ICE detains 44 in Austin: What We Know

ICE raids across Austin Friday

KVUE 10:22 PM. CST February 10, 2017


AUSTIN - After a day of reports surrounding Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions at various locations throughout Austin, Congressman Joaquin Castro confirmed a targeted operation by ICE in South and Central Texas. The Mexican Consulate of Austin has since confirmed 44 Mexican immigrants were detained in the past 48 hours in Austin.

Here’s a look at what KVUE knows about the situation:
Immigration officer incident

Early Friday morning, an incident was reported between an immigration officer and another person. Austin Police said the incident started after a traffic stop was made by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer that then turned physical.

KVUE spoke with the mother-in-law, Teresa Velazquez, of the man who was eventually detained and she said an ICE officer claimed to have a warrant and tried to detain the man. After running, the man and the immigrations officer ended up in a physical confrontation.

Reported raids pour in on social media

As Friday morning continued to roll on, social media began to fill with posts from people reporting ICE raids and arrests throughout the community. KVUE began investigating the reports with law enforcement and Defender Tony Plohetski talked to law enforcement sources at the federal, state, and local levels and none reported any operations outside of their daily action.

“As a federal agency, ICE has jurisdiction and doesn’t have to tell us when they are conducting operations in Austin,” APD Interim Chief Brian Manley said Friday. “I’ve not been made aware that anything is different.”

ICE released a statement Friday that read:

“ICE conducts operations daily nationwide. ICE does not conduct random sweeps; all ICE operations are based on investigative leads. By removing from the streets criminal aliens and other threats to the public, ICE helps improve public safety.”

Austin City Councilman weighs in on ICE

Shortly before noon Friday, Austin City Councilman Gregorio Casar said in a statement on social media that his office had confirmed “a large amount of Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions in Austin.”

Casar continued in his statement saying, “ICE is out in public arresting people in order to retaliate against our community for standing up for our values against people like Abbott and Trump.”

At a press conference later, Casar said he confirmed the raids through the media.

“Multiple members, I think, of the media here reported on an arrest this morning and multiple members of the media here reported on the video that happened right up the street here at Whataburger, so that is another public ICE action,” Casar said. “As you heard from multiple speakers with years of experience these sorts of public arrests are clear demonstrations of trying to intimidate the community.”

Texas State Senator Dawn Buckingham took to Facebook Friday afternoon called Casar's statements, "outrageous."

"Not only does questioning law enforcement put our communities at risk, it paints a bull's-eye on the backs of the brave men and women sworn to protect us under extremely challenging circumstances," Buckingham said on Facebook.

Video emerges of ICE arrest in Austin

As morning turned to afternoon, a video began to make the rounds on social media of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrest that took place Friday morning. The arrest was captured on video by a Central Texas man near the intersection of Lamar Avenue and Rundberg Lane.

The video showed multiple pickup trucks surrounding a black pickup truck with ICE officers working around the truck and at least one person in custody. A minivan and a full-size van both appeared on the scene before the video ended.

http://www.kvue.com/news/local/ice-i...know/406872522