ICE Blasted Amid Report They Arrested More Than They Claimed

AUSTIN, TX — Regional raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents last February netted more than double the number of undocumented residents than what the agency previously stated, according to a published report.

The Texas Observer this week reported this week that ICE ensnared not the 51 people in Austin and San Antonio as they announced in the heightened raids' aftermath but 132. The higher number was obtained via a formal request under the Freedom and Information Act, according to the publication.

Despite the higher number, ICE has insisted on citing the lower number as the total arrests as as recently as October. The Observer not only found the number erroneous, but also the length of time during which teh raids took place. The discrepancy has added to the ire of immigrant advocates decrying the bolstered ICE enforcement of the Trump era.

Among those critics is State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, who represents Texas House District 51 in Southeast Austin and serves as policy chair of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, the oldest and largest Latino legislative caucus in the nation.

“This news follows in the wake of revelations that Austin was specifically targeted for aggressive immigration enforcement, that ICE lied to the public regarding important details about Operation Cross Check and that agency officials were disappointed by their failure to find ‘egregious’ cases to sensationalize," Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez said he strongly believes non-criminal immigrants were rounded up during the bolstered enforcement last year, despite ICE's assertions the agency was focused only on a felonious element.

“Even when we were led to believe that the raids resulted in 51 arrests, ICE had only identified 23 of those individuals as having criminal histories," Rodriguez said. "It’s possible that more non-criminals were swept up than we realize. I am deeply troubled by the federal agency’s lack of transparency, accountability and integrity in this matter, and I intend on setting the record straight.”

Mike Siegel, a congressional candidate and an attorney for the City of Austin who works on behalf of marginalized residents — working families, immigrants, and lower-income Austin residents — also slammed ICE for the discrepancies in the reporting of its activities. Siegel is lead attorney in the city’s lawsuit against the state of Texas over Senate Bill 4, a piece of legislation aggressively promoted by Gov. Greg Abbott designed to criminalize law enforcement and municipal officials seen as too lax in cooperating with ICE in rooting out immigrants while allowing cops greater leeway in inquiring about residents' citizenship status in even the most routine of traffic stops.

"We now know that this was a lie," Siegel's press release condemning ICE tactics reads in part.

“Through the Senate Bill 4 litigation, I worked with attorneys across Texas to show how these raids caused students to miss school, patients to miss medical appointments, and businesses to leave our state,” Siegel said. “I am concerned that our elected District 10 Representative, Michael McCaul, is complicit in these retaliatory raids. And I believe that in his position as Homeland Security Committee Chairman, he must have known about the true scale of these attacks. If he did in fact participate in this cover-up, then he lied to the people of Texas and should be removed from office.”

He called for McCaul to share his outrage: "We demand that Michael McCaul immediately condemn ICE’s attempt to cover up the scale of its retaliatory arrests in the Austin community, and explain to his constituents why this happened," his press release reads.

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Austin Immigrant Advocates Demand ICE Release Details On Planned 'Mega Raid'

Operation Cross Check: U.S. Congressman Confirms ICE Raids In Austin Part Of Bolstered Enforcement Effort

Renewed Focus On Immigration Enforcement Divides Austin Community

ICE Detained More Non-Felon Immigrants In Austin Region Than Anywhere Else In Nation: Report

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Federal Judge Confirms Heightened Austin ICE Action Is Payback For Softened Immigration Policy

>>> Photo by Mitchel Lensink on Unsplash