ICE arrests 6 at southwest Houston apartment complex, immigration rights group says
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Fear continues in immigrant communities across the country with President Trump's order to round up undocumented people with criminal backgrounds.
The immigration rights organization FIEL confirms six people were arrested at El Paraiso Apartments in southwest Houston Monday. A woman who lives in the apartment complex captured a photo of several ICE agents at around 6:45 a.m.
"They were there for like five minutes," said Kaylin Garcia, who lives at the apartment complex. "They were just waiting on somebody to open the door. They were knocking hard, hard, hard. They were saying 'Open the door,' they really wanted that person to come out."
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"At this point, there is no end in sight," said Cesar Espinosa with FIEL.
Garcia says her immediate family are all U.S. citizens, but after Monday morning, she told her mother to begin carrying her documents with her to prove it.
"You never know," said Garcia. "If you don't have your I.D. or something, they can say 'I don't know if you're from here,' 'I don't know you,' 'You don't have your I.D.,' That's what I told my mom. Get your documents so you can show it, and they'll be like 'Okay, you're good.'"
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ICE issued the following statement Sunday:
"Due to law-enforcement sensitivities and the safety and security of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel, the agency will not offer specific details related to enforcement operations. As always, ICE prioritizes the arrest and removal of unlawfully present aliens who pose a threat to national security, public safety, and border security. In fact, 90 percent of aliens arrested by ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations component in FY2018 had either a criminal conviction(s), pending criminal charge(s), were an ICE fugitive, or illegally reentered the country after previously being removed. However, 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."
