No traces of major deportation raids Sunday in Atlanta

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The row of apartment complexes on Sweetwater Road in Lawrenceville was quiet as the self-styled "ice-hunters" parked in an early sedan on a Sunday morning.

Immobility meant that Immigration Customs and Enforcement agents did not gather unauthorized immigrants in the highly Latino neighborhood. At the beginning of Sunday's evening, there was no evidence that large-scale raids were scheduled to begin this weekend in 10 major cities in the Atlanta subway.

Nevertheless, the threat of detention has left the benches in places of worship and halls of shopping centers emptyer than usual, many immigrants illegally in the country having chosen to stay at home.

A spokesman for the ICE declined to comment on the enforcement actions taken around Atlanta on Sunday or any future deal that could arise later in the week. He said that ICE is simply the enforcement of federal laws.

Thirty volunteers from the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights Immigrant Advocacy Group got up early to react in case the organization would receive information about the ICE's activity on a line number from # 39; assistance widely distributed. ICE fighters, who have described themselves as such, are attempting to document raids and patrol neighborhoods populated by significant immigrants starting at 6:30 am.

None of the volunteers dispatched met with law enforcement officers banging on the doors, feared by child rights activists after President Donald Trump announced Friday that the ICE raids would begin Sunday. Instead, the advocates focused on distributing posters showing how to handle a confrontation with ICE for residents who walk their dogs or smoke.

Numerous reports in the press late last week indicated that the raids should take place over several days and target at least 2,000 immigrants across the country who have recently crossed the south-western border and remained in the country. country after being deported.

The impact of the endangered raids could be felt at Saint-Philippe de Buckhead Cathedral. Nearly 30 people attended the Spanish service in a side chapel, just over half as much as a typical Sunday. Archdeacon Juan Sandoval said that many of the absentees were probably too fearful to come.

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Sandoval asked participants to pray for their "neighbors" in federal detention centers and ended her sermon with three words: "If you can. The phrase became a rallying cry among Mexican farm workers in the southwestern United States in the 1970s.

Sandoval, although not a normal speech at Mass, said he needed to use the phrase, which literally means "it can be done," to encourage his followers to pray and to persevere in difficult times.

The busy Plaza Fiesta shopping center on Buford Highway was also inactive, said Luz María. The clothing saleswoman, who declined to give her last name, said the mall is often so crowded on Sundays that there is virtually no space to walk.

"I have never seen it [so empty] for 19 years that I work here, "she said in Spanish. "I think it must be fear that keeps people away."

Mauricio came to the mall with his 14 year old daughter to eat a piece and let her play arcade games. The Guatemalan national, who refused to give his last name, said that the idea of being separated from his family frightened him as an unauthorized immigrant. But he said that he had ventured because the kids needed to do something on Sunday.

"They need to play and eat," he said. "It's not that long before they go back to school."

Patricio Cambias, one of the ICE Chasers, said the promise of Trump raids was as much about intimidating unauthorized immigrants as about enforcing federal law.

Bryan Cox, a spokesman for ICE, said the characterization of Cambias was inflammatory and false. Anyone criticizing the actions of ICE should discuss with his elected officials, not with the agency that applies federal law, he added.