The advocacy group Forward Latino has issued a community alert notifying people of “elevated activity by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Southeast Wisconsin.”
The June 27 alert comes as Voces de la Frontera, an immigrant rights group based in Milwaukee, reported recent ICE activities locally.
The Milwaukee Police Department also confirmed police were made aware that ICE was conducting “targeted enforcement for criminal activity in the area,” a spokesman said in a June 25 email.
Sources have told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that police are not involved in ICE’s activity here.
Darryl Morin, national president of Forward Latino, said the alert would last a week.
He added that the group was urging people to “remain calm and not panic, but for those at risk to prepare.” The Forward Latino alert urged people to know their rights, such as the right to remain silent, the right to refuse entry to agents “unless ICE has a valid judicial warrant signed by a judge” and the right to an attorney.
“While we have no issue with legitimate immigration enforcement activities, what we have witnessed over the last year has caused us to issue these warnings for the benefit and safety of immigrants and citizens with prominent Hispanic features alike,” Morin said.
A spokesperson for ICE said it would need more information before the agency could answer questions.
According to an alert issued by Voces de la Frontera on June 26, at least four people were arrested and detained in Milwaukee. One was arrested at 23rd Street and Greenfield Avenue. One was arrested at 35th and Clybourn streets. Two were arrested at North Seventh Street and West McKinley Avenue. It is not clear who they are.
Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director at Voces de la Frontera, said in a video posted on the organization’s social media there has been ICE activity on the city’s north and south sides. She stressed in the video that ICE agents cannot enter people’s homes without a warrant signed by a judge. She also urged immigrants not to run or lie, and to speak with an attorney before they answer questions or sign any documents.
The Trump administration had arrested and detained over 1,600 immigrants in Wisconsin as of March 9, the latest data available from the Deportation Data Project. Among those arrested, about half have no criminal convictions.
The recent ICE activity in Milwaukee comes after a wave of arrests and detentions in recent months, including the detention of an 8-year-old boy and his mother in Wisconsin Dells, the detention and release of a Sheboygan Falls mother, and a Palestinian activist who is a green card holder.
Contact Mary Spicuzza at 414-224-2324 or mary.spicuzza@jrn.com. Follow her on X at @MSpicuzzaMJS.
Eva Wen is an investigative data reporter. Reach her at qwen@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Group reports ‘elevated activity’ by ICE in Milwaukee area
Reporting by Mary Spicuzza and Eva Wen, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Mary Spicuzza and Eva Wen, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
