21 days since the National Day of Patriotic Devotion
(Extra!)
“Immigration officials said Friday that they arrested more than 160 people – most of them with criminal histories – during an operation this week across Southern California. The arrests, which officials have described as routine and not part of a crackdown promised by President Trump, have sparked fear and anger in immigrant communities. “Many of the arrestees had prior felony convictions for serious or violent offenses, such as child sex crimes, weapons charges and assault,” Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said in a statement. “The arrestees included nationals from a dozen countries. Ninety-five percent were male.” The arrests sparked a protest in downtown Los Angeles on Thursday evening.” The Los Angeles Times 10 February 2017
“U.S. immigration authorities launched a series of raids, traffic stops and checkpoints in at least half a dozen states across the country on Thursday and Friday, sweeping up an unknown number of undocumented immigrants, immigration lawyers and advocates said. The raids, which appeared to target scores of undocumented immigrants, including those without criminal records, mark the first largescale episode of immigration enforcement inside the United States since President Trump’s Jan. 26 order to crack down on the estimated 11 million immigrants living here illegally.” The Washington Post 10 February 2017
“Federal immigration authorities launched a new wave of raids and other actions in several states over the past five days aimed at sweeping up people who are in this country illegally. It’s not known how many people were rounded up across the country, but immigration advocates say they’ve received reports of raids in California, Texas, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, New York and Kansas.
An official with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, in southern California, David Marin, called the actions routine “surge operations” that target “priority cases,” in other words, people in this country illegally who have criminal convictions. “We made 161 arrests, and of those 161, 151 of those had prior criminal convictions. … The majority of them were felons and those felons which had prior convictions included sex offenses, domestic violence, assault, robbery and weapons violations, just to name a few,” said Marin in a press teleconference held late Friday.
Immigrant advocates dispute officials’ claims that the operations were routine. “What they’re trying to do is a really concerted effort to instill fear and terrorize our communities,” said David Abud, an organizer with the National Day Labor Organizing Network based in Los Angeles told NPR. “It’s a way in which Trump and ICE are retaliating against sanctuary jurisdictions,” he added.” National Public Radio, 10 February 2017
“As the reports spread on social media, so did the rumors. Police departments in Pomona and Los Angeles attempted to dispel false hearsay that their agencies were helping federal immigration officials with the arrests. “We want our community to know that The Pomona Police Department is not participating in any immigration checkpoints nor are we aware of any such checkpoints scheduled in the City of Pomona,” the statement read. “We encourage the community to always fact check to avoid ‘fake news’.” Los Angeles considers itself a sanctuary city where local police decline to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. Los Angeles Deputy Police Chief Bob Green told the Los Angels Times that the department would not assist in immigration sweeps, contrary to rumors. “There is information that is out there that is wrong,” Green said. “We are working hard with the immigrant communities to dispel fears.” The San Diego Union Tribune
“Jacqueline Rayos-Garcia, who goes by Jackie, is 14 and lives in Mesa, Arizona. She has a passion for school, particularly learning about biomedical sciences (you guessed it: she’s studying to be a doctor), and like many other people her age, she loves hanging out with her loved ones. But her family has been separated: On Wednesday, immigration authorities detained her mom, Guadalupe García de Rayos … By Thursday morning, [her mother] was deported to Mexico. Now, Jackie is vowing to bring her mom back home.” Teen Vogue, 10 February 2017
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