Rep. John Conyers (D-Detroit) is asking the Dept. of Homeland Security and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office to investigate reports of a pattern of racial profiling and civil rights abuse by ICE agents in Detroit.
Last week the Alliance for Immigrants Rights and Reform Michigan, State Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit) and the Hispanic Bar Association of Michigan called attention to community concerns about racial profiling, warrantless searches, and unlawful detentions of immigrants and others.
“ICE agents also have allegedly performed multiple immigration enforcement actions at Detroit-area schools, terrifying students, teachers, and parents,” Conyers said. “If true, such actions would be in violation of long-standing and well-developed agency policy generally prohibiting enforcement actions at such sensitive community locations.”
ICE initially denied any problems associated with immigration enforcement actions in Detroit but later stated “While a preliminary analysis suggests that certain requirements were followed, elements of the operation appear to have been inconsistent with policy and our standards and priorities.”
Conyers, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said that he is encouraged that ICE has now agreed to conducted a review of the incidents and to meet with his staff but he said that the seriousness of the allegations requires an independent investigation.
“These thorough investigations must look not only into individual instances of misconduct, but also into the alleged pattern of abuses, so that we may uncover any underlying problems at the ICE Detroit Field Office that are at the root of the problem,” Conyers said. “Real consequences must follow any findings of misconduct.”
“Parents should not be afraid to take their children to school, people should not be afraid that ICE will enter their homes without a warrant, and U.S. citizens should not be afraid that they will be subjected to racial profiling and unlawfully detained.”