Detroit officials demand DHS halt ICE high-speed vehicle pursuits 

Detroit City Council Members Denzel Anton McCampbell and Gabriela Santiago-Romero and Detroit Police Commissioner Victoria Camille sent a July 1 letter to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin demanding that federal immigration authorities stop conducting high-speed vehicle pursuits in Detroit.

The letter references two incidents, one on May 19 and one on June 5, in which a vehicle pursuit resulted in a crash and left one individual in each case with critical injuries and led to property damage in surrounding areas. 

In the June 5 incident, the letter specifically notes that “According to neighbors who witnessed the event, agents operated unmarked vehicles, with only one having its emergency lights activated. At this time, it is unclear if sirens were activated.”

That detail is key to the argument made by the officials that Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, and Homeland Security Investigations, or HSI, are not following their agency’s own guidance on vehicular chases, according to ICE’s 2012 Emergency Driving Handbook, the most recently published version of those rules.

The handbook instructs agents to “consider and evaluate critical safety issues posed by emergency driving, including the potential risk of death or serious physical injury to themselves, the general public, and the suspect,” and engage in high-speed pursuits only in a serious emergency or if the severity of the suspected criminal offense “outweighs the risk of death or serious physical injury associated with such driving.”

McCampbell called the pursuits a clear case of federal overreach. 

“From the available evidence, it is clear that ICE broke its own rules to pursue non-violent, community-contributing individuals who are here for safety and opportunity,” McCampbell said. “Labeling them dangerous enough to pursue at high speed in our neighborhoods and by parks where children should be safe to play is BS, and we will not stand for it.” 

Camille, who sits on the civilian oversight board for the Detroit Police Department, noted that high-speed pursuits are reserved for suspects of violent felonies and must include the use of lights and sirens, as well as a consideration of the impact on the immediate surrounding area. 

She continued, “How dare ICE come into our city and disregard the safety of children playing outside, leave drivers injured and hospitalized, and cause expensive property damage over civil and administrative matters!” 

A DHS spokesperson responded to a request for comment and said both arrests were made legally.

The letter demands that not only do immigration authorities cease vehicular pursuits in residential and populated areas unless there is an imminent threat of death or serious harm, but that the agencies commit to a binding pursuit and use-of-force standard that prohibits pursuits for non-violent civil immigration matters. 

Prior attempts across the nation by local, state and federal legislators to rein in the actions of federal immigration authorities have been largely unsuccessful. 

It also requests the release of further information about the May 19 and June 5 incidents, including details on the use of lights and sirens, as well as the public release of up-to-date emergency driving policies for the agency. 

Santiago-Romero, who represents much of Southwest Detroit, which has a large Latino population, has been consistently outspoken against ICE action in the city — advocating for the release of asylum seekers detained at a nearby Amazon facility, as well as for the release of Detroit high school students and their families. 

In response to concerns about the high-speed pursuits, she called it “unconscionable that these two non-violent individuals have been detained by ICE and the Trump administration, who violated their own policies, recklessly speeding on our local streets.”

The officials requested that Mullin or the department respond within two weeks of receipt of the letter. 

“The next pursuit may not end with injuries but with a funeral,” the letter concludes.