Surge in enforcement, anxiety
Many decry what they say are escalated efforts by feds to detain undocumented workers in Santa Fe
City leaders and advocates for immigrants on Monday criticized what they say are escalating efforts by the federal government to detain undocumented workers in Santa Fe. This past week, they said, at least five undocumented residents were detained. In separate instances, owners of at least six businesses received notice that their employment records will be audited by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Mayor Javier Gonzales, joined by Santa Fe Public Schools Superintendent Veronica García, City Councilor Peter Ives and leaders from several advocacy groups, detailed the incidents in a news conference at City Hall. They declined to name the businesses or residents.
Gonzales said the heightened activity has sent waves of anxiety surging through immigrant communities.
“Today, children will wake up at home wondering if there’ll be a knock on their door,” he said. “Parents will go to work wondering if there’ll be a knock on the door at their place of employment. Families will wonder if they’ll have one more meal in the evening when they come back. That is not what our country has ever, ever been about.”
In one case, an individual was detained while walking out of the Santa Fe Magistrate Court, and two other people were apprehended while meeting with their parole officers, said Marcela Diaz, executive director of the Santa Fe-based advocacy group Somos Un Pueblo Unido.
A Somos spokesman, Emmanuelle “Neza” Leal-Sanchez, said he had no further information about the parolee’s cases.
Two additional residents, he said, were detained at home.
A spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement declined to comment on the operation. But she said in an email statement that the agency is under orders to “step up work site enforcement,” including conducting more audits of Internal Revenue Service forms on immigration status of workers.
“ICE’s work site enforcement strategy continues to address both employers who knowingly hire unauthorized workers and the workers themselves,” said Leticia Zamarripa, who works in the agency’s El Paso office.
Tom Homan, the agency’s acting director, said in December that he hopes to see a 400 percent increase in enforcement at businesses.
At issue are I-9 forms that are used to confirm workers’ identities and authorization to work in the United States. During an audit, ICE agents check businesses’ compliance with the rules.
Advocates on Monday said the Santa Fe incidents follow heightened enforcement activity across the country during the past two weeks. They said audits of employment records occurred in Taos, Tucumcari, Albuquerque and Las Cruces.
Gonzales, who has been a passionate proponent of Santa Fe’s Sanctuary City status, urged business owners and residents to learn their rights in case ICE comes calling.
“Our city is here to do everything we possibly can to make sure that you’re safe, but what we cannot do … is fully protect you when there are these raids that take place,” he said.