Amnesty and open borders advocates complain that U.S. Immigration and Enforcement (ICE) officers are going to Houston apartment complexes that have large Hispanic populations.
FIEL, an advocacy group located in the Bayou City point to the arrest of a Guatemalan national, Carlos Gudiel Andres, according to a report by the Associated Press. ICE agents arrested Andres last month at a Houston complex.
His family told the press that ICE officers approached Andres about certain individuals they were looking for, and in the process asked him for his identification. When he gave the agents his ID, they determined there was an active deportation order on him.
Cesar Espinosa, executive director of FIEL (Familias Immigrantes y Estudiantes en la Luchall or “Immigrant Families and Students in the Struggle”), said that his group received other reports of ICE agents at apartment complexes in Houston during early mornings. No further explanation or details beyond the Andres case were reported.
Espinosa charged that he wants to know “if they’re asking only certain people who may look a certain way,” the AP reported.
A statement from ICE officials to the AP said Andre’s apartment was “identified as part of a targeted enforcement operation.”
In previous statements to Breitbart Texas, ICE officials stated:
ICE deportation officers conduct targeted enforcement operations every day in locations around the country as part of the agency’s ongoing efforts to protect the nation, uphold public safety and protect the integrity of our immigration laws and border controls.
These are existing, established fugitive operations teams. ICE does not conduct sweeps, checkpoints or raids that target aliens indiscriminately.
Reports of ICE checkpoints and sweeps are false, dangerous and irresponsible. These reports create panic and put communities and law enforcement personnel in unnecessary danger. Any groups falsely reporting such activities are doing a disservice to those they claim to support.
During targeted enforcement operations ICE officers frequently encounter additional suspects who may be in the United States in violation of federal immigration laws. Those persons will be evaluated on a case by case basis and, when appropriate, arrested by ICE.
As part of the illegal immigration crackdown by the Trump Administration, U.S. Acting ICE Director Thomas Homan issued a directive in January ordering ICE officers to target criminal aliens appearing in courthouses, Breitbart Texas reported. Homan explained, “ICE’s enforcement activities in these same courthouses are wholly consistent with longstanding law enforcement practices, nationwide.”
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX, Gab, and Facebook.