*Names have been changed.

It was a Sunday afternoon—just a day after Rosa* celebrated her third birthday. Balloons and party streamers still decorated the Mendez* family’s home in Pittsfield Township, right outside of Ann Arbor. Rosa was getting a bath from her mother; her younger brother was taking a nap; and her father was in the living room. But what seemed to be an ordinary afternoon for the Mendez family turned into an unforgettable tragedy. At 3 pm, officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) forced their entrance into the Mendez’s home without identifying themselves and without presenting a search warrant.

“They came in and started yelling for us to hand over our green cards,” said Rosa’s mother, Alice*. While one official interrogated Alice’s husband, Nicolas*, another one found Alice and Rosa in the bathroom. “He punched a hole in the door, and came in,” Alice said, “Rosa had just gotten out of the bath; she was still in a towel.”

When it became evident to the ICE officials that Nicolas did not have a green card, he attempted to run. “That’s when they became violent,” Alice said, “One officer put his arm around Nicolas’s neck, and dragged him into the laundry room. Nicolas had a bruise on his face, and his knee was hurt. I asked them, ‘Why are you treating my husband like that?’ He’s not some kind of animal.” Alice was restrained from entering the laundry room where Nicolas was taken. That was the last time Alice and her two children saw Nicolas. Fearing for her family’s safety, Alice grabbed her kids and ran away from her own home.

Nicolas is currently detained in Wayne County Prison. Because ICE seized all of Alice and her children’s documentation during the raid, they are unable to visit Nicolas at the prison. Nicolas has lived in the United States for five years as an undocumented immigrant. He will be deported to Honduras, though ICE has not given a time frame for his deportation. On the same day Nicolas was taken, ICE also arrested Alice’s sister, sister-in-law, and her father-in-law.
To the local immigrant community, Alice and Nicolas’s story is becoming all too familiar. Beginning in March, ICE has conducted a number of home and work raids in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti.

After 9/11, the federal government has increased their efforts to locate and detain undocumented immigrants. ICE was created in 2003 as an investigative branch of the Department of Homeland Security. In their 2007 annual report, ICE boasts having removed 276, 912 “illegal aliens” from the US. Yet hidden beneath this number is how many broken families ICE have created; how many children of undocumented immigrants are ending up in foster care; and how many human rights violations have been committed.

“We don’t know why ICE have targeted the [Washtenaw] area.” said Laura Sanders. Sanders is one of the organizers of the recently formed Washtenaw County Interfaith Coalition for Immigrant Rights. On March 17, within twelve hours of receiving notification about the local raids, about 50 community members and concerned people gathered at the First Congregation Church of Christ in Ypsilanti officially forming the coalition. Since then, the coalition has expanded and consists of community members, a number of University of Michigan faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, and the family and friends of those who have been affected by the raids.

The Coalition is monitoring ICE activities in the Washtenaw area. They have documented a total of 13 cases of raids and traffic stops, which have resulted in numerous detainments. Many of the detainees have not been provided with legal consultation. In one case, a detainee unknowingly signed a voluntary departure order.

The Coalition does not know what type of collaboration and cooperation exists between ICE and local law enforcement. “It’s something that we are investigating,” said Sanders. However, on March 28 Washtenaw County Sheriffs searched the home of a Ypsilanti resident and US citizen for undocumented immigrants. Witnesses have also reported seeing the Ann Arbor police make random traffic stops, and hold people until officials from ICE arrived on scene.

On March 5—just days before the local raids began—the United Nations released a report denouncing the US’s post 9/11 treatment and policies toward its immigrants. The report was produced after an investigative visit to the US last April by UN Special Rapporteur Jorge Bustamante. Bustamante documented evidence of human rights violations against migrants, which included indefinite detention, arbitrary detention, deportation without due process, family separation, racial profiling, and significant limitations on judicial oversight. The report charges that the US has failed to adhere to its international obligation to make the human rights of the migrants living in the country a national priority.

What is happening to the Mendez family and the local immigrant community is symptom of national anti-immigration sentiments, intensified by a post-9/11 backlash. The UN report found that xenophobia and racism toward migrants has worsened since 9/11: “There is no national legislative and policy framework implementing protection of the human rights of migrants against which federal and local programs and strategies can be evaluated to assess to what extent authorities are respecting human rights of migrants.”

While ICE’s stated purpose is to “eliminate the potential threat of terrorist act against the United States”, one should wonder: Does our use of resource and capital to detain immigrants like Nicolas make our nation any safer? Does falling victim to terrorism justify a nation to terrorize?

“Every day Rosa is asking me ‘Where’s dad?’” Alice said. “I tell her he is working. Some days she would ask, ‘They killed dad, didn’t they?’ I don’t know why [ICE] does all this in front of the kids.”

Alice’s future is uncertain. She wants to be granted voluntary departure, and return to Honduras with her children and reunite with her husband; but without her identification papers, she is unable to leave. Since the raid, she has felt uneasy. “I am scared whenever I see a police officer. I feel panicked when I go to work, when I come back from work, [and] when I’m at home.”

Despite this, Alice still remembers why she and Nicolas came to the US. “I came because my husband is here. He came for better jobs and opportunities—the American Dream.” About four years ago, Alice put her life at risk crossing the Mexico border in order to reach what she thought would be the land of opportunities. But for the Mendez family and many undocumented immigrants in the US, the American Dream has yet to become a reality.

What You Can Do: Join or donate to the Washtenaw County Interfaith Coalition for Immigration Rights: The Coalition is looking for more supporters. They will meet on April 9th, 7 pm at the First Congregation Church of Christ in Ypsilanti. The coalition is accepting donations toward bail bonds, immediate relief assistance, and political actions. For more information, contact Laura Sanders (createcoun@comcast.net) or Margaret Harner (nsharner@comcast.net). Get involved on campus: Get active in the student organization Migrant and Immigration Rights Awareness (MIRA). MIRA aims to create a campus community that is knowledgeable and active on immigration issues in the United States, particularly focusing on immigration between the US and Mexico border. For more information, contact MIRA at contactmira@umich.edu. March and rally to stop the raids and deportations: On May 1st, join immigrants and immigrant’s rights supporters as they march from Patton Park to Clark Park in Southwest Detroit. Volunteers and donations are needed. For more information, contact Latinos Unidos de Michigan (313-877-1849).