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President Trump said that immigration raids are scheduled for Sunday in cities across the country. The administration would target a few thousand undocumented immigrants.
LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:
Immigrant communities across the country are preparing for the ICE raids today. Matthew Albence, Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, spoke this morning about Fox News.
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MATTHEW ALBENCE: We are taking coercive action against some people who have appeared before an immigration court and who have been referred to an immigration court. We simply execute the orders of these legally emitted judges.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: There have been protests across the country in recent days, from New York to San Francisco and Chicago.
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UNIDENTIFIED PROTEST: Immigrants are welcome here. No hate. Without fear.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: And so now on the line, we have Johnny Kauffman from the WABE member station in Atlanta and Maria Zamudio from the WBEZ member station in Chicago.
Hello to both of you.
JOHNNY KAUFFMAN, BYLINE: Hello.
MARIA ZAMUDIO, BYLINE: Thank you very much for having me here.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Johnny, let's start with you. What do you hear from immigrant communities in Atlanta?
KAUFFMAN: There is nowhere today a sign of increasing the application of ICE rules. Activists do not report anything. The regional ICE office did not say anything. Sunday was quiet, but you know, it's hard to know if people are spending normal time with their families and at church, or is it for fear of a potential activity of the ice? And we do not know exactly. Activists told me that they had news of the Latinx taxi drivers who were worried about the calm and diminishing business, but they have not seen it on the ground yet. .
GARCIA-NAVARRO: The immigrant rights groups have been preparing for these arrests for some time now, because, of course, the president had announced that they were going to happen. What are they saying today?
KAUFFMAN: Dozens of activists in Atlanta have visited the community, calling themselves ice-hunters today. They sought to monitor the activity of the CIE and meet people at gas stations and apartment complexes to explain their rights. The activists seemed suspicious, but wanted to continue doing the same kind of work in the next few days – informing people of their rights. And I spoke with the leader of a Latin American human rights group. And she considers that the Trump administration's speech on strengthening law enforcement is really a political initiative and says, you know, we can also be political. We can organize people and we will see you in the 2020 presidential election.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Chicago immigrant activists have also been active this morning. So let's bring Maria from Chicago. What can you tell us about what is happening there?
ZAMUDIO: Yeah. The lawyers had been preparing for it for a while. As we speak, local chiefs have brigades in immigrant neighborhoods in north and west Chicago. I also started my day at a detention center in Broadview, a suburb of Chicago, where dozens of protesters gathered. It is in this detention that undocumented immigrants are usually brought after their arrest. And while the protesters could not know who had been arrested, they were there to show their support for the immigrants who were inside.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Have you heard of arrests?
ZAMUDIO: So there was, as a quick response team prepared for this weekend, a hotline that was announced to community members. And for the moment, there was no call to this hotline. So we have not seen any activity yet.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: When you spoke to these immigrant rights defenders – and if these raids do not take place today, are they prepared for the long term? I mean, if they do not happen today, they could happen this week or later this month.
ZAMUDIO: Yes. They really see something they need to continue every weekend. They are trying to find a way to maintain that sustainability for the foreseeable future.
KAUFFMAN: The activists I talked to seemed to be kind of animated today, I think, you know, partly because they did not see much activity, but they did saw a lot of support and a lot of people went out. And they really see it as an opportunity to continue to connect to the community, to continue to bring people, like those who are activated and engaged politically. And of course, the kind of education efforts in people's rights and people management if ICE is knocking on the door – it's something they'll keep going for a long time.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Johnny Kauffman of WABE is in Atlanta and Maria Zamudio of WBEZ is in Chicago.
Thank you both.
KAUFFMAN: You're welcome.
ZAMUDIO: Thank you.
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