Feds arrest Memphis immigrants in Sunday operation, outraging activists
Feds arrest Memphis immigrants in Sunday operation, outraging activists
Ryan Poe, USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee Published 8:23 p.m. CT July 23, 2017 | Updated 10:25 p.m. CT July 23, 2017
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Community activists gather at the Prescott Apartments Sunday evening after Federal immigration agents reportedly arrested 26 people at three Memphis apartment complexes in raids that have left the city's Hispanic community shaken and afraid.
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(Photo: Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal)
Federal immigration agents reportedly arrested a large number of people at three Memphis apartment complexes Sunday, according to local activists who say a recent and more aggressive detention policy has left some Hispanics shaken and afraid.
Beginning Sunday morning, agents made several arrests at the Prescott Place Apartments, Emerald Ridge Apartments and Corner Park Apartments in the Parkway Village area of East Memphis, said José Salazar, an immigration activist and an organizer for Hispanic advocacy group Cosecha Memphis.
Thomas Byrd, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said he didn't immediately know the number of people arrested, but said estimates in the dozens were inaccurate because ICE targets individuals, not communities.
"We do targeted enforcement operations on a daily basis," he said.
Word of the arrests spread throughout the day, prompting several activist groups under the umbrella of the Coalition of Concerned Citizens to gather more than 20 supporters at Prescott at 6 p.m., then at Corner Park, to knock on doors and give residents "know your rights" literature. At one point, activists led a large group of residents at Prescott in a Spanish chant, translated "The people united will never be defeated!"
Salazar, 25, who helped organize the event at Prescott, said federal agents can take advantage of people's lack of knowledge — sometimes using administrative warrants, which are non-binding, unlike judicial warrants, to intimidate residents.
"Everybody's scared," he said, looking up at faces slowly appearing along apartment balconies to see what was happening below. "They're full of fear."
Adriana Colunga, 25, said her husband's friend, as close as a brother, was taken as he picked up a car he was having repaired at Prescott. Even though he'd had a rough start, he'd turned his life around, was going to church and had two young children, she said.
If agents were arresting people with criminal records — the "bad hombres" President Trump had mentioned — she would understand, she said. But they're not, she said, choking back tears as she told of the kindness and generosity of her husband's friend.
"They're taking the wrong people," she said.
https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/720...ice-raid-2.jpgBuy PhotoJose Salazar (center) and other community activists talk to Hispanic residents of the Prescott Apartments about their rights Sunday evening after Federal immigration agents reportedly arrested 26 people at three Memphis apartment complexes in raids that have left the city's Hispanic community shaken and afraid. (Photo: Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal)
In the last month or two, residents and activists said they'd seen U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ramp up arrests. Now, agents are rounding up immigrants every two or three days, residents and activists said.
The government arrested 10,845 people between Jan. 22 and April 29 whose only charge was an immigration violation — more than twice the number in the same period last year under Obama, according to ICE data released in May.
"They're trying to drain what they define as 'the swamp,'" said Hunter Dempster, who has a number of roles with activist groups, including with the Coalition of Concerned Citizens and minimum wage advocacy group Fight for $15.
Regional and national ICE spokespersons didn't immediately respond Sunday to requests for comment.
The Memphis Police Department was not present for the arrests and did not assist agents, according to an MPD statement Sunday, released in response to social media rumors officers were involved.
"The MPD has not, and will not, conduct any investigations concerning immigration laws," the MPD statement reads.
Memphis isn't technically a "sanctuary city" — a city that won't cooperate with federal immigration agents — because MPD already doesn't interact much with ICE. That's the job locally of the Shelby County Sheriff's Office, which has committed to cooperating.
Asked why she said showed up Sunday at Prescott Place, Colunga said she felt someone should take action to keep other families feeling the pain her own was feeling.
"We have to do something before it's too late," she said.
This story will be updated.
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