Four of the 32 arrested had committed a minor crime
14ymedio/EFE, Miami, 4 February 2024 — A total of 32 undocumented immigrants were arrested in Florida in several operations by the Immigration and Customs Control Service (ICE) and other federal agencies, on January 27 and 28. Among those arrested in the raids, carried out in Palm Beach County, there is an unspecified number of nationals of Cuba, Guatemala, Haiti, Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil and Nicaragua.
In a statement from the immigration authorities, detailed data are given about four detainees who committed a crime, including a 24-year-old Cuban convicted of fraud, failure to appear, theft and violation of probation.
In addition, there are cases of a 30-year-old Venezuelan with crimes of resistance to authority, drug possession and theft; a 44-year-old Haitian convicted of assault, drug possession and prostitution; and a 25-year-old Guatemalan convicted of illegal re-entry, possession of cocaine and driving under the influence of alcohol.
The four are awaiting deportation, while the remaining 28 are waiting for a hearing before an immigration judge, who will decide if they will also be returned to their countries of origin.
The four are awaiting deportation, while the remaining 28 are waiting for a hearing before an immigration judge, who will decide if they will also be returned
In addition, the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) said on Monday that, in a joint operation with federal agents carried out in Tallahassee, it arrested “alleged members of the Tren de Aragua” – a transnational gang of Venezuelan origin – for alleged conspiracy to smuggle weapons, criminal gang affiliations and illegal entry into the United States.
Different security forces are participating in the migration operations, as the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, had already warned. This Monday, on social networks, ICE boasted about the cooperation achieved for these arrests by the FHP, the Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Drug Control Administration (DEA).
On January 31, the Argentine newspaper La Nación published an article in which relatives of several migrants detained in Delray Beach (Palm Beach) on the 27th denounced “deception” by ICE agents. “They took them by surprise and for no reason,” said a relative of one of the detainees. Some of those arrests occurred, according to testimonies, when those affected went to a routine appointment at the immigration supervision office.
The cousin of one of the detainees told Telemundo that her relative was summoned at 8 in the morning for a routine visit and had not returned. “He has a license, he has a social security card, he was given the appropriate documentation. All he had to do was register with immigration weekly, through a phone call, and continue complying. Today was a normal check-in,” she told the media.
“He has a license, he has a social security card, he was given the appropriate documentation. All he had to do was register with immigration weekly.”
The interviewee said that, hours later, after losing contact with him, she went to the office to look for him and found out that he was detained. “Without any reason. My cousin is not a criminal, he has never been in jail, he is not doing anything wrong,” she said.
The mother of a Venezuelan who was allegedly arrested in similar circumstances said she feared deportation, because they no longer have family in the country. “They told him to come at 2 pm because they needed to fix something on his phone for the application and supervise it. And yes, that was a lie.” The 30-year-old arrested man had been in the United States since he was six.
The report relates the cases of several other people who were apparently summoned for the usual check-ins and ended up detained.
Garrett Ripa, interim deputy director of the Office of Detention and Deportation in Miami, defended himself from the criticism and said that the work currently carried out by the agents is the same as always, “with the difference that they work together with more federal agencies.” In addition, he categorically stated that “they only arrest people with a final deportation order.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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