ICE Raids In Utah Reportedly Targeting Immigrants With Criminal Records

Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carried out arrests in Utah Sunday targeting Central American and Mexican migrants with criminal records, according to EFE. Around one quarter of Utah’s Latino population are undocumented, according to EFE, who cited Pew Research. Citing Proyecto Latino activists Tony Yapias, EFE reports that the raids appear different than the ones carried out against recent arrivals and self-identified refugees carried out in early January of 2016. While the raids are shaking up the immigrant community, Yapias said that immigration officials do not appear to be conducting blanket raids or “checkpoints.”

“I received various calls from people indicating that the [ICE] agents arrive to houses looking for [predetermined] immigrants to be deported for due to their criminal histories, such as drunk driving, domestic violence, and other crimes,” he said.

News of raids targeting criminals follows weeks of protests against ICE operations targeting migrants who entered the U.S. without legal permission after November 20, 2014. Immigration activists, joined by human rights groups and at least 20 Democratic Senators, have demanded that the White House cease the raids. Obama administration officials defended the deportation of self-styled refugees who have received an immigration hearing or had their cases tried in absentia. However, no new raids on Central American asylum seekers have been reported in the past few weeks.

On Tuesday, a coalition of immigrant activists groups, human rights groups and religious leaders delivered a petition of 130,000 signatures calling for a permanent halt to deportations of self-described refugees. The groups also called on the White House to implement Temporary Protective Status for three northern triangle countries: Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. The measure would allow the government to offer deportation relief and work permission to an estimated 1.5 million immigrants in the country illegally, regardless of their refugee status.

Immigration activists stress that the northern triangle countries are in the midst of fierce gang violence, especially El Salvador and Honduras. The countries rank among the top most violent countries in the world, beating out traditional war zones with intentional homicide rates as high as 90 per 100,000. The rate in the U.S. is 3 per 100,000.