Latinos accuse Border Patrol and Immigration Customs Enforcement agents of racial profiling
Jul 30, 2011


On a sunny afternoon last month, Francisco Arguelles Jr. was fishing for silver bass along the Detroit River near Jefferson when a Border Patrol agent pulled up.

About 50 other people were around him, but Arguelles said the agent came straight to him and his brother -- the only Latinos there. The agent asked for identification, then started peppering the U.S. citizens with questions: Where are you from? When was the last time you were in Mexico? How do I know you're not an immigrant?

Arguelles, 28, said he told the agent, "I was born in Detroit."

But soon, four more agents arrived. They eventually left, but the Detroit brothers said they were shook up -- two of a growing number of metro Detroit Latinos who accuse federal agents of racial profiling.

Detroit congressmen have called for a meeting with the national director of the Border Patrol, which denies profiling.

Meanwhile, an internal review by another federal agency, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, found that Latinos' accusations against its agents were unfounded or unsubstantiated, according to an ICE report obtained Friday by the Free Press. However, the agency has "drafted a new policy that more clearly defines enforcement activities at or near sensitive locations," the report says.
New Immigration Customs Enforcement report denies Latinos' accusations of racial profiling

Lidia Reyes pointed to the sign that hangs high outside her social services office on Fort Street in southwest Detroit.

"LATINO," it read in big capital letters.

"This is why we're being harassed," said Reyes, director of Latino Family Services and a U.S. citizen of Mexican descent.

Over the last year, she said, her employees and people who visit the center for services such as health care and after-school programs increasingly have been targeted by federal agents. At one point in April, she said, the number of clientele dropped 75% after a series of incidents at her building.

The directors of metro Detroit's two other major Latino social service agencies, the Detroit Hispanic Development Corp. and LA SED (Latin Americans for Social and Economic Development), report similar problems.

"It's caused fear in the community," said Angela Reyes, executive director of the Detroit Hispanic Development , who also was born in the U.S. "It feels like we're under siege."

Reyes said that because of the incidents, "I carry my passport with me every day."

Latino residents -- legal immigrants and U.S. citizens -- say they increasingly are being pulled over, questioned and even detained because of their ethnicity. They say federal agents are engaging in illegal racial profiling as residents go about everyday activities -- from waiting at bus stops to doing landscaping work to going for a walk.

But spokesmen for both U.S. Customs and Border Protection, also known as Border Patrol, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement say they don't use racial profiling. On Friday, ICE rejected claims that its agents acted inappropriately during a March 31 raid at Hope of Detroit Academy, an elementary school where 85% of students are Latino. Agents had arrested some parents who were dropping off children at school and followed others home.

ICE also denied allegations of a raid April 7 at Neinas Elementary, also a Detroit school where 78% of the students are Latino. "This alleged operation simply did not occur," an agency report said.

ICE Director John Morton met with Detroit community leaders in April and announced an investigation.

But an internal review of the incident at Hope of Detroit "reveals that ICE ... officers did not engage in any abuse or professional misconduct," ICE Director of Public Affairs Brian Hale said Friday. Moreover, the report said that 11 other complaints raised by metro Detroit Latinos against ICE agents were unfounded or unsubstantiated.

The complaints, though, prompted ICE to reinforce its "sensitive location policy with all field office directors," according to the report, obtained Friday by the Free Press.

"These events have provided the agency an additional opportunity to reiterate its policies governing ... operations involving sensitive locations in a manner that addresses community concerns and is appropriate under the law," Hale said.

Still, there is increasing concern about Border Patrol. U.S. Reps. John Conyers and Hansen Clarke, Detroit Democrats, have asked the national director of Border Patrol to meet with metro Detroit Latinos. Earlier this month, hundreds of people jammed Hope of Detroit for a public hearing on profiling that Conyers and Clarke attended.

During the hearing, Clarke stressed a point that advocates for immigrants often make: Michigan needs immigrants.

"You're the reason why we have vibrant neighborhoods in Detroit," Clarke, the son of an immigrant, told the cheering crowd.
A growing community

The accusations come as the Latino community is growing in metro Detroit. There are now more than 156,000 Latinos in the tri-county area, according to recent census figures. Meanwhile, the number of deportations in Michigan and Ohio has jumped, from 2,243 in fiscal year 2005 to 8,054 in 2010, a 259% increase. Mexico and Guatemala are the top countries for removals, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Illegal immigrants are being deported, but the enforcement is leading to harassment of legal residents and U.S. citizens, metro Detroit Latinos say. Border Patrol denies harassing people.

"There is no one prototypical subject for whom Border Patrol agents are looking to the exclusion of others," said Kris Grogan, spokesman for the Michigan office, adding that "the Border Patrol regularly apprehends illegal aliens and smugglers from all nations and ethnicities."

Lidia Reyes and others say they fully support efforts to go after criminals, but they are concerned about their centers being under surveillance and about people being randomly stopped.

According to Reyes and her employees, workers at Latino Family Services have been stopped and questioned at least six times over the last three months, even though they were U.S. citizens or legal residents.

On the afternoon of May 5, the agency held a women's forum that drew about 50 Latinas, Reyes said. A convoy of Border Patrol agents -- a patrol car followed by about six officers on bicycles -- appeared and circled the building several times, she said.

At one point, employee Martha Reyes asked the agents: "Are you lost? Do you need directions?"

About a mile down the road at Detroit Hispanic Development, employees said agents have taken similar action, showing up when Latinos are attending English-language classes. Director Angela Reyes said federal agents are stalking women who take part in a walking class sponsored by the agency.

Advocates with the Detroit-based Alliance for Immigrants Rights said they have recorded a dozen cases of profiling in Detroit by Border Patrol agents from April to June.
A look at procedures

Ruben Torres, 45, a third-generation Mexican American born in the U.S., said he was pulled over by an ICE agent in an unmarked vehicle March 24 at a traffic stop in Detroit.

"He asked me for my visa. And I told him I didn't have a visa. ... The only Visa I have is on my credit card," Torres said.

He said the agent questioned him about his citizenship and immigration papers.

"I continued to explain, I was born here. My family raised me here, I'm third generation."

Torres said the agent called for backup. A car with three more agents pulled up.

"They all asked me the same questions: Where was I born? Where were my parents born? Where did I attend school? Everyone took a turn."

At one point, one agent said "he needed my birth certificate. I said, 'Who drives around with a birth certificate in their wallet? I was born in the United States and I can speak English just as well as you do.' "

He said the agents left after about 45 minutes.

The incidents are prompting a discussion about proper procedures for federal agents.

According to ICE policies, agents can't target schools, hospital, houses of worship, funerals or weddings, unless extraordinary circumstances are identified by headquarters. The policies don't mention social service agencies.

Border Patrol policies vary by region, said Ryan Bates, director for Alliance for Immigrants Rights & Reform in Michigan. Some branches have policies similar to ICE's rule against targeting sensitive locations, but the Detroit branch doesn't.

Federal agents with Border Patrol have targeted Latinos while fishing, said Guillermo Arguelles.

On June 11, he and his brother, Francisco Arguelles Jr., were fishing along the Detroit River. But the U.S. citizens were stopped and questioned by agents who appeared to target them based on their appearance, Guillermo Arguelles said.

"I have rights, too," Arguelles said while on break at the auto parts plant where he works. "Why were only Hispanics singled out?"

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Still beating that race card... Should Hispanic illegals be treated better than Irish, Chines, Korean, Russian, Uzbekistan, African or any other nationality of illegal?? -No, that would not be the American way.