3 days ago
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
ICE arrests 6 people in Oakland home, including a minor, attorney says
Federal immigration officers raided an East Oakland home on Tuesday and detained at least six people, including a minor and a person with a severe disability, according to an immigration attorney.
ICE officers made the arrests at a home near 79th Avenue and Hillside Street on Tuesday morning after a person inside slightly opened the door, said Nikolas De Bremaeker, an attorney at Centro Legal de la Raza and the Alameda County Rapid Response Network. Six people, including a 17-year-old, from multiple Central American countries were arrested and taken to the ICE field office in San Francisco. Some of them were siblings, De Bremaeker said. It was not immediately known if the detainees had any criminal histories, he said.
De Bremaeker condemned ICE officials for detaining the 17-year-old at its field office because he said it does not meet the criterion of the Flores Settlement Agreement, which established decades-long standards for detaining children in safe and sanitary facilities.
'The ICE field office is definitely not an appropriate location for a child to be,' De Bremaeker said.
The child remained at the field office on Wednesday morning despite De Bremaeker alerting ICE officials of the Flores Settlement Agreement's standards and being told that the child would be transferred to another location, De Bremaeker said.
The arrests on Tuesday do not appear to be the first confirmed ICE activity in Oakland. In June, Oakland police confirmed to the Chronicle that ICE alerted them of its activity but ICE did not provide additional details.
Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee on Wednesday encouraged people who witness ICE activity or need legal assistance to contact Alameda County's hotline at 510-241-4011.
'Trump's dangerous immigration policies are designed to terrorize families and divide communities, not enhance public safety. When families live in fear, our entire community is less safe. Oakland remains a sanctuary city that protects our immigrant neighbors and keeps our communities whole,' she said in a statement.
