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Trump says federal deployments make cities safer; local officials disagree
NO. 256
VOL. 9,
Reports: Federal immigration agents operating in IE cities By City News Service and Staff
By Beth Schwartzapfel for The Marshall Project via Stacker
Federal agents arrest a man in Cathedral City. | Photo courtesy of the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice/Facebook
Federal and local law enforcement teams patrol the Farragut West Metro station Nov. 27 in Washington, D.C. | Photo courtesy of Andrew Leyden/Getty Images/Stacker
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he Trump administration’s deployments of federal agents and National Guard troops to cities across the country, in the name of reducing crime, are having the opposite effect, according to local leaders — eroding the trust required for them to police effectively, making it harder for them to prosecute violent crimes, and leaving residents feeling less safe, The Marshall Project reports. These concerns are noted repeatedly in interviews with policing experts and community members, and in lawsuits challenging troop deployments in several American cities, including Los Angeles; Washington, D.C.; Chicago; and Memphis, Tennessee. In Chicago, ICE agents began using increasingly aggressive tactics in September during what President Donald Trump dubbed “Operation Midway Blitz.” It was a response, ICE said,
to crimes committed by migrants in Illinois without documentation. The scenes have been dramatic by design: an overnight raid on an apartment building, with Blackhawk helicopters and U.S. citizens dragged into the street in zip-ties. The tactics have resulted in at least one death: In September, an immigration agent shot and killed 38-year-old Silverio Villegas González while attempting to pull him over and arrest him. Locals in Chicago have turned out in force to protest, leading to daily demonstrations at an ICE processing center outside Chicago and elsewhere throughout the city. In response, Trump sent 500 National Guard soldiers to the area, but a judge blocked their deployment to the city. Nevertheless, the presence of immigration agents in the city — with their military-style uniforms and tactics — has
made it harder, prosecutors argue in a federal lawsuit, to pursue cases against people accused of violent crimes in Chicago. In one case, the wife of a man who had been murdered did not want to come to court to testify for fear of being arrested by Homeland Security agents. Her fear of arrest “makes it more likely that her husband’s murderers will go free and justice will be denied,” wrote Jose Villarreal, a prosecutor with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office, in court documents. Villarreal listed a wide array of crimes that his office can no longer prosecute because of ICE’s presence in the city: children who are victims of sexual assault, whose mothers fear that bringing them to court might lead to their arrest by immigration agents;
domestic violence cases where victims fear testifying because of immigration agents stationed at the courthouse, meaning “the predators who victimized them may walk free.” Amid the Trump administration’s insistence that its immigration enforcement is meant to ensure law and order, Villarreal argued that Homeland Security’s actions in and around courthouses in Chicago have made it harder “to protect the victims of violent crime and uphold the law through criminal prosecution.” A spokesperson for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office declined a request to interview Villarreal, citing the pending litigation. Calls to 911 have dropped precipitously in the city since the start of “Operation Midway Blitz,” the Chicago Tribune reported, espe
See Federal deployments Page 05
V
ideo circulating on social media showed what appeared to be U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents making arrests in Cathedral City, following numerous recent ICE sightings and activity in the Coachella Valley. A video posted on Facebook by Inland Coalition for Immigration Justice showed possible ICE agents escorting a man in handcuffs to an unmarked vehicle at 7:35 a.m. Dec. 22 at 68395 Ramon Road. The group posted a video Tuesday morning showing several masked agents on a San Bernardino sidewalk near Lugo Avenue and Baseline Street. The Facebook post said, “Heavy presence in the city today, please stay alert or away, if possible.” Another post by the nonprofit organization showed a picture of a man, whose face was blurred out, handcuffed and standing next to two possible ICE agents about 7:40 a.m. Dec.
22 outside a Target store at 67750 E. Palm Canyon Drive. “We are aware of reports and videos circulating on social media regarding federal immigration enforcement activity both in Cathedral City and our surrounding cities. The city of Cathedral City has been a sanctuary city since 2017. In compliance with California state law (SB 54), the city does not coordinate with, assist in, or receive advance notice of federal immigration enforcement operations,” city Communications and Events manager Ryan Hunt said in a statement. “The Cathedral City Police Department does not enforce civil immigration laws and does not ask about immigration status when responding to calls for service,” Hunt added. San Bernardino police said “it is not the role or responsibility of local police to enforce federal immigration laws,” according to
See Immigration agents Page 23