The U.S. government said the series of ICE raids last week netted at least 683 “criminal aliens,” but advocates point to a sharp discrepancy between what ICE says it’s doing and what immigrants are reporting in cities across the nation.
“The U.S. government said the series of ICE raids last week netted at least 683 ‘criminal aliens,’ the first major immigration enforcement wave under President Trump. But a growing chorus of activists, lawyers and lawmakers have pointed to a sharp discrepancy between what ICE says it is doing and what immigrant families are seeing and reporting in cities across the nation:
- In Chicago, a student called her high school teacher to tell him that ICE had raided her home the night before, arresting her father, an undocumented immigrant whose criminal record included only traffic violations, the teacher said.
- In Centreville, Va., a woman told officials at London Towne Elementary School that a student’s father had been arrested after dropping their son off at school that morning.
- In the Baltimore parking lot of a Walgreens, ICE agents arrested a barber and a local business owner who advocates said also had no criminal records.
- ICE has arrested at least one DACA recipient during the raids. ICE says the man, Daniel Ramirez Medina, is a "gang member."