Federal immigration agents in unmarked vehicles, wearing vests that read “police,” spent the weekend making several arrests across the Milwaukee area.
Voces de la Frontera, an immigrant advocacy group, corroborated 18 arrests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including 17 in Milwaukee, in the last week, said executive director Christine Neumann-Ortiz. The arrests were concentrated on Milwaukee’s south side, and Voces confirmed an additional arrest in Waukesha.
The sudden increase in public, visible arrests by ICE, often involving multiple SUVs blocking traffic on major roads, is a divergence from the way the agency has recently been operating in Milwaukee. In the past, advocates said, agents had been mainly detaining people at their homes, at ICE check-in appointments and at court hearings.
The heightened activity has left city and community leaders with uncertainty about the scope of ICE’s operations, who the agents are arresting and whether Milwaukee police would ticket ICE officers for wearing masks, as a new city ordinance dictates. After a busy weekend, only a few answers seemed apparent.
ICE has been seeking out people on a list of names, Neumann-Ortiz said. Agents have not been arresting people at their homes and instead have been following them while driving to make arrests on the street. In four cases, Voces has documentation of what it called an excessive use of force.
Of those detentions Voces has confirmed, no one has a serious criminal charge or conviction, Neumann-Ortiz said. Those detained are mostly people with open asylum cases and those with prior deportation orders, she added.
Darryl Morin, of Forward Latino, echoed that. He voiced concern that some of the individuals arrested may have recently lost their legal status due to policy changes under President Donald Trump, or have active and valid asylum claims. He did not give more details about the detentions he knew about.
ICE was carrying out “targeted operations,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement June 28, but it did not reply to follow-up questions about the number of arrests it had made, why it made the arrests and how long it would keep working at an elevated level in the city.
Morin said he did not want to describe the increased ICE activity as a “surge,” as it could imply ICE was operating on a similar scale to Minneapolis-St. Paul’s “Operation Metro Surge.” Morin’s organization published an alert about the ICE arrests he said was in place till July 3 – about one week after the first signs of visible immigration arrests.
He said he expected continued heightened activity throughout the week, and the organization would reassess on July 3 whether to extend the alert.
Of the 18 detentions Voces has reviewed, eight people were being held at Dodge County Jail, one was at the Waukesha County Jail, and others were in Miami, Kentucky and Chicago, Neumann-Ortiz said.
She called for the release of a Nicaraguan man with a serious health condition.
Elected officials react to uptick in ICE activity, masks
As of April 21, law enforcement officers, including federal agents, are prohibited from wearing face coverings while interacting with the public when carrying out their duties in Milwaukee.
The ordinance, passed by the Milwaukee Common Council, sought to limit the impact of ICE operations in Milwaukee. According to the ordinance, any officer who violates the rule may face a penalty between $5,000 and $10,000.
Ald. Marina Dimitrijevic said she was concerned about the weekend’s ICE activity, especially due to the videos circulating on social media showing masked agents in unmarked vehicles conducting the arrests. She stressed many of the reports were not yet verified.
“We don’t want to cause any unnecessary alarm. We’re just trying to take the proper steps, that people should be cautious and know their rights,” she said.
In an email, Dimitrijevic and Aldermen Alex Brower and JoCasta Zamarripa asked Milwaukee Police Department officials and City Attorney Evan Goyke to enforce the recently passed no-masking ordinance.
“This is an unsettling time for many of our residents,” the email said.
Goyke declined to comment on the email. A Milwaukee Police Department official did not immediately respond to a question on whether any citations have been issued.
Sources have told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that police are not involved in ICE’s activity here.
ICE agents’ weekend arrests show the need for the city’s wave of recently passed anti-ICE legislation, said Brower, who pushed for the local measures to pass. Brower has been in contact with activists working in areas where the arrests have taken place and suspected more arrests would be confirmed in the future.
The amount of activity stood out to him, compared to typical ICE activity in the past in Milwaukee.
“This is exactly what I talked about,” Brower said. “This is happening now.”
He called for Milwaukee police and residents to document any arrests they see. He hoped it could eventually lead to a prosecution of agents.
Ald. Zamarripa said she was “outraged” by the footage of masked agents making arrests.
“Our local laws apply to everyone operating within our city. If ICE continues to ignore this ordinance, we will pursue citations for non-compliance,” she said in a statement.
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson said in a phone call that he was deeply concerned by the reports of arrests.
“If you’re a law enforcement officer, there is no need for you to be wearing a mask, especially in 90-degree weather,” he said. “Shame on ICE. Shame on the Trump administration.”
Johnson said it would be a different conversation if someone is causing “death, harm and destruction.”
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley condemned the recent arrests, saying in a statement that “these inhumane actions do not make anyone safer or more secure.”
“Federal immigration enforcement officers have already brought chaos and fear to our neighborhoods, so it unfortunately comes as no surprise that they are now directly disregarding local laws to carry out President Trump’s deportation orders,” Crowley said. “The community has loudly stated that ICE is not welcome in Milwaukee, but just as they ignore the voices of the people, they are also ignoring our laws.”
State Rep. Priscilla Prado, who represents much of Milwaukee’s south side, encouraged residents to connect with organizations like Voces de la Frontera and avoid spreading unverified information. She also urged residents to prepare themselves and their families for increased ICE activity.
“Please take proactive steps to prepare and protect your family,” she said in a bilingual statement. “If you have not already done so, consider putting important plans in place, such as identifying trusted caregivers for your children, organizing important documents, reviewing financial accounts, and discussing emergency plans with your loved ones.”
Videos shed light on ICE tactics of current operation
Several of the videos of apparent ICE arrests taken by residents and posted to social media share similar hallmarks. Many show SUVs with no license plates or law enforcement markings boxing in vehicles, and agents wearing masks and armored vests taking people from their cars and handcuffing them.
The videos and photos, which could not be independently verified immediately, were largely taken June 26 through 28.
One video, posted to Facebook about 12:45 p.m. June 28 by a passing driver, showed three unmarked SUVs, one white and the other two black, had boxed in a vehicle in the middle of Lincoln Avenue, just west of the intersection with South 27th Street.
Several agents approached the vehicle wearing armored vests and neck gaiters that covered their faces. Each of the vests visible in the video read “police.” Only one of the agents’ vests also said “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”
The target of their arrest, an adult man, stepped out of his car when prompted by the agents. Agents handcuffed him, took his phone and other possessions from the car, and led him away.
In another case, video and photos from two sources showed agents surrounding a red car near South 15th and West Mineral Street on June 28. An agent used a tool to strike the driver’s side window, leaving it with several cracks. Two agents pulled a man out of the car and restrained him face-down on the ground.
In most instances, ICE agents’ vests seem to have a label that says “police.” Morin criticized that and said it’s been clear that Milwaukee police have not been involved in making the arrests, but conflating ICE and police only serves to put local officers at greater risk.
It was not apparent that ICE was randomly arresting people on the street. One man who posted on TikTok said he was walking to his work garage near South 19th Street and West Becher Street when a black vehicle approached and agents grabbed him.
The man said the agents never identified themselves as ICE and only ever identified themselves as police. They eventually let him go, he said, because he didn’t have anything noteworthy on his record.
His account could not immediately be verified. Neumann-Ortiz said that account, of being stopped at random on the street, was “definitely not the trend we’ve been seeing.”
Meanwhile, Voces reported the arrest in Waukesha occurred about 9:30 a.m. June 28. It learned that eight ICE agents wearing masks surrounded a vehicle and broke the windows on the driver and passenger sides, pulling the driver from the seat.
Stephanie Perez contributed to this report.
Sophie Carson is a general assignment reporter who reports on religion and faith, immigrants and refugees and more. Contact her at scarson@gannett.com or 920-323-5758.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: ICE arrests at least 18 people, mostly in Milwaukee traffic stops, advocates say
Reporting by Sophie Carson, David Clarey, Mary Spicuzza and Zachary Suri, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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By Sophie Carson, David Clarey, Mary Spicuzza and Zachary Suri, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
