ICE agents made 205 criminal arrests in Detroit in 2014, 6,553 nationwide
Protesters question ICE involvement in Detroit police task force after fatal shooting
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A group of activists walk down East Jefferson Avenue on Wednesday, May 6, 2015 to the Rosa Parks Federal Homeland Security building. Organizers were questioning the ICE involvement in Detroit police task force after a fatal shooting. (Elaine Cromie | MLive Detroit)
Elaine Cromie | ecromie@mlive.com
By Khalil AlHajal | kalhajal@mlive.com
on May 06, 2015 at 7:00 PM, updated May 06, 2015 at 7:27 PM
DETROIT, MI -- A small crowd of demonstrators marched along Jefferson Avenue to the Rosa Parks Homeland Security Building on Wednesday to protest the involvement of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Detroit police activity after a man was shot to death by a federal agent.Protesters said federal agencies joining Detroit police in routine operations broadens divides between police and neighborhoods and blurs lines on protocols for the use of force.
ICE officials responded by saying its agents are highly trained and held to high standards.
The demonstration took place after the funeral of Terrance Kellom, a 20-year-old who died after being shot April 27 by an ICE agent when the Detroit Fugitive Apprehension Team attempted to arrest him at a home on city's west side.
Kellom was wanted as an alleged probation absconder and as a suspect in a March 31 robbery of a pizza delivery man, according to police.
The group of about 25 protesters in Wednesday's demonstration, mostly young Detroiters, chanted "Black lives matter," and "I.C.E. has got to go" in another of many recent marches against violence and police-involved deaths.
(Families of slain Metro Detroiters march: 'You can feel the love and you can feel the hurt')
"It militarizes police and creates more of a divide between the police and the community," said marcher Monica Lewis-Patrick about multi-jurisdictional task forces.
"We've got to remind our public servants that they serve the people. I don't think anyone is anti-police, but anti-bad police."
The group walked and chanted through three Jefferson Avenue stores during the march.
The release of an autopsy report in the case has been delayed because it contains information that could interfere with the investigation, according to the Wayne County Prosecutor's office.
Police have said Kellom was advancing on the ICE agent with a hammer when he was shot.
Kellom's father Kevin Kellom, who was in the house at the time of the shooting, has insisted his son had no hammer.
The agent who shot Kellom was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.
"What was ICE doing in that situation?" asked activist David Finkel before the Wednesday march.
"This had nothing to do with immigration or anything. It's not like this was an emergency and a fugitive was fleeing and you've got to call everybody you've got. This was a guy in his house... What protocols do they have? What training do they have? ... Unless they can give a real, real, real good reason why they need it... This kind of multi-jurisdictional (force) -- it's upsetting. I imagine this was a thing they set up so they can have maximum fire power whether they need it or not."
ICE agents made 205 criminal arrests in the Detroit-area during the 2014 fiscal year, and 6,553 nationwide.
"ICE special agents and officers are highly trained, sworn federal law enforcement officers, who are empowered to make both criminal and civil arrests," said agency spokesman Khaalid Walls.
He said ICE agents are responsible for enforcing laws on "national security, counter proliferation, money laundering, human smuggling, document and benefit fraud as well as immigration enforcement."
"Furthermore, ICE participates in multi-agency task forces in every state in the nation," Walls said. "These task forces target a wide variety of crimes from terrorism to human trafficking to child exploitation. Our agents and officers are held to the highest standards of professional and ethical accountability.
Any time an ICE officer or special agent discharges their firearm in the line of duty, the ICE Office of Professional Responsibility reviews the matter. This review is underway."
http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/in...ce_involv.html
