Michigan legal rights groups prepare as immigration cases climb
As large-scale immigration enforcement and deportations take place nationwide, concerns over how and when this may reach Metro Detroit continue to rise, with legal organizations banding together to offer support.
"People need to realize that ICE enforcement is happening in Detroit, and it's happening really anywhere," Ramis Wadood, staff attorney for the ACLU of Michigan, said.
Calling it a "coordinated assault on immigrant communities," people across the country are raising concerns over a surging number of raids and arrests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
"Just like it's happening in LA, in Chicago, in D.C., in New York, it's happening in Detroit as well. It may not be at the scale of what's happening in LA or in Chicago, but it's serious, and it's definitely increased since the first Trump administration," said Wadood.
Organizations like the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center and the ACLU of Michigan say they are seeing the number of immigration cases climb at a rate they have never seen before, after the Trump administration called for ICE agents to arrest nearly 3,000 people per day.
"We are watching and expecting for an increase in workplace raids in Michigan; there's no reason to believe that Michigan would be exempt from that," said Christine Sauvé, policy, engagement and communications manager for the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center.
In Detroit, MIRC says there are more than 30,000 cases pending, at all levels of status, with most facing hearings without representation.
"Each detention, each removal, has an effect on a local family. Each immigration enforcement action has a repercussion that ripples throughout the community," said Sauvé.
With nearby cities like Chicago bracing for an increase in activity, both organizations say they are prepared to handle what comes.
"If there's an accusation that someone's in the country unlawfully, then they should be able to confront that accusation, either challenge it or seek other forms of relief," said Wadood.
MIRC and the ACLU of Michigan say they are working together, alongside other community groups, to help as many people as they can, regardless of their status and what they can afford.
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