A growing sense of fear, distrust and anger has taken hold in the immigrant community after a series of arrests and encounters with immigration officers – including a workplace raid in Durango, vehicle stops near Bayfield, stakeouts outside mobile home parks and an encounter outside a grocery store.
Enrique Orozco-Perez, executive director of Compañeros: Four Corners Immigrant Resource Center, said families of those detained have become increasingly reluctant to share information with him.
He said far fewer people are attending “Know Your Rights” events hosted by Compañeros, because families are nervous.
“I had one of our members come in who was shaking and breathing hard,” he said. “They’re like, ‘The drive over is just so intense for me because I’m afraid of ICE stopping me.”
Members of a WhatsApp group share tips among themselves about where ICE activity is occurring and discuss keeping children home from school.
Compañeros’ “La Escuelita,” an after-school program for immigrant children, had 18 sign-ups at the start of the year. When it started up, only six children attended, Orozco-Perez said.
The rise in activity has sparked questions about the authority of immigration officials and the rights of community members who face scrutiny.
After two detentions near Bayfield in mid-June, Orozco-Perez said he expected more ICE activity in La Plata County. At least four more arrests have occurred since then, some without warrants.
The Durango Herald has received mixed reports of arrests carried out with and without warrants.
After U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations agents arrested five suspected undocumented immigrants working at Rock Solid Custom Granite in Durango in May, ICE spokesman Steve Kotecki told the Herald that warrants are not required for administrative arrests of people suspected of entering the country illegally.
Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, immigration officials are required to present administrative warrants when making arrests with two exceptions: if an immigration officer witnesses an individual entering or attempting to enter the country unlawfully, or if an officer has “reason to believe” a person is in the country unlawfully and may flee before a warrant can be obtained.
A Congressional Research Service Legal Sidebar says administrative warrants are issued by authorized immigration officials only to officers who have completed immigration law enforcement training. They are civil, not judicial, meaning they don’t require a magistrate but still require probable cause.
According to ICE, administrative warrants do not give immigration officers the right to enter private property like a home.
ICE did not respond to a request for comment about recent detentions or to clarify its stance on warrantless arrests.
Orozco-Perez said warrantless arrests go against the U.S. Constitution.
“Everyone is granted those constitutional rights when you’re here, and so a warrantless detention is unconstitutional,” he said.
After two suspected undocumented immigrants were detained without a warrant outside The Grocery Store in Bayfield on Wednesday, Orozco-Perez questioned how officers can determine someone is undocumented just by appearance.
“How can you tell someone is here undocumented just like that? You can’t,” he said. “That leads to a problem, which is racial profiling.”
He said agents may hear someone speaking Spanish or with an accent and use that as a reason for extra scrutiny.
“’Oh, you have an accent, maybe you’re here undocumented,’” Orozco-Perez said. “’I’m scared you’re going to get away, so we’re going to detain you until we can prove otherwise.’”
Orozco-Perez said immigration officers have no authority to stop someone not committing a crime. But when they use police lights to pull people over, Compañeros advises drivers to pull over to avoid ICE ramming them off the road.
“Crossing a border is just a civil offense, and if they don’t have a warrant, then they shouldn’t be pulling you over,” he said.
Immigration officers are federal agents and can’t enforce state and local traffic laws, but they can stop vehicles if they suspect drivers or passengers are violating immigration laws, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
People have the right to remain silent if stopped by ICE or HSI, Orozco-Perez said, and Compañeros advises them to exercise that right.
He said if stopped by an immigration officer, people are not required to speak or open their car door, and they can record the encounter. If asked for identification, they must provide a license or, if they don’t have one, their full name and date of birth.
Recording the interaction helps document any violation of one’s rights, Orozco-Perez said, which can be used in court.
Groups like the Southwest Rapid Response Network and Compañeros are not shy or secretive in their opposition to ICE and similar agencies.
Nor should they be, Orozco-Perez said.
“Everything we do is based on our constitutional rights. So if we want to talk about being patriotic and loving this country, we’re the epitome of that because we’re literally following the Constitution,” he said.
Not everyone agrees with that. Commenters on social media have trolled groups like Southwest Rapid Response Network and Compañeros, asserting immigrants do not have rights.
On the national stage, Tom Homand, ICE director and “border czar,” suggested earlier this year that U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., should be prosecuted for informing immigrants of their constitutional rights.
Volunteer rapid responders with the Southwest Rapid Response Network have recorded interactions with ICE and HSI agents in at least two instances this summer in Southwest Colorado.
A responder recorded an interaction between an HSI officer and family members of one person detained in Bayfield on Wednesday. Last week, a responder recorded another encounter when she questioned a man who was parked in a black SUV on the roadside near Regency Mobile Home Park and Lone Pine Mobile Home Park, where agents monitored park entrances.
Orozco-Perez said rapid responders record their interactions with law enforcement because “we want these agencies to follow constitutional law and to do it in a non-disciplinary way.”
cburney@durangoherald.com
