CA. Bay Area immigration rights group says ICE arrests have already begun

Bay Area immigration rights group says ICE arrests have already begun

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A Bay Area immigration rights group is saying that at least three immigrants were arrested by ICE in Contra Costa County last Sunday.


By Kate Larsen
Thursday, July 11, 2019 11:33PM

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A crowd of hundreds rallied outside San Francisco ICE headquarters, as the threat of possible raids rattle immigrant communities across America.

"From Palestine to Mexico, these border walls have got to go," the group chanted.

As reported by the New York Times, the round-ups would target about 2,000 undocumented immigrants on deportation lists.

The raids would begin this Sunday in at least 10 major cities-- about three weeks after President Donald Trump warned this could happen.

"We began to receive unusual reports of ICE activity here starting Sunday," said Hamid Yazden Panah, an immigration attorney with the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice.

RELATED: 'Siente mucho miedo': Potential ICE raids spark fear in San Francisco's Mission District

Panah says at least three immigrants were arrested by ICE in Contra Costa County last Sunday and that his group has been tracking reports of ICE arrests the whole week.


"In total, I don't have the exact number, but it seems a lot higher than normal, in the last few days."

But Bay Area ICE Spokesman, Paul Prince, told ABC7 that their activity this week has been, "normal - busy as usual. The agency's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) component continues to conduct targeted immigration enforcement in compliance with federal law and agency policy."

Blanca Marroquin, a mother from Guatemala, came to the rally with her five and seven-year-old young sons. Marroquin says she fled to the U.S. from Guatemala five months ago-- leaving behind a life filled with violence and domestic abuse.

In Spanish, she said about ICE, "My biggest fear is that they would take my boys away and deport me back to my country."

RELATED: How immigration authorities make arrests, conduct raids


"I think ICE should be disbanded. I think ICE should be abolished," said State Assemblyman, David Chiu, who was at the rally.

Chiu says the California legislature is doing everything they can to protect California's immigrant communities.

"As a son of immigrants, as someone who represents a city that is a sanctuary city, in a state that is a sanctuary state, we are always going to stand by our immigrant families."

Immigration groups have been handing out cards advising people that they are not legally bound to open doors to ICE.

Meanwhile, ICE officials are unwilling to confirming this Sunday's raids.

https://abc7news.com/politics/bay-ar...begun/5390387/

KQED News

Attorneys: At Least 22 Immigrants Arrested in Bay Area This Week as Thousands Fear ICE Raids
LISTEN1 min

Farida Jhabvala Romero
Jul 12

https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content...68-800x600.jpgAttorneys Lisa Knox (L), Bianca Dueñas and Etan Newman approach the ICE facilities in Stockton on July 11, 2019, to try to meet with any immigrants held there. (Farida Jhabvala Romero/KQED)


Immigration authorities have arrested 22 people in the Bay Area in the last week, attorneys say, as immigrant communities and advocates are on high alert for raids reportedly beginning this Sunday.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents made some of the arrests in Contra Costa, Santa Clara and Sonoma counties over the last week, starting on Sunday, said Luis Angel Reyes Savalza, an attorney who works pro bono with local networks set up to quickly respond to apprehensions.

Attorneys in the Bay Area say they normally get only a few reports each week of such arrests.

ICE is starting an operation on Sunday that will target 2,000 people nationwide with court deportation orders over multiple days.

"Based on our past experience it's very unusual for people to be arrested on Sundays. And so that is a big red flag for us" — a sign of perhaps bigger enforcement activity, said Reyes Savalza, a staff immigration attorney at Pangea Legal Services in San Jose. At least two of the cases that immigration attorneys confirmed this week were “collateral” arrests of other immigrants who happened to be on the scene.

ICE is starting an operation on Sunday that will target 2,000 people nationwide with court deportation orders over multiple days, but also include collateral arrests.

One of the 10 cities expected to be targeted is Los Angeles, according to NPR; it’s not known if any city in the Bay Area is on that list.
Bay Area lawyers were trying to figure out whether even more people were arrested this week and the kinds of cases ICE agents were targeting. But so far, attorneys have had problems reaching immigrants they knew were just taken into government custody, Reyes Savalza said.

"We don't have all the information because of ICE’s unwillingness to talk to us, and just a lack of transparency and accountability as to what exactly is going on," he said

Bay Area legal aid networks confirmed that ICE agents drove several of those arrested to a facility in Stockton — a first "processing center" before immigrants are shipped to longer-term detention facilities, or bused directly to the Mexican border for deportation.

Another immigration attorney, Etan Newman, said two of his clients who had been arrested this week were not allowed to speak with him until right before they were deported.

ICE spokesman Paul Prince declined to provide more information on the agency’s policies for access to attorneys seeking to contact people recently arrested. He also declined to confirm on Wednesday if any larger-than-usual operation was underway in the Bay Area.

"We do not comment on potential or ongoing law enforcement actions due to the safety of our agents and because it's law enforcement-sensitive information," said Prince.

But arrests were happening elsewhere in the state: ICE said it had detained 20 people with final deportation orders in San Diego over the last week.

In the Bay Area, Reyes Savalza said the legal aid networks had confirmed that ICE agents drove several of those arrested to a facility in Stockton — a first "processing center" before immigrants are shipped to longer-term detention facilities or bused directly to the Mexican border for deportation.

ICE spokesman Paul Prince declined to provide more information on the agency’s policies for access to attorneys seeking to contact people recently arrested. He also declined to confirm if any larger-than-usual operation was underway in the Bay Area.

Immigrant advocate Luis Magaña said he had been camped out at the parking lot of the Stockton ICE field offices since Monday, keeping a close watch on the number of agency vans leaving or entering the black metal garage doors to the facility.

"We are very worried about the immigration situation right now, and so part of my job here is to observe the movements of la migra, so we can verify rumors and help the community to be prepared," said Magaña, a former farmworker who has lived in the Stockton area since the 1970s.

Magaña, with the Organization of Migrant Agricultural Workers, said he posts updates on social media to followers that include undocumented day laborers and farmworkers, as well as attorneys concerned about the Trump administration's threat of a crackdown.

"It's like we are taking a thermometer reading of the level of activity of ICE agents on a particular day," he said.

MORE IMMIGRATION COVERAGE

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'Shaken to My Core': Testimony Describes Conditions for Detained Migrants

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Since President Trump was elected with promises to unleash mass deportations, San Francisco, Alameda, Santa Clara and other counties have ramped up their budgets to expand legal representation for immigrants who can’t afford an attorney.

Community members are asked to call hotlines to report immigration arrests they witness. Volunteers or staffers then verify the incident and send pro bono immigration lawyers to counsel detained migrants.

Attorneys say it is key to reach people as soon as possible after they are apprehended by ICE so that they are informed of their rights and have a shot at fighting deportation.

But since February 2018, when lawyers noticed more immigrants from the Bay Area were being processed at the Stockton facility, they have complained that ICE staffers often don't allow prompt access to immigrants — who have a right to an attorney — when they call.

A car full of immigration attorneys, including Reyes Savalza and Newman, arrived at the Stockton ICE offices on Wednesday to try to see any immigrants held there and get answers from ICE on its policy to allow contact with attorneys.

RELATED COVERAGE

White House Officials Say Plan to Send Migrants to Sanctuary Cities Is Not a Top Choice

Xuxa Santamaria Remixes Immigrant Sounds Under the Dome of City Hall

Federal Judge Rules for S.F. and California in 'Sanctuary' Case

"Given that we've already seen an uptick in enforcement actions, it's really important that we know — in the event that there is a larger enforcement action — how we can access folks who are processed in Stockton," said Lisa Knox of Oakland’s Centro Legal de la Raza, which is part of the rapid response network in Alameda County.

When the lawyers reached the Stockton facility, a KQED reporter saw an ICE supervisor decline to tell them if people were being held. He said his officers would try to put attorneys' calls through, but only if the lawyers could provide last names of the detained people — which none of them had.

Knox worries the problems that they’ve had with reaching people facing deportation will be magnified in the event of mass arrests.

"Often we get calls from people who witnessed ICE detaining someone, but weren’t able to get a name or more information about them," she said.

https://www.kqed.org/news/11760782/a...fear-ice-raids

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