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Despite reassurances from Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner that undocumented Texans seeking shelter and assistance during Hurricane Harvey will not be asked about their legal status, Univision reports some undocumented immigrant families in northeastern Houston remain too afraid of federal immigrant agents to venture outside for help. Among them are a mom and child who fled gang violence, and a pregnant woman trapped by her lack of documentation:
In Lisette's house, on the ground floor, water flooded up to two feet high. The family remains without electricity and are cooking chicken wings on a portable grill inside the small room that acts at once as a lounge, kitchen and dining area. Much of the smoke hovers in the damp house.
Lisette is seven months pregnant. Although she thought about looking for a shelter, she ruled it out because of her lack of papers.
"On Facebook, they say that happened. Somebody was looking for shelter and ICE took advantage to make raids and deport people," explains the Honduran.
In response to public outcry earlier this week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released a statement saying they would not conduct immigration checks at evacuation centers and other Harvey-related rescue efforts, but refused to shut down immigration checkpoints. And this, combined with Donald Trump’s immoral mass deportation force, is what has many in the community scared.
The New York Times:
For many undocumented immigrants, the sight of Border Patrol boats on their flooded streets was enough to frighten them. “Just physically and visually seeing the Border Patrol out there caused panic,” said Cesar Espinosa, executive director of FIEL Houston, an immigrant rights organization. “They thought they were coming to get them.”
Among immigrant communities, there’s little trust of federal immigration officials following Trump ramping up his white supremacist-led anti-immigrant agenda. ICE has already shown itself to be untrustworthy, with agents sweeping up numerous immigrant youth with valid Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status, despite the fact that the program is supposed to protect them from arrest and deportation.
Vicky, who fled gang violence with her son and is awaiting her appointment date in immigration court, wears an ankle bracelet used by federal immigration officials to track immigrants as they go through the immigration system. But it has since died because Vicky has no electricity, and she fears that if ICE is unable to track where she is, it’ll eventually be used against her:
Early Monday, around 5 a.m., Vicky walked outside to see why there was so much noise outside. Amid the insistent rain and wind, it seemed that a tornado was approaching in the distance. The water almost reached her knees – and then an alarm sounded: "Recharge the battery, please recharge the battery."
She says a neighbor noticed the electronic device around her ankle and asked: "what the heck did you do that you have to wear a shackle?" Her response: "I'm an immigrant."
She crossed the border three months ago with her two-year-old son and is awaiting an appointment with an immigration judge. She fled from gangs and is seeking asylum.
The alarm that sounded was the electronic shackle that she wears on her left ankle so that immigration authorities know her location. Harvey left her home without electricity for days, meaning she could not charge the battery. Hours later, flood-water damaged the shackle and now even the message has stopped sounding.
She fears that, in the absence of a signal from the shackle, agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will come to her house and arrest her. "Maybe they will punish me," Vicky says.
The New York Times continues:
“All we want to do is work hard and raise a family,” said Jorge, a 43-year-old employee of a Houston catering company. Declining to give his last name, he explained that he had to seek shelter with his wife and three daughters after their home was flooded. When he was asked about his immigration status, he simply looked at the floor and said that he and his wife moved to Houston years ago from Guanajuato in central Mexico.
“This is where we are right now, at the mercy of the elements,” he said. “We were already so scared. It would be a disgrace if they come after us now.”
According to the Washington Post, Houston “has the third-largest unauthorized immigrant population in the country, about 575,000 people.” Immigrant communities in the state have already been under siege, living in fear due to the approaching “show me your papers” law, which essentially turns local law enforcement officers into federal immigration agents by allowing them to ask the immigration status of anyone they detain for any reason. Trump has also threatened to tear DACA from an estimated 120,000 immigrant youth in the state.
“There is absolutely no reason why anyone should not call emergency city services,” Mayor Turner said in response to reports of fear within undocumented immigrant communities. “And I and others will be the first ones to stand up with you. If someone comes and they require help and then for some reason [someone] tries to deport them, I will represent them myself.”
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