Houston's Undocumented Immigrants Hide Ahead Of Planned ICE Raid

HOUSTON, TX — Houston’s immigrant community spent the better part of last weekend in hiding in preparation for coordinated raids by agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
As many as 2,000 undocumented immigrants, who ICE officials said had been identified for deportation after a judges ruling, stocked up on food supplies and went into hiding, according to reports.

On Saturday, several churches in the Houston area opened their doors and urged undocumented immigrants fearful of deportation to seek the sanctuary of those churches.

Houston was one of 10 cities identified by ICE officials where coordinated raids were to take place on Sunday. Ahead of the planned operation in Houston, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo and Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez voiced opposition to the planned raid.

READ ALSO: HPD Chief Acevedo, Sheriff Gonzalez Oppose Planned ICE Raids

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, who has trumpeted Houston diversity since he became mayor, shared the sentiments of Acevedo and Gonzalez, and criticized the ICE operations in Houston.

"In our city where one in four residents is foreign born, I want immigrants to feel safe when accessing city services, especially when they need to call the police to report crimes or visit the Health Department," Turner said. "I have reminded city departments that we will continue offering services to all our residents regardless of who they are, where they are from, or their documentation status. Our job is to keep the city running and maintain public safety in our neighborhoods. Our job is not to be ICE – we do not deport people or break up families. In fact ICE has not contacted me about the raids in Houston. We are not working or cooperating with ICE on such raids."

U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) issued the call to the immigrant community who are fearful of the planned raids to come to area churches and was joined by faith leaders from Living Waters Church.

"We’ve never gotten this announcement by the federal government in my time in the United States Congress. And I had to come up with some way there would be a place that some family, even if it is just one, would find a place to come," Lee told KPRC.

Today, my district office at The Heights has been repurposed as a one-stop shop for those feeling threatened by the president’s mass deportation orders. pic.twitter.com/6fGW9P3KZ4
— Sheila Jackson Lee (@JacksonLeeTX18) July 14, 2019

On Sunday, communities with a larger population of undocumented immigrants, were desolate and many doors stayed closed throughout the day.

FIEL, an organization that has long supported DACA, and the cause of undocumented immigrants, went into the neighborhoods on Sunday to pass out literature and fliers that urged people to not answer their doors after hearing rumors that ICE agents were at a nearby apartment complex on Saturday, KTRK reported.

ICE issued a statement Sunday saying the agency would not reveal any details related to the planned operation in Houston or the other U.S. cities.

"As always, ICE prioritizes the arrest and removal of unlawfully present aliens who pose a threat to national security, public safety, and border security," according to the statement. "In fact, 90 percent of aliens arrested by ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations component in FY2018 had either a criminal conviction(s), pending criminal charge(s), were an ICE fugitive, or illegally reentered the country after previously being removed. However, all of those in violation of the immigration laws may be subject to immigration arrest, detention and - if found removable by final order - removal from the United States."

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