This is horrific. They are still arresting undocumented workers and putting them in close quarters in holding cells with other people where they can spread and contract this virus. I am appalled:
In the darkness of the early hours Monday, about a dozen immigration agents gathered outside a Starbucks in Bell Gardens. For the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, who make daily arrests, it was supposed to be business as usual.
But that morning, they greeted one another with elbows instead of handshakes; the Starbucks where they rendezvoused was only grab and go; and they passed freeway signs that read: “Wash your hands stay healthy avoid COVID-19.”
The ICE agents were about to spend the day trying to arrest targets on a most unusual of days: the day after the California governor and L.A. mayor ordered people to ramp up their efforts of social distancing over the coronavirus. The agents had N95 respirator masks in their vehicles, just in case.
With safety measures taken across the state, immigrant advocates have criticized ICE for its continued enforcement operations. More than 45 organizations signed a letter this week calling on the Department of Homeland Security to suspend such actions.
ICE said it would take precautions, given the new reality. But the arrests would go on.
This should not be a priority. These are human beings who are as susceptible to this virus as anyone else. Like this guy:
Around 5 a.m., the officers waited outside of Pedro Castillo Bravo’s home. He was convicted in 2015 for DUI causing bodily injury and hit and run.
The officers knew the 56-year-old would soon be heading out to work collecting metal. In less than an hour, they spotted movement in the driveway.
“I can’t tell if it’s the target or not, but they got into the target vehicle,” an officer’s voice crackled over the radio. After Castillo prepared to leave, an officer knocked on his car door.
He asked if Castillo was sick or taking medication, to which he said no. He asked him if he’d been arrested before and Castillo admitted he had. The officer, who wore a pair of black gloves, handcuffed Castillo and placed him in the back of a white Dodge Challenger.
Since the 2015 conviction, Castillo said, he had not driven again drunk. That morning, after work, he planned to visit the grocery store — worried about the lack of food at home and the stores emptying amid panic buying.
“I’m the head of the house,” Castillo said, growing teary eyed. “If they have me here locked up, what about rent and food?”
He is deportable because of this crime he committed five years ago. There is no reason to do this in the middle of a crisis. It’s not as if he’s out there committing crimes as we speak. It’s cruel. But as they say, that is the point.
The next president has to do something about this rogue agency. Disband, reform, whatever. But this has to stop.