In reversal, ICE confirms fielding call on SB 4 protesters,
In a reversal, a federal official confirmed Wednesday that immigration authorities fielded a hotline call Monday related to Capitol protesters of the pending state law intended to stop communities from shielding unauthorized immigrants.
Nina Pruneda of the San Antonio office for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said: “After a more careful review of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement records, we have determined there was a call placed on May 29 at 12:05 p.m. to the national ICE Tip Line, related to the incident in Texas. This call was logged and a formal report was forwarded to the ICE Homeland Security Investigations office in San Antonio.”
A day earlier, Pruneda had said that the agency “is not aware of receiving any calls related to this matter.”
That left in question whether Rep. Matt Rinaldi, R-Irving, had called federal immigration authorities, as he told his Democratic colleagues, when the protest disrupted House proceedings Monday. Rinaldi’s apparent phone call stoked tensions on the House floor and led to a confrontation with Latino lawmakers that drew national attention.
That afternoon, Rinaldi said in a Facebook post that he acted after seeing individuals in the House gallery holding signs identifying themselves as illegal immigrants.
Rinaldi didn’t respond to subsequent interview requests. But Rep. Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford, told the American-Statesman on Wednesday that a tweet he posted Tuesday night featured Rinaldi’s photo of his cellphone log listing two Monday calls to an ICE tip line. “I asked, ‘You really did call, didn’t you?’ He said yes,” Stickland said, adding that Rinaldi sent him the photo showing the calls to the toll-free line.
The Stickland-posted photo indicates a one-minute call at 10:55 a.m. Monday and a four-minute call at 10:56 a.m. Stickland, asked about the time discrepancy with the ICE statement, speculated that the agency logged the call later, perhaps in the Eastern time zone. Pruneda didn’t offer clarification about the possible discrepancies.
ABC News this week noted that while ICE can receive calls to its tip line, it’s not typical for ICE to chase after every call. Rather, that information will go toward informing the overall intelligence for immigration enforcement, the network reported.
Even if ICE did receive a call, ABC News said, the Capitol protest would have likely been off-limits — covered by a “sensitive location” policy preventing ICE from making arrests or questioning individuals at a march, rally or parade, the network said.