ICE Raid in Austin?
[font size=4]Federal immigration agency rumored to be in town for roundup[/font]
Immigration attorneys and activists around the city expressed concerns today (Feb. 2) about the potential of an “active” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation in Travis County.
The threat of increased enforcement follows an immigration ban executive order issued last Friday by President Donald Trump and growing tensions over discordant “sanctuary city” policies between Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. Hernandez pledged to not comply with noncriminal ICE requests, with some exceptions, a policy that went into effect on Wednesday, Feb. 1. In a vindictive display of political payback, Abbott cut off funding of a $1.5 million criminal justice grant to Travis County.
According to the Immigrant Services Network of Austin, which published a news bulletin on Wednesday about the rumored raid, ICE has reportedly deployed four teams of five to 10 officers in Travis County. The federal agency is allegedly lodging detainers for any foreign-born individual in a county jail, and are detaining and arresting people who have criminal warrants or outstanding orders of removal. (DACA, deferred action, pending U visas, and stays of removal aren’t being targeted at this point, though that could change.) “Be careful,” warned the local network.
Professor Denise Gilman, director of the University of Texas Law School’s Immigration Clinic, said that ICE’s efforts this weekend are likely not a coincidence. Tensions are high after the standoff between Hernandez and Abbott. On Thursday, the Texas Senate State Affairs Committee convened for a well-attended hearing on Senate Bill 4, a bill from Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, that would ban so-called “sanctuary cities” and punish municipalities and universities that do not comply with detainer requests from ICE to hand over immigrants in custody for deportation.
Read more: http://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2017-02-02/ice-raid-in-austin/
