Immigration arrests continue after midterm elections

U.S. immigration arrests continued after the Republican wipeout in the midterm elections, according to reporting by the Associated Press.

Arrests continue across the country

Advocates reported arrests from California to Michigan to Massachusetts. María Bilbao, a campaign coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee in Miami, said she has received at least one call a day from someone detained in South Florida since the election.

“Everything remains exactly the same. The arrests have not ceased at all,” Bilbao said.

Florida Highway Patrol officers and ICE agents have detained people in their cars, as well as places including supermarkets, pharmacies and gas stations. Immigrants under supervision have also been arrested when they showed up at ICE’s Miami office for their appointments.

Los Angeles hospital incident

Masked immigration officers in body armor blocked a hospital emergency room driveway in a heavily Latino neighborhood in Los Angeles early Saturday. Erick Gasca, 31, said an “unprecedented” number of vehicles with tinted windows and no license plates were parked near the hospital’s emergency room entrance.

The Department of Homeland Security declined to explain the officers’ presence there, though Bill Essayli, the top Justice Department prosecutor in Los Angeles, said they were bringing a detainee for medical treatment. Essayli said two people were arrested for assaulting federal agents.

“ICE does not target hospitals, schools, or churches,” DHS said in a statement.

The hospital said it wasn’t involved.

“White Memorial does not participate in immigration enforcement,” hospital president Daniel Fontoura said in a statement, adding it would not let such activities “compromise our commitment to patient care and safety.”

Couple arrested at Phoenix airport

A married couple from Orlando, Florida, was arrested Saturday at the airport in Phoenix while traveling to a funeral. Gustavo Romanello and Agustin Baccega, both from Argentina, have work permits while they seek asylum after entering the United States about six years ago, according to Jonathan Batchelor, a family friend.

Batchelor was on the phone with them at the time. A mutual friend died Friday and the couple was visiting for the funeral Saturday. As the couple left the airport, two casually dressed officers asked if one was Agustin Baccega. Batchelor heard the officer say, “Asylum seekers are not in the United States legally.”

Batchelor said he could hear Romanello walking alongside his husband during the arrest and asking the officers how to collect his things. Batchelor said they then asked what his name was, “and then the guard said, ‘Oh, do you have another set of handcuffs? This is another one.’”

The voices grew distant, and the call then ended.

Both men remain in detention centres. They worked as acrobats in Florida and had no criminal record, Batchelor said.

“This is just taking good people who have been following the rules out of their lives and out of the lives of those who rely upon them and care about them,” Batchelor said.

DHS did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the arrests.

Twin brothers arrested in Alabama

Luis and Carlos Orta-Santoro, 19-year-olds born in Venezuela and living in the U.S. for four years, were stopped in a small city in central Alabama while driving back to college. They are soccer players at Wallace State Community College in Hanceville, Alabama.

Relatives say they have pending asylum applications, valid work permits, and no criminal records. Both are now in an immigration detention facility.

“Our family is devastated,” said their aunt, Carolina Orta.

DHS said that while they had entered the country legally, they had “overstayed in defiance of our laws,” and their case would be heard by an immigration judge. It said pending asylum applications do not confer legal status in the U.S.

The school said in a statement, “Both young men are valued members of the Wallace State community, and our thoughts are with them during this difficult time. We sincerely hope for a positive resolution to their situation.”

Haitian boy taken into custody in San Diego

An 8-year-old Haitian boy had been living with his uncle in San Diego since his father was deported last year. The uncle, who is not a legal guardian, took him to an ICE office when the boy was summoned Nov. 4 and taken into custody.

That left the boy “without the support of their family, community and their school,” according to a letter to top administration officials from San Diego Unified School District Superintendent Fabi Bagula and school board members.

“Children should not lose access to education simply because of circumstances unfolding around them,” they wrote.

Johny Oxeda, pastor of the Fairmount Haitian Community Church, which helped get legal representation for the boy, said he’ll ultimately benefit by going through legal channels.

Activists, though, were furious.

“This is not child protection,” said Guerline Jozef of Haitian Bridge Alliance, adding, “this is state-inflicted trauma.”

Trump comments

After Democrats trounced the GOP and won control of the next Congress, Trump said his immigration crackdown may have been “too tough” and suggested it was time to sit down with the rival party.

“I’d love to do something on immigration,” he said in an interview with CBS “60 Minutes” recorded Friday.

Hours later, he named Stephen Miller, the architect of his hardline immigration agenda, as his new chief of staff. Markwayne Mullin said his orders had not changed.

“Deportations will continue,” Mullin wrote in an online post the day after the election, warning that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement takes no days off and that “this includes on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Election Day.”

Why it matters

The arrests show that immigration enforcement operations continued unchanged after the midterm elections, despite the president’s comments suggesting a possible shift in approach.

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Sources

• ctvnews.ca: U.S. immigration arrests go unabated despite midterm results
• northwestgeorgianews.com: Immigration arrests go on unabated despite Trump's misgivings after the GOP's midterm wipeout | State | northwestgeorgianews.com

This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.