ICE deports neighbors of intended target

Agents went to apartment complex looking for undocumented man

For the second time in two months, agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have picked up two undocumented immigrant construction workers who were on their way to work in the morning and are holding them for deportation, leaving their wives and American-born children in limbo and their communities shaken.

In May, Hugo Mejia of San Rafael and Rodrigo Nuñez from Hayward — both undocumented immigrants from Jalisco, Mexico who have been in the United States for more than a decade — were detained on the Travis Air Force base in Fairfield after a military official discovered they did not have valid social security numbers during a routine identification screening and reported them to ICE.

Then early Thursday, ICE agents arrived at the Rainbow Apartments on Harris Road in Hayward allegedly looking to detain an undocumented immigrant who lives at the complex. Instead, they arrested two neighbors, according to the men’s families.

Antonio Valenzuela, 34, and Jose Salgado, 42, both undocumented immigrants with American-born children, were leaving the area at about 6 a.m. for work when they were trailed by ICE agents and stopped separately a short distance from the complex, according to their wives. Like Mejia and Nuñez, both men have lived in the U.S. for more than a decade.

ICE spokesman James Schwab said investigators found both men had been previously charged with criminal offenses. This news organization was unable to confirm any previous criminal charges on Sunday.

Valenzuela had been repatriated to Mexico three times, including twice by federal agents, Schwab said.

Salgado’s case has been referred to immigration court under the Executive Office for Immigration Review, where a judge will determine whether he can le-

gally remain in the country, Schwab said.

The men’s arrests highlight the Trump administration’s increasingly stringent deportation policies, which have vastly expanded the number of people at risk of deportation across the United States. Critics say deporting men like Valenzuela and Salgado — who have stable jobs, American children and no known criminal records — might actually do more harm to this country in the long run.

“Under Obama, there were really targeted arrests,” said Lisa Knox, an immigration attorney with the Oakland-based Centro Legal de la Raza, who is assisting Valenzuela and Salgado with their cases. “ICE didn’t generally arrest anyone else that they found who they suspected of being undocumented. But ICE has said that they are now authorized to do that.”

Added Knox: “it’s sort of an escalation of ‘collateral damage,’ where they’re signalling anyone who is undocumented is potentially a target now.”

On the day he was detained, Valenzuela’s wife, Esther León, said ICE stopped him to ask if he was the person they were looking for, giving him the name of the man they sought.

When Valenzuela told them it wasn’t him, “they asked him to get out of the car and to provide identification,” she said.

At that point, Valenzuela provided a driver’s license and a Mexican ID, according to his wife. He was arrested shortly after.

“Once he showed them his ID they automatically knew about his legal status,” said León, 28. “They didn’t let him talk to anyone, they didn’t let him speak with an attorney.”

León and Rosalba Ayala, Salgado’s wife, who lives nearby, said ICE agents remained at the Rainbow apartment complex for several hours, knocking on every door and yelling for the man they were looking for to come out of his residence. They later vowed to return, according to the women.

Though many decry what they say is an illegal immigration crackdown under Trump that is sweeping up productive workers without criminal records, others say it’s overdue.

Lori Drake, past chair of the Alameda County GOP, said this stricter enforcement should have been happening all along.

“If we have laws that restrict the number of migrants that come in, then that should be done across the board,” she said. “It should be that our laws are meaningful from the beginning.”

Drake also said the spouses and children of people who are deported should simply go back to their home country with them in order to keep the family together.

“It’s always going to be difficult when you have to undo decades of neglectful policies,” she added. “But eventually you have to stop the tides.”

Both men were transferred to the Adelanto Detention Facility in Southern California, where they remain in custody, according to their wives. Meanwhile, León and other neighbors said the man for whom ICE was originally looking has not been detained.

The man’s wife told Univision News that she did not let ICE agents inside when they showed up at her door. It’s unclear if they had a warrant for his arrest. Padilla said they only had a photo of her husband.

Ayala said the confusion over the man the ICE agents were seeking was, “just an excuse to detain somebody.”

“They obviously knew who they were looking for,” she said. “I feel as if they’re stomping on our rights and trying to speed up the entire deportation process so that people don’t have time to look for legal help.”

Meanwhile León, a housekeeper, said she’s unsure of how she’ll support their two children, ages 7 and 1, without her husband’s income. Valenzuela works for a landscaping company.

“He is our financial support. Without him, I’m completely alone,” she said. “I want them to at least give him a chance to fight his case.”