Immigration officers target parents while dropping off their kids at Detroit school

Michigan Messenger reported today that earlier in the week Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials targeted the parents of school age children in Detroit.

The article states that even an ICE official admitted that some of the immigration officers may have acted inappropriately where “elements of the operation appear to have been inconsistent with policy and our standards and priorities.”

The immigration rights group America’s Voice issued a statement after this incident that reads in part: Last week, ICE agents targeted parents who were dropping off their children a local elementary school: Hope of Detroit Academy in southwest Detroit.

Detroit ICE agents are known as some of the most aggressive immigration agents in the country. They have engaged in abusive — and often illegal — enforcement tactics before, and once again they’ve gone too far.

Reform Immigration for Michigan also released a statement about the Detroit ICE raids by saying, “These are not the actions of responsible law enforcement officers. They are calculated attempts to throw the immigrant community into a panic, frightening young children and treating immigrant workers like dangerous and violent criminals.

Our Schools should be safe places where students go to learn, not places where rogue ICE agents go to stalk their parents.”

Both America’s Voice and Reform Immigration for Michigan are encouraging people to send messages to ICE officials letting them know that these kinds of actions are unacceptable.

These action are part of a growing trend that should concern anyone who cares about immigration rights. It was reported widely last year that deportations have increased under the Obama administration and despite his electoral campaign promises to reform immigration policy this issue is not even on the table and will not likely be dealt with before the 2012 election.