Several immigrant rights groups today filed a Freedom of Information request for documents, e-mails, and other details regarding last week's Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in San Antonio and Austin..warning that t'serious legal and Constitutional issues' may need to be addressed, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
ICE says several hundred people in the U.S. illegally, 75% of them are people who have been charged with additional crimes, from drunk driving to rape to murder, were arrested and processed for deportation in Central Texas, as well as in four other locations, last week.
But the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund and other groups say they want to know whether the fact that the raids were conducted in Texas was 'retaliation' for 'Sanctuary' style policies being adopted in Austin, Dallas, and elsewhere in the state.In Texas.
ICE enforcement efforts come on the heels of Travis County Sheriff Sally Hernandez announcing a policy reforming her department’s cooperation with discretionary ICE detainer requests and Dallas County Commissioners adopting a “Welcoming Communities” resolution calling for an end to non essential collaborations with ICE.
Several federal courts have found some ICE detainer practices to be unconstitutional in other parts of the country.
ICE has claimed that the raids and arrests were part of its normal operations and were simply a continuation of its Obama Adminsitration policy of focusing its attention on 'criminal aliens.'
But Efrian Olivares of the Texas Civil Rights Project isn't convinced.
“We are ready and prepared with the legal tools necessary to defend our immigrant communities," he said. "This means we must reveal the facts that led to the wave of apprehensions in Texas. If the immigration raids were politically motivated, these actions raise serious legal and constitutional concerns that must be addressed."
The group said the 'wave of apprehensions in Texas is unlike anything that advocates have seen in many years.'
Olivares says due process laws protect everyone, regardless of their immigration status."Being undocumented does not mean you can be thrown out of the country without due process or thrown in jail for no reason. We will stand with our immigrant communities to make sure their rights are upheld.”
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