Undocumented immigrants in Tallahassee area on red alert amid recent ICE activity
Undocumented immigrants in Tallahassee area on red alert amid recent ICE activity
In a trailer park in Jefferson County, a knock on the door prompted whimpers on the other side and the muffled thumps of small feet running away.
It was around 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, and children were home, afraid that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents would be waiting at school to take them away.
A boy who appeared no older than 12 barely cracked his door open to speak. He said he and his friends were staying home from school and that the only ones going to class were those born in the United States.
'Every time I see a car, I turn off the TV and run to the back' of his home, he said.
Despite rumors to the contrary, ICE hadn't made an appearance at the Jefferson County K-12 School or at the school district's office in Monticello, a small town located just east of Tallahassee.
Jefferson County Schools Superintendent Jackie Pons spent Wednesday morning in front of the school by the drop-off lane, speaking to parents and reassuring them that their children would be safe at school. He told the USA TODAY Florida-Network he had not been contacted by anyone from ICE.
'Some of the information that got out has created a lot of anxiety,' Pons said.
The day before, U.S. Homeland Security Investigations in Tallahassee and the Florida Highway Patrol detained 12 people in Jefferson County believed by authorities to be residing illegally in Florida. The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles posted blurred photos of the detainees, some in handcuffs, on social media along with a pledge to 'execute the Trump illegal immigration mandate!'
Also on that Tuesday, GOP lawmakers at the Capitol passed the 'Tackling and Reforming Unlawful Migration Policy' or TRUMP Act in a brief but drama-filled special session.
DeSantis called the measure "weak," even though it would impose a mandatory death penalty for immigrants who enter the country illegally and commit a capital crime like murder. The governor, whose own proposal was snubbed by legislators, will likely veto it.
Less than two weeks after President Donald Trump — who campaigned on a promise of mass deportations — took office for his second term, fear and panic has spread through immigrant communities across the Tallahassee area and the nation.
Rumors of raids and roundups at restaurants, businesses, schools and construction sites have flooded Facebook and other social media platforms. Text messages with dire warnings have also circulated in the Hispanic community.
'Immigration is in town,' said one of the texts. 'They are picking people up at workplaces. Warn everyone.'
More: What can I do if I fear an ICE raid? How to respond to immigrant enforcement agents
At least one Florida Panhandle resident abruptly deported
Many of the rumored ICE operations remain unverified. However, there have been hints of increased enforcement in Tallahassee and confirmation of at least one sudden deportation of a Panhandle man back to Mexico.
The Leon County Sheriff's Office's computer-aided dispatch report for Wednesday showed 23 different incidents at the ICE compound on Commonwealth Business Drive, all relating to charges of lewdness. Tammy Spicer, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said she couldn't provide information about the LCSO reports or the 12 people who were detained in Jefferson County.
"At this time, the increased interest in our mission means we are not able to research and confirm/refute every law enforcement action," she said in an email.
The Washington Post reported that Stephen Miller, White House chief of staff for policy, confirmed on Tuesday that ICE officials have been told that each of its field offices should make at least 75 arrests a day, a figure he described to CNN as "a floor, not a ceiling."
ICE has field offices in several Florida cities, including Miami, Orlando and Tampa, according to the agency's website. ICE also has an office in Tallahassee, located on Commonwealth Business Drive, that includes a check-in center and a holding area for people who have been arrested or detained.
On Tuesday, a man in plain clothes wearing a badge walked out of the ICE office and spoke briefly with a reporter about enforcement activity in the Tallahassee area.
"It happens every day ― has been for the last eight to 10 years," the officer said.
Tallahassee immigration attorneys Neil Rambana and Elizabeth Ricci said they learned Wednesday about a client from the Milton area who was abruptly deported after a roundup in Texas.
'He was visiting with some folks in Texas and got rounded up with with some other people and lo and behold, (his) employer called me today and said he's over in Mexico,' Rambana said Wednesday afternoon.
The man was in immigration court and going through the deportation process in which a judge would adjudicate whether he would be allowed to remain in the U.S., Rambana said. He had entered the country many years ago without documentation but was authorized to work here.
He was unsure of the exact circumstances surrounding the man's deportation. But he said he and Ricci are trying to educate the public about the difference between ICE warrants, which allow agents to pick up undocumented people if they are in a public place, and judicial warrants, which would include a probable cause finding.
'You can't enter their home, you can't enter their vehicle, you can't enter their business unless you have a judicial warrant, which would be signed by a judge,' Rambana said. 'That's very important for people to understand.'
Mas: Nuevas ordenes de immigración: Esto es lo que pueden hacer en el condado de Palm Beach
Woman helping undocumented mother and child: 'She's afraid'
At one suburban home in Tallahassee, two little boys ― one the son of undocumented immigrants ― played together on the living room floor as a toy dinosaur emitted an electronic roar. When a reporter arrived, the mother of one of the toddlers disappeared with him into a back bedroom.
The woman, her husband and their son, all of whom hail from El Salvador, had been living in a mobile home park in Tallahassee but left on Monday after hearing about a reported but unconfirmed ICE raid there. They were taken in by another couple, both U.S. citizens, who live elsewhere in the city.
The woman who is helping them said her friend didn't see immigration agents knocking on doors or taking people away at the mobile home park. But she said a neighbor had relayed that information to the family.
'They escaped,' she said. 'This mama, she's afraid that she will lose the boy. If they pick up the mama and the papa ... how are they going to feel if they put him alone, with no one, with nobody?'
She said the family crossed into the U.S. legally some years ago but never finished the process to stay. She said she is hoping to get guardianship of the boy so that if his parents are deported, she can deliver him to them later.
'I want to be an angel to cover everybody,' the friend said.
Immigration lawyer: Unfounded rumors on social media 'so dangerous'
Fueling some of the anxiety were messages flying around on social media. A flurry of photos and posts have appeared in recent days in the feeds of at least one Facebook group of Latinos in the Tallahassee area.
Posts over the last couple days include videos of law enforcement next to unmarked SUVs in parking lots and on the side of the road — along with with cautionary messages. One post showed the outside of a Chevron gas station.
'They're just standing there, I don't know what they're planning, but be careful going through there,' the post says.
Elsewhere on Facebook, someone posting on behalf of Silver Lake Meat Market on Blountstown Highway pleaded with people to 'stop spreading false information.'
'Please if you drive by the front and see police cars in the front it's because they are eating inside the business it's not because it's ICE,' the post read. 'This affects all businesses please try to be well informed before saying anything.'
Ricci said spreading unfounded information wasn't helping the situation.
'People put on (social media) 'I heard this, I heard that',' she said. 'That is so dangerous. I have not heard any of those things firsthand, and I'm not going to tell people things that could just cause anxiety and cost money and create problems for families.'
Some students pulled out out Leon County Schools over ICE fears
Across the Capital City, there have been other signs of the worry spreading through immigrant and minority communities.
Leon County Schools officials said there have been no sign of ICE agents on any of its campuses. However, one district employee told the Democrat that several students had been pulled out of school because of enforcement fears.
Ricci heard from one Florida State University professor who said the parking lot at their department was 'basically empty' even though most of the students are here legally with visas. A Puerto Rican friend called her with concerns — even though she's a U.S. citizen.
'The fear that's going on right now is not just among undocumented immigrants,' Ricci said. 'People are getting concerned because they don't 'look American' and think someone is going to arrest them, separate them from their family, they'll lose their job. Whether it's true or not, people are feeling those things.'
Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or 850-599-2180. Ana Goñi-Lessan, state watchdog reporter for the USA TODAY Network – Florida, can be reached at agonilessan@gannett.com.
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"The night before, I had asked Marcelo for a ride to practice because, ironically enough, my mother wasn't going to work that Saturday and she asked me if I could get a ride with a friend because she's too scared of going outside and driving me to practice," said the friend. Two days after Trump's inauguration, a rumor circulated in the Milford High School community that ICE would be arresting undocumented immigrants at school the following day. Students say most of the school population was absent the next day, including native-born citizens who feared their parents could be arrested picking them up or dropping them off. "There was no one in the school, no one," said a 17-year-old female classmate of Gomes da Silva's. "My parents are the ones who drive me to school, going back and forth, if they were to get stopped on the way there," said the 18-year-old recent graduate, who stayed home from school that day. 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Speaking in Portuguese via a translator, he added that he knows people who have been detained and deported. When a white reporter and photographer arrived at Oliveira's Market, a man on his way in from the parking lot turned around and left. At a variety store on Main Street, the elderly Hispanic woman behind the counter was so terrified by journalists asking questions that she began to cry. Nearly everyone in town had heard about Marcelo's case and the overwhelming sentiment was sympathetic to him. "It's a very sad story for everybody," Fernandes said. His six-day detention featured what his lawyer called "horrendous" conditions, including sleeping on a cement floor with no pillow and only a thin metallic blanket. Meals, he said at a press conference, often consisted of nothing but crackers. "He seemed thin," said Andrew Mainini, Gomes da Silva's volleyball coach, who saw him the night he was released. "As someone who works out with him and sees him daily, he looked thinner than just six days earlier. And it was pretty noticeable, in his face, specifically." ICE's media affairs office told USA TODAY Gomes da Silva was provided meals, including sandwiches. 'He was provided bedding, given access to hygiene including showers, and had access to his lawyer," said Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin in an emailed statement. ICE defends Gomes da Silva's arrest, noting that he wasn't the target of the operation but that anyone in the country illegally is subject to deportation. According to ICE, just over half of the immigrants recently arrested in Massachusetts have criminal convictions in the United States or abroad. 'ICE officers engaged in a targeted immigration enforcement operation of a known public safety threat and illegal alien, Joao Paulo Gomes-Pereira," McLaughlin said. "Local authorities notified ICE that this illegal alien has a habit of reckless driving at speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour through residential areas endangering Massachusetts residents." "Officers identified the target's vehicle, and initiated a vehicle stop with the intention of apprehending Joao Paulo Gomes-Pereira," McLaughlin continued. "Upon conducting the vehicle stop, officers arrested Marcelo Gomes-Da Silva, an illegally present, 18-year-old Brazilian alien and the son of the intended target. While ICE officers never intended to apprehend Gomes-DaSilva, he was found to be in the United States illegally and subject to removal proceedings, so officers made the arrest." In 2011, Milford resident Maureen Maloney suffered a horrific tragedy when her 23-year-old son was killed by a drunk driver who was in the country illegally. The driver also had a criminal record for assaulting a police officer in 2008. Maloney became an advocate for removing undocumented immigrants who commit crimes. She went on to campaign for Trump in 2016 and to serve for four years on the Republican state committee. In Maloney's view, while what happened to Marcelo is unfortunate "collateral damage," the ICE raids are beneficial because of the criminals they have caught. "If these raids save only one life or prevent only one more child from being sexually assaulted, it was worth it," Maloney said. "No matter how bad it was for Marcelo, and I'm sure it was traumatic for him, he'd probably rather that than having lost a sibling or been sexually abused as a young child." Even some Brazilian Americans agree. "It's needed because we've been having a lot of criminals all over the place," Lima said. "They (racially) profile. They look at you, you look Spanish, you speak with an accent, yeah: 'where's your papers?'" Lima noted. "But it's complicated," he added. "By doing that, they've caught like murderers, people who committed crimes in Brazil." Maloney argues that responsibility for the large number of non-criminals picked up in the ICE raids lies with Healey, the state legislature and a 2017 state court decision limiting immigration-enforcement cooperation with ICE. "As far as what occurred with Marcelo, this is a direct result of Massachusetts' sanctuary policies and Gov. Healey refusing to cooperate with ICE, because if ICE could apprehend these criminal aliens in a more controlled environment, we wouldn't be having nonviolent, noncriminal aliens being picked up as collateral damage," she said. Gov. Healey disputed those claims in a statement sent to USA TODAY by her office. 'Massachusetts law enforcement regularly partners with federal authorities to keep our communities safe," she said. "Our Department of Correction already has an agreement to notify ICE when someone in their custody is scheduled to be released. But instead of focusing on removing criminals, the Trump Administration and ICE are arresting people with no criminal records who live here, work here, and have families here. ICE's actions are creating considerable fear in our communities and making us all less safe.' The high school community responded to its shock and upset over Gomes da Silva's arrest by quickly organizing in opposition to his detention and possible deportation. On June 2, the first day of classes after Gomes da Silva's arrest, hundreds of students staged a walkout and a rally in protest. "The students were exemplary," Otlin said. "It was a very emotionally intense experience for the students and everyone who was there to bear witness to it. I've worked in public schools for 25 years, this is my 15th year as an administrator. I've never seen anything like it. Students sobbing and chanting and praying together. Students coming up to the microphone and speaking from their hear to the press and doing so in incredibly powerful ways." The next day, the boys' volleyball team's playoff volleyball game brought hundreds of students, teachers, and community members in white t-shirts with "Free Marcelo" written on them. "People came to support the volleyball team and people came to be together," Otlin said. "This was and remains a traumatic event for hundreds of young people and parents and families in our community, and I think people desperately wanted to come together and be together." The team lost, however. Coach Mainini said the volleyball team's goal is to support by Gomes da Silva by "maintaining the community." "Any time he's with the team, any time he's active, he's not going to be thinking of the challenges ahead of him," Mainini said. "And that's one of the best things we can offer him." Meanwhile, other Milford High School students and recent alumni still have to contend with the omnipresent threat of immigration enforcement descending upon their family. "My parents have had the conversation with me about moving to Brazil, like what would happen in case something were to ever happen," said Gomes da Silva's female classmate. "Me personally, I don't want to go to Brazil, because I've never been there. I don't know what it's like. This is what I know. This is the only thing I know. I've never really traveled outside the country." "And like, I don't want to leave my parents, I wouldn't want to leave my parents, but I'd stay for my last year of high school, to finish high school with my sister. I wouldn't want to leave my mom and dad, but I wouldn't want to leave my home, to leave the United States. And it's a very scary and weird conversation to have with them." "Sadly, that's the reality we have to live: I have to think about whether I'm going to come home and my parents won't be there," the recent graduate said. Contributing: John Walker, Kevin Theodoru, USA TODAY NETWORK. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 11th grader's ICE arrest spotlights a town reshaped by immigration
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