L.A. ICE raids result in fast deportations: families struggle to locate detainees
Quick deportations follow ICE raids in L.A., leaving families struggling to find detained relatives.
Less than 48 hours after the ICE protests in L.A., some of the detainees have already been deported to their countries. Such is the case of Juan Fernando, a 23-year-old who was dropped off at an international bridge and told to cross back to Mexico after being arrested at his job at a clothing factory.
According to The Washington Post, his removal from the U.S. had been so suddenly, his family did not even have the time to get an attorney. Juan Fernando told them he had signed a contest to a Covid-19 test, but he may have unintentionally signed off his deportation instead. He had no criminal record.
Marines deployed to the L.A. ICE raids
Protests continued in L.A. on Monday, and the Pentagon announced 700 marines would be sent over to deal with the situation. Mexico’s Foreign Minister, Juan Ramón de la Fuente, stated that 4 immigrants who had been detained by the L.A. raid, had already been removed from the U.S.
According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the personal information of 16 of the people detained on the raids, they had criminal records and were accused of robbery, sexual battery and drug possession. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin even appeared on Fox News to state the raids only picked "the worst of the worst".
How many people were detained in the L.A. ICE raids?
While the Trump administration has not released a headcount for how many people were detained by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), immigrant advocacy groups state that over 200 people without criminal records were detained; denying Tricia McLaughlin claims.
According to Eva Bitran, director of immigrants’ rights, the arrests took place in places where immigrants were just trying to live their lives without interfering with anybody: “We know there were arrests at car washes, at Home Depot — really the places where immigrants are just trying to go about their lives and go about their jobs.” ICE is looking to increase its daily arrests numbers after Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller stated their goal is a “minimum of 3,000 arrests” per day.
