A young man in his 20s sits in a black double cab truck with his grandparents on a Friday afternoon waiting for his dad to come out of his check-in at the Dallas Immigration and Customs Enforcement Field Office.
His dad, who is a Colombian national, had arrived at his appointment at noon; a few hours later, he hasn鈥檛 come back out. The family eventually drives off, unsure of what鈥檚 happened to him.
Another man, a Cuban national, didn鈥檛 come out of his check-in at the Dallas ICE Field office, despite having his papers in order. His friend Dennis, who only shared his first name with 四虎影院, was there for support; they work together at an airport. Dennis said his friend has been in the country about two and a half years.
鈥淗e鈥檚 a hard worker, honest, humble,鈥� Dennis told 四虎影院 in Spanish. 鈥淗e has all his paperwork in, asylum, residency, everything in process. He even brought his documents with him, and the person that saw him didn鈥檛 care.鈥�
Dennis said immigration officials are 鈥渃rossing the line鈥� of what鈥檚 required.
鈥淲e hope to hear better news soon,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 sad.鈥�
They鈥檙e just two examples of the detainments happening at the field office on what鈥檚 become a daily basis, immigration experts say.
Immigration attorney Isabela Garcia, who is a consulting attorney for the Mexican Consulate office in Dallas, told 四虎影院 migrants are following the legal processes and checking in as required. In the past, they still had an opportunity to go through the process before possibly being deported, she said.
鈥淣ow the president is saying if you don't have your status like now with you, showing us why you can be here, you're going to get deported,鈥� she said.
Because of the recent uptick in detainments, community organizers representing various immigrant advocacy groups have been showing up every weekday to provide migrants with support.
Maria, a volunteer who only shared her first name, said she and others are there to let people know about their rights. They鈥檙e also encouraging people to not park in the ICE field office parking lot, to avoid getting their vehicles towed if they are detained.
鈥淯nfortunately, for the past three weeks, we have been getting notifications that folks aren't coming back out,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey're aggressively deporting people and they're being ruthless. They're asking them to call their family members and asking their family members to come in so they end up, you know, really taking whole families.鈥�
Maria and other community organizers said there is no such thing as a routine check-in anymore. She has seen people going in and not coming out--and then she has to console family members and friends that have accompanied them to their check-in.
One woman, who didn鈥檛 want to share her name, approached the group of volunteers in tears and told them her husband had been detained.
鈥淭his is his third check-in, and this is the first time this has happened,鈥� she told 四虎影院. She said he had a political asylum case and a pending court date and didn鈥檛 expect to be detained. She said she would be contacting their attorney.
In the three hours that 四虎影院 was outside the Dallas Field Office, at least five detainments took place, as distraught family members stopped by the volunteer table to ask for help 鈥� to ask how they would be able to locate their friend or family member.
Asked about the increase in detainments, a spokesperson for ICE said they did not have anything to report about a policy change.
Maria, who has accompanied people inside the ICE field office for their check-ins, said she can feel the tension as they wait in line for their appointment.
鈥淭hat's always really heartbreaking, because they don't know what's going to happen,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey don't know if that's the last time they're going to be free on the outside.鈥�
Priscilla Rice is 四虎影院鈥檚 communities reporter. Got a tip? Email her at price@kera.org.
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