Madison, WI: Tuesday morning at 8:00am, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials used a warrant for one local resident to detain that individual and two other workers who had no criminal record. Without prior communication with local officials, ICE entered a local apartment on Madison area’s south side and arrested three individuals, two of whom were detained without charges, one of whom is a minor. No reports were received until more than six hours after the arrests: during those six hours rumors and confusion spread around the community as to what had occurred, due to lack of local agency information about the events.
Felipe Fernández, Immigrant Workers Union (UTI) member, wants an explanation and official apology from ICE, “I would like to know how this situation is going to be resolved, and I want to know it’s not going to happen again.” UTI members maintain that there was no reason for two of the three local residents to be detained and demand an admission of error from ICE. The organization is asking for a solution to this conflict, as well as an assurance that Madison area residents can trust that no immigration raids will take place in their community. “This is just not the way we do things,” says an anonymous Madison Police officer, when asked about his MPD role in the situation, referring to city and county initiatives to support new immigrant workers and not discriminate by legal status.
ICE detentions coincide with community planning for the May 1 celebration. Last Thursday, Ashok Kumar introduced a resolution to have May 1 officially recognized – in union with the international community – as the International Day of Workers: to “encourage employers in Dane County to respect the rights of workers to take part in the May 1 st activities without a punitive recourse.” The resolution passed unanimously. The non-collaborative attitude of ICE counteracted the supporting role of the Dane County Board resolution.
The Tuesday morning detentions have already impacted the City. An anonymous source close to the local administration express alarm at the way ICE handled the situation, “Lack of communication between agencies can lead to disastrous situations. If one of our agents sees an armed person entering a house, he trained to act. Period.”
UTI is calling on the entire community to reject these fear tactics employed by ICE. UTI member hector Ordoñez assures, “May Day we will make clear to the national government and to ICE that Madison is not a city that will permit these tactics of fear and terror.” The rally will start at 12PM at The Capital.
For more information, call Alex, 345-9544 or Jennifer, 616.617.2001.
The Immigrant Workers Union is a grassroots organization focused on immigrant and worker rights advocacy in the Dane County area.
