Bloggings on Deportation and Removal

by Matthew Kolken

ICE is Arresting Parents as they drop-off their Children at Elementary School

Apparently smart immigration enforcement includes arresting parents as they drop-off their children at elementary school.

From America's Voice:

This week, ICE agents approached two immigrant families while they were dropping off their children at Cesar Chavez Academy in Southwest Detroit.  One father, Hector Orozco, was dropping off his son when he was arrested, and remains in detention.

Another family was stopped outside the Manuel Reyes Vistas Nuevas Head Start Center.  The ICE agent temporarily let the family go so they could drop off their children, and told them they would be detained once they returned home.  The family took refuge in the elementary school until advocates could intervene.

Julia Preston of the New York Times reports that a 7-year-old child in the vehicle at the time of one of the arrests became distraught, pleading in English: “Please don’t take my dad. We want to go to school.”

This isn't the first time that Detroit ICE decided it was a brilliant idea to stalk parents of school children. The administration's response, predictably, was to issue a memo, that Detroit ICE immediately put in the circular file right next to the Morton Memo.

Here is the "policy" that is being ignored:

This memorandum sets forth Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) policy regarding certain enforcement actions by ICE officers and agents at or focused on sensitive locations. This policy is designed to ensure that these enforcement actions do not occur at nor are focused on sensitive locations such as schools and churches unless (a) exigent circumstances exist (b) other law enforcement actions have led officers to a sensitive location as described in the "Exceptions to the General Rule" section of this policy memorandum, or (c) prior approval is obtained. This policy supersedes all prior agency policy on this subject.

Quotas are quotas.


About The Author

Matthew Kolken is a trial lawyer with experience in all aspects of United States Immigration Law including Immigration Courts throughout the United States, and appellate practice before the Board of Immigration Appeals, the U.S. District Courts, and U.S. Courts of Appeals. He is admitted to practice in the courts of the State of New York , the United States District Court for the Western District of New York, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA).


The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) alone and should not be imputed to ILW.COM.