Monterey County resident among 11 arrested by ICE yesterday
At least 11 people were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement over the weekend.
According to a statement released by the “Power, Not Panic” Emergency Action Committee, five people were arrested in Merced County, two arrests were made in Contra Costa and Sacramento counties, and one each in Monterey and Napa counties. They believe ICE could have made more arrests during Sunday’s operations.
“The conduct and manner of these operations once again provides clear evidence that this administration uses enforcement to terrorize communities of color and bully cities and jurisdictions which have protected due process with “Sanctuary” policies. ICE’s tactics continue to undermine trust and cause widespread fear within our communities. We will continue to stand up for our values and respond with power, not panic,” said Rapid Response officials.
The raids came just one day after Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said ICE operations could occur across Northern California “as soon as within the next 24 hours.”
New government figures show people arrested by deportation officers increasingly have no criminal backgrounds, reflecting the Trump administration’s commitment to cast a wider net in its push to expel people in the U.S. illegally.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Friday that 65 percent of the arrests its agents made from October to December were of people with criminal records.
That’s compared to 82 percent during the same period of 2016. Looked at another way, criminal arrests rose but arrests of non-criminals jumped at a much faster rate.
Overall, there were more than 39,000 deportation arrests from October to December, up from about 27,000 during the final full three months of the Obama administration.
The 43 percent surge in overall arrests is consistent with trends since Trump took office.
ICE released this statement to KION:
Deportation officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) conduct targeted enforcement operations on a daily basis in Northern California and across the nation.
ICE focuses its enforcement resources on individuals who pose a threat to national security, public safety, and border security. ICE does not conduct sweeps or raids that target aliens indiscriminately. However, ICE no longer exempts classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement. All of those in violation of the immigration laws may be subject to immigration arrest, detention and, if found removable by final order, removal from the United States.
While the vast majority of cities in America do cooperate with ICE, others force ICE to assign additional resources to conduct at-large arrests in the community, putting officers, the general public and the aliens at greater risk and increasing the incidence of collateral arrests. Sanctuary cities and states are not immune from federal law.
