What to do if you are confronted by ICE in Michigan

Metro Detroit’s immigrant community is on edge as the newly emboldened Trump administration begins carrying out what it called the largest deportation plan in U.S. history.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has arrested more than 4,500 people nationwide in the past week, and raids are occurring in countless areas across the country.

Although no large raids have been reported yet in metro Detroit, ICE agents have been picking up undocumented immigrants and are increasingly spotted patrolling neighborhoods, community and elected leaders say. Many immigrants are so afraid of getting deported that they aren’t going to work, and their children aren’t going to school, they say.

It is believed to be only a matter of time before raids begin in the Detroit area.

“People are fearful,” Detroit City Councilwoman Gabriela Santiago-Romero said at a news conference in Southwest Detroit on Wednesday. “Children aren’t going to school. Businesses are having their employees not show up. Their clientele is not coming to our bars and restaurants. This will impact all of us. Not only are we destroying families, we are destroying communities.”

If you or a loved one are approached by an ICE agent, it helps to know your rights, say elected officials, legal experts, and immigrant rights advocates.

“No matter your immigration status in the United States, you have constitutional rights — very clearly you do,” Ruby Robinson, managing attorney for the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, said. “Please stay informed.”

If ICE agents knock on your door or approach you at work, demand to see a warrant signed by a judge. If there isn’t one, you do not have to open your door or answer any questions.

In fact, immigration experts say you shouldn’t even talk to ICE agents or volunteer any information unless they have a warrant.

If they do and you don’t speak English well, you can ask for an interpreter.

ICE often signs its own warrants, and those are not legally enforced, Robinson said.

“ICE does this tricky thing where they sign their own warrant,” Robinson says. “It’s not valid. It has to be signed by a judge.”

He adds, “It’s exceedingly rare for ICE to have a warrant. Ninety-nine percent of the time they won’t have a warrant.”

Undocumented immigrants also have the right to ask for an attorney.

Legal experts suggest that families devise an emergency plan, like what to do with children or what medication to take, in case a raid is imminent.

In addition, immigrants who are worried about getting deported should get a passport and register it with a consulate, experts say.

Immigrants have a right to due process, which includes a hearing in front of a judge. It gives immigrants a chance to “demonstrate that there is a significant chance you will be harmed by going to your home country,” Robinson says, which could prevent a deportation.

Immigration advocates also encourage neighbors to stay engaged with their community to help spread the word about constitutional rights and potential raids.

“Communities and individuals can successfully push back against these unprecedented attacks that we’re seeing every day,” Robinson says.

If you are not an undocumented immigrant, you can help your neighbors by getting their groceries or picking up their medications.

If a loved one is picked up by ICE, legal experts say you can obtain information about a detainee on ICE’s location portal, which identifies where someone is being held. Another online resource is VINELink, which provides information about which jail someone has been taken to.

U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, also recommends that residents contact their congressperson for more information on the whereabouts of a loved one.

There are added protections for immigrants in Detroit. The city’s racial profiling ordinance prohibits local law enforcement from asking about the immigration status of a resident.

“We’re going to protect our neighbors,” Tlaib said. “They’re not going to come and use racist policies and stereotypes to try to depict our neighbors as criminals, as violent people. They are not. They are some of the hardest working, most beautiful loving community members you’ll ever find.”

Santiago-Romero agreed.

“This country is a nation of immigrants,” Santiago-Romero said. “We know this to be true from our history. And unfortunately right now, immigrants, particular immigrants of color, are being villainized. I’m here to remind folks that undocumented immigrants pay billions of dollars in taxes. We are an important piece of the fabric of this country, and right now we are being divided.”

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