Federal immigration agents arrested four undocumented immigrants this week in Ypsilanti, the latest action that has unnerved immigrant communities in metro Detroit.
The arrests, which took place in Ypsilanti on Wednesday, came a few days after immigration agents arrested three other undocumented immigrants in southwest Detroit, as the U.S. government ramps up its immigration enforcement.
In Ypsilanti, officers with the Enforcement and Removal operations of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted "targeted enforcement actions," ICE spokeswoman Rachael Yong Yow told the Free Press. "During the course of action, ERO (Enforcement and Removal ) officers encountered multiple persons who were illegally in the United States. Four individuals were taken into custody and are currently being detained."
And on Feb. 17 in Detroit, "three were arrested following targeted enforcement actions in which specific individuals were sought" in the area of Livernois and Toledo, said Khaalid Walls, head of communications in the Detroit office of ICE.
Immigrant advocates say there have also been local arrests of immigrants at traffic stops and in a restaurant. In Detroit, some are afraid to go to church or school, say local elected officials.
On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security released memos that specify how the U.S. will handle immigration enforcement under President Donald Trump's executive order on Jan. 25 on immigration. The memos call for speeding up deportations and making 11 million undocumented immigrants subject to be removed from the U.S. Under former President Barack Obama, enforcement was largely directed at undocumented immigrants who had committed major crimes.
"People are scared to death," said Ypsilanti Mayor Amanda Maria Edmonds. "There is a huge amount of anxiety."
On Wednesday, Edmonds said she got reports from residents about the ICE actions in her city on Forest Avenue. She wrote in a Facebook post that a resident told her that "three unmarked cars pulled over a white truck/van...seemed to ask for papers, and seemingly detained/took away two of the men, who all appeared to be Latino."
"I am sick about it," Edmonds said.
Edmonds said that local police were not involved in the ICE actions and weren't notified about it.
On Feb. 7, Ypsilanti approved a new city ordinance that prohibits profiling of people based on immigration status, similar to a law Detroit passed 10 years ago. It says that local police can't ask about immigration status, but can cooperate with federal agents when needed for criminal investigations. It goes into effect in a couple of weeks, Edmonds said.
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