Immigration leader to address Latino concerns in Dearborn

The head of immigration enforcement for the federal government is coming to Dearborn today to meet with community leaders concerned about what they see as the growing harassment of Latinos in metro Detroit by federal agents.

John Morton, director of Immigration Customs and Enforcement, will meet today in Dearborn with advocates, said Khaalid Walls, a Detroit-based spokesman for ICE.

It comes after a raid in a southwest Detroit school two weeks ago that targeted parents dropping off their kids and outraged some local residents.

Latinos and community groups in metro Detroit say that immigrants and minorities have been increasingly harassed by federal agents seeking to enforce immigration laws. They say they are being racially profiled and in some cases wrongly detained and mistreated.

On March 31, ICE agents followed parents from their homes to Hope of Detroit Academy, a public charter school in Detroit. There were about a half-dozen ICE vehicles with tinted windows around the school, said Ryan Bates, who is with the Alliance for Immigrants Rights & Reform Michigan.

Some parents were inside with their children, afraid to come out, he said. "I found members of two families who were terrified," Bates said.

In a statement, the national director of public affairs said that agents in Detroit may have violated rules. Advocates say it's unusual for ICE to admit it may have erred.

"ICE is concerned by reports about the manner in which this operation was conducted and is conducting an internal review of the facts surrounding it," said ICE Director of Public Affairs Brian Hale. "Elements of the operation appear to have been inconsistent with policy and our standards and priorities."

ICE officers "are required to follow a policy that prohibits operations near schools unless approved by headquarters or otherwise based on exigent circumstances," Hale added. "It is not clear that this policy was appropriately followed in this matter. In addition, one of the targets may not have been within the agency's stated enforcement priorities."

Hale said if it is found that procedures were violated, "appropriate steps will be taken."

But in a statement today, a union representing the agents said they acted appropriately.

"It was textbook law enforcement," said Chris Crane, president of the National ICE Council, the union representing ICE agents and officers. "I'm proud of our Officers and the professionalism they displayed in conducting their duties."

Crane criticized Hale's comments, saying that during the Detroit raid:
"No man, woman or child was terrorized or harassed; nobody surrounded the school or took any other action around."

ICE is the principal investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the second largest investigative agency in the federal government.