Milwaukee residents prepare to stand up to ICE

Protesters gathered at Kosciuszko Park Wednesday evening to stand in solitary with immigrant families in the predominantly Latino neighborhood in Milwaukee. Speaking to the crowd through a microphone, Alan Chavoya, a local activist with the ICE Out Coalition, said the gathering is both educational and “to show that this community stands together, and we’re ready to fight back.” 

Earlier this week, federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents launched a flurry of arrest operations in communities across Wisconsin. In Milwaukee, witnesses described masked agents following people through town, smashing car windows and violently arresting their targets, sometimes in front of young children. 

Local immigrant rights groups and the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) described the surge as “targeted,” with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) saying 39 people had been arrested as of Wednesday. Although the federal agency said that the people arrested had a variety of criminal histories, from sexual assault and domestic violence to property damage and obstruction, local advocates have said that the vast majority of arrestees do not have criminal records. 

ICE agents were also seen staging in a MPD parking lot and county park, despite local ordinances meant to prevent that from happening. During public comment at a Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission meeting Thursday, two residents denounced the presence of ICE at the MPD District 2 parking lot, saying that the department should have prevented it.

Galo Suárez, whose fiance Reyna Elizabeth Garcia was arrested Sunday along with her brother Teodoro, attended the protest Wednesday night to call for their release. “Milwaukee, we have to unite against these people,” he told the crowd, his words translated from Spanish by Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of Voces de la Frontera. “We cannot live in peace when there are people running around who are separating families, who are masked. I am here because I am one of the people that was affected by these people who are terrorizing our community, and who has my loved one incarcerated right now.” 

Neumann-Ortiz and legal observers from the Milwaukee Turners separately told Wisconsin Examiner that ICE agents had been seen earlier that day driving around the park in an apparent attempt to intimidate the people gathering there. 

Suárez told the crowd that when his fiance asked why they were being arrested, agents told her, “you have no rights, dog.” Suárez said that “it’s time for us to unite as a community, to have a single voice, and to help the families that are being impacted by this. We do not want ICE terrorizing our families in the streets.” He added, “It’s time for us to unite, to hold hands, because that’s the way that we’re going to be able to accomplish driving these people out of our streets.”

Chavoya said that “these are humans that are being terrorized by those monsters in ICE.” He described the people being targeted as “hardworking immigrants” and said, “these are not criminals, the criminals are the ones hiding their faces, the ones that have those stupid vests that say ‘police’. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, those are the criminals, those are the people who should be behind bars.” Chavoya translated everything he said into Spanish as well.

ICE Out Coalition members also held a know your rights session. They said that ICE cannot enter your home and workplace without a judicial warrant, unless you give them permission. The crowd was warned that agents may try to use deception to get the access they want. People also have the right to remain silent and not answer questions from ICE agents, organizers said. People also are allowed to film ICE agents. They said that publicizing details about the number of ICE agents, where they are, what they’re doing, what unit they’re from and when sightings occurred are important.

Luz Hernández, vice president of the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association (MTEA), said that the Latino community of Milwaukee’s South Side is in distress. Besides ICE agents patrolling neighborhoods, an elementary school  burned down on the same day that Suárez first told the world what happened to his fiance Reyna. Hernández, a bilingual teacher and an immigrant whose parents came from Mexico, said ICE “will not intimidate us, we will not give them that satisfaction!” 

She said “undocumented or documented, we all have inalienable rights, we will defend those rights! We will defend one another, and we refuse to let fear divide us.” Hernández said that “education workers know that no child can learn while living under fear that a parent or family member may disappear.” 

MTEA has established know-your-rights, ICE verifier and legal observer trainings while also organizing “school defense teams, marches, and rallies such as this one,” Hernández said, adding, “together we are building a community that protects its own.”

In temperatures rising to 100 degrees Fahrenheit, the protesters marched through the surrounding neighborhood before returning to the park. Suárez was among those at the front, holding a banner that said “stop scapegoating immigrants.”

MPD and Milwaukee County Sheriff vehicles kept a close eye on the protest while also helping block off traffic. A drone shadowed the crowd from a distance. All along the protest route, people came out of their homes to cheer the marchers on. One restaurant worker rushed outside to hand out free drinks, and a woman in the neighborhood wept and thanked the marchers. 

The ICE surge has been distressing for local officials and ordinary residents alike. Milwaukee Ald. Marina Dimitrijevic and County Supervisor Juan Miguel Martinez expressed their concerns earlier this week, asking residents to document what they see while elected officials try to work out legal or legislative solutions. Although the city passed an “ICE Out” package, which included a prohibition on ICE using city property and wearing masks, the agents are openly defying those ordinances, and DHS has said that federal law overrules state and local regulations. Martinez said that residents should document ICE sightings, such as staging in county parks, so that local governments can file lawsuits.

The Fraternal Order of Police in Milwaukee criticized the city’s ICE Out package, calling it divisive and irresponsible. A representative from the order told WISN Channel 12 News that agents hide their faces to protect their families and their personal lives. 

U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore denounced the reports of ICE activity in Milwaukee. “Their reckless tactics are terrorizing families and inflicting real harm on our residents, especially across the South Side,” Moore said in a statement. “ICE is operating like a rogue agency and its abuses make clear that serious reforms are long overdue. This is exactly why I refused to give this out-of-control agency one more penny.” Moore added that people “should know they are entitled to due process in our country. Every person has rights, no matter their status.”

ICE arrests are also occurring  outside of Milwaukee. Centro Dane County, a local immigrant outreach group, posted a warning to Facebook Tuesday that seven arrests had occurred in the Madison area. “Do not open the door unless ICE presents a judicial warrant signed by a judge,” the post advised. 

In late June, Diana Socha Torres was arrested by ICE along with her 8-year-old son at their home in the Wisconsin Dells. Socha Torres and her son were taken to an ICE office in downtown Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported and then were transferred to the South Texas Residential Detention Center in Dilley, Texas. Socha Torres had an active asylum case and wore an ICE ankle monitor, and does not have any criminal charges or convictions in Wisconsin.

Socha Torres’ partner of 20 years told reporters that they feel desperate after her arrest. 

Attorney Marc Christopher, who represents Socha Torres, has filed a motion to have her deportation order reconsidered. She has a credible fear of violence, he said, and has carefully followed the rules while seeking asylum. The reason for her arrest was a missed hearing, but she was unaware her hearing had been rescheduled, Christopher said, adding that it was a frequent occurrence as immigration hearings have been rapidly rescheduled recently and many immigrant clients say they were caught unaware.

The Texas detention center where Socha Torres and her 8-year-old son are being held has been cited by Amnesty International for inhumane conditions, including lack of medical care, food and water.  

A DHS spokesperson said in a statement earlier this week that “being in detention is a choice.” The agency has not responded to a request for updated arrest numbers. 

People can call 1-800-427-0213 to report ICE detentions or credible sightings, Centro Dane County posted.