KCK groups weigh in on local concerns about ICE policing and deportation
Although it’s unclear what U.S. Immigration’s and Customs Enforcement activity has looked like in Wyandotte County since the Trump administration ordered a national tightening on immigration with subsequent deportations, residents are clearly concerned.
Local law enforcement agencies said that they’re not currently advised of or working alongside the U.S. Department of Homeland Security — which oversees ICE — when it comes to mass-arrest related to people’s citizenship status, and they didn’t have information confirming whether a raid has happened locally.
Wyandotte County residents in recent weeks have widely shared unconfirmed, and at times disproved, social media posts reporting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and mass-arrests, but it has been difficult to assess locally what has been an “ICE raid,” as it’s traditionally known, and what’s been an arrest for a separate crime that ends up with someone being detained by a federal officer.
Edgar Galicia, the director of KCK’s Central Area Betterment Association, or CABA, told The Star this week that his organization has been notified of ICE activity in the area and that many community members have reached out to the organization for guidance.
“People are truly afraid!” Galicia said in an email. “Some are looking for ways to stay safe, some are looking for ways to go back to their countries of origin, all, everyone is worried about the lack of respect for human rights and the Constitution.”
Galicia said the group has seen a notable increase in people seeking advice and guidance related to new immigration policies but noted their event turnout has suffered in that same time. He said the group has heard local businesses are suffering as well.
The Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas, held a community listening session on Jan. 31 in response to Trump’s executive orders on immigration. During that meeting, leadership from Advocates for Immigrant Rights and Reconciliation (AIRR), called on the UG to adopt policies that protect its immigrant population, KHSB 41 reported. They also said the group was hearing a lot of misinformation and regularly fielded calls from people who were scared to leave their homes out of fear of being detained.
AIRR offers a regular Know Your Rights training that, among other key points, outlines:
- How to identify ICE officers and vehicles
- How to calmly address officers if they approach you
- What residents’ First, Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights are
- Not to answer the door without proof of a warrant
- The right to record police interactions and to remain silent
- The right to due process
- How to locate someone who has been detained
