sites and schools hunting "illegals", even those with sterling reputations as doctors, educators, business owners and valued employees have been detained for deportation. Tales of people who've lived in the United States for decades without incident of any kind, still face their families being torn apart.
People like landscaper and family breadwinner, Jorge Garcia, who'd come to the United States as a child with his parents as undocumented immigrants from Mexico and lived here for 30 years. He went to school, got a job, paid his taxes, found a wife started a family and never had a criminal record. Not even a minor run-in with the law. But he's now back in Mexico, wondering if he'll ever see his wife and kids again. Jorge's heartbreaking story was captured on camera as he hugged his wife and two sons at Detroit's Metro Airport before boarding a flight to a world he does not know.
Then there's Syed Jamal, 55. He was detained on Jan. 24 by immigration agents. Scheduled to be deported back to Bangladesh, Syed has a masters degree and was teaching future nurses and doctors at area colleges until customs arrested him while he was getting his kids ready for school. Now that must have been a distressful scene to witness. After decades of living the American dream, that dream became a nightmare overnight. Everything Syed accomplished in his quest for a better life and acceptance one day as a citizen meant nothing in the grand scheme of things. Criminal or not, the message is clear, Syed and those like him are not wanted here.
And, that sentiment couldn't have been made more evident than from GOP Arizona House Rep. Paul Gosar during Donald Trump's State of the Union's speech. When Rep. Gosar became aware Dreamers had been invited by members of Congress to attend the event, he promptly requested Capitol Police and Attorney General Jeff Sessions to check the identifications of all State of the Unions attendees and arrest any illegal immigrants who showed up. Yes, though these Dreamer invitees were the most vetted of the vetted, they were still subjected to the hunt by ICE. Fortunately, that didn't happen, but it was only because enough Republican members of Congress recognized the public relations backlash that it could cause.
Bottom line: Since Donald Trump's crackdown on America's undocumented population, anyone without proof of U.S. citizenship is eligible for arrest and detention at any time. No matter who they are, what they've achieved or how long they've lived in the United States, the mere fact that they're in this country without official permission is enough to be removed. If they don't live in a sanctuary city, they're shit out of luck. Any promises made or implied by Barack Obama's executive order to protect certain segments of that population from being hunted down like common criminals should be considered null and void. (BTW, tomorrow we'll profile the ICE Agent). Podcast below.
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