Federal agents have arrested hundreds of immigrants off New York and New Jersey streets in a stealth enforcement campaign that disproportionately targeted people from Latin American countries, according to an investigation by the City Reporter based on a review of more than 1,200 lawsuits. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing The Guardian.
More than 93% of the people grabbed off area streets who filed suit were from Latin American countries, although Latinos make up only 66% of immigrants without legal status in the region. The 430 ICE street arrests identified by the City Reporter from lawsuits filed over a five-month period were clustered in predominantly Latino communities across the region, from Passaic and Plainfield in New Jersey to Brentwood and Hempstead on Long Island. Within New York City, there were 81 ICE street arrests, with the Corona neighborhood in Queens having the highest number.
The arrests have rattled Latino neighborhoods, as people disappear in moments as mundane as buying milk, walking their dog, taking out the trash or picking up their children from soccer practice. In some accounts, ICE agents said they stopped people because they looked similar to someone they had a warrant for, then realized they had a different subject, but apprehended the person anyway.
Other encounters turned violent as officers deployed Taser guns and smashed car windows. Agents at times shouted racial epithets, for example, allegedly calling one immigrant a “maldito Mexicano” – “fucking Mexican” – during the arrest, according to one lawsuit filed this January in federal court.
“The data confirms what all New Yorkers know, which is that ICE engages in racial profiling when carrying out street arrests,” said Elora Mukherjee, a law professor at Columbia University and the director of the school’s Immigrants’ Rights Clinic.
In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said: “Allegations that DHS law enforcement engages in ‘racial profiling’ are disgusting, reckless and categorically FALSE. What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is if they are illegally in the US – NOT their skin color, race or ethnicity.”
Not every immigrant who is arrested files a habeas petition; only about one in 10 did so during these five months. The actual number of street arrests is likely much higher than what is captured in the database created from this research.
As word has spread through some Latino neighborhoods – where ICE agents have been observed showing up again and again – many prepare for the worst. Sisters plead with brothers to share their locations with them, day laborers avoid going out.