Washington’s immigrant neighborhoods push back against ICE arrests with protests, recordings

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By Ted Hesson and Suheir Sheikh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – When U.S. immigration agents swooped down to arrest a Salvadoran man in Mount Pleasant, a Washington area known for its Hispanic immigrant population, residents alerted neighbors who flocked to the scene, chanting at officers to get out before the man was hauled away.

And when Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained a Guatemalan man on Monday walking with a crutch who said he had no criminal record in nearby Petworth, another area with a sizable Hispanic population, people heading to work and walking dogs stopped to shout at them. After a back-and-forth with protesters, officers released the man.

Such arrests, like the two witnessed by Reuters, are becoming increasingly common in the nation’s capital, according to immigration advocates and residents, who say the raids are fomenting distrust among some residents. 

Mount Pleasant has been home for decades to immigrants from El Salvador and other Central American countries who run restaurants and other businesses even as the area has gentrified. Riots broke out there in 1991 after a D.C. police officer shot a Salvadoran man. Nearby Petworth, a leafy residential neighborhood, also has a large Hispanic population.

NEIGHBORS ON ALERT 

President Donald Trump kicked off an aggressive immigration enforcement campaign when he took office in January, backed by his Republican base. But as Trump increased arrests – including many people without criminal records – support for his immigration policies has faded, Reuters/Ipsos polls show.

Trump declared a “crime emergency” in Washington in August. Although the order did not specifically mention immigration, ICE and other federal agents have been a regular presence in parts of the city with the biggest Latino populations. After federalizing Washington’s police force for 30 days in August, Trump said on Monday that he would seek to do it again if the city did not cooperate on immigration enforcement.

The Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid Network, made up of community organizations and volunteers, said it has seen more immigration enforcement than ever before, driven by widespread racial profiling.

“Anybody that happens to look Black or brown or look like they could be immigrants are being stopped,” said Amy Fischer, an organizer with the group.

The Supreme Court this month lifted a lower court order that halted immigration arrests based solely on race, ethnicity, location or other factors in the Los Angeles area, allowing ICE and Border Patrol to resume their aggressive tactics.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said Trump’s anti-crime push targeted all offenders, regardless of immigration status, and that allegations of racial profiling aimed to “smear law enforcement officers.”

“Many of the illegal aliens arrested as part of targeted enforcement operations have outstanding warrants or prior convictions for terrible crimes like murder, assault, rape, and sexually assaulting children,” Jackson said.

In Washington’s Mount Pleasant neighborhood on August 28, dozens of residents protested as ICE officers took the man into custody. A young woman that U.S. authorities identified as his daughter sobbed at the scene. 

As in other parts of the U.S., some Mount Pleasant residents use chat groups to alert neighbors to the presence of ICE or other federal agents. 

“I’ve lived here for 10 years, and I’ve never felt so unsafe,” said Kris King, a yoga instructor. “The stress level is really high.”

The Department of Homeland Security said the man was in the U.S. illegally and encouraged others in the same situation “to self-deport now.”

Tricia McLaughlin, a DHS spokesperson, said in a statement: “No one living legally in the U.S. has anything to fear.”

She said the Guatemalan man in Petworth had been detained during a traffic stop which involved Washington police as well as ICE agents, and confirmed that the man was released.

VIBRANT AREAS GONE QUIET

In Columbia Heights, a neighborhood known for eateries with traditional Salvadoran corn “pupusas” and street vendors selling fresh juice and horchata, a cold rice drink, neighbors have banded together against the immigration arrests – even when the operations involve other branches of law enforcement.

When U.S. Marshals Service, local police and ICE agents swarmed an apartment building in search of a missing 13-year-old girl one morning last week, a crowd quickly gathered, filming with phones and sharing information. 

Yessica Gonzalez, 24, stood outside texting with her mother, who lacks legal immigration status and was cloistered inside her apartment until the agents left.

“She’s very scared,” said Gonzalez, who works as a manager in a fast-food restaurant.

McLaughlin said agents rescued a missing girl from a house with “multiple associates” of the Salvadoran-American criminal gang MS-13. ICE arrested a 17-year-old alleged MS-13 gang associate and another man from El Salvador, she said.

When agents left the scene, bystanders shouted “Gestapo” after them. A short time later, neighbors helped walk a small boy wearing a Mickey Mouse shirt and backpack to school. 

Nelvin Rodriguez, a 54-year-old contractor who lives nearby, said local restaurants and other businesses frequented by Spanish-speaking immigrants have suffered as people stayed home because they were afraid of ICE.  

“They would rather stay at home and not go to work or not go shopping,” said Rodriguez, who came to the U.S. from Honduras 20 years ago and is  a permanent resident. “We don’t feel safe, for the simple reason that we’re Latino.”

(Reporting by Ted Hesson and Suheir Sheikh; Additional reporting by Liza Feria; Editing by Mary Milliken and Suzanne Goldenberg)