The mayor of San Jose, California confirmed Monday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations were underway in the city just days after President Donald Trump took office.
Reportedly, the San Jose Police Department was given notice that ICE would be carrying out the operation. The agents were then spotted two days in a row in Santa Clara County.
There have been reported arrests, including a woman who is a Colombian national, KTVU Fox 2 San Francisco reported.
On Monday, Mayor Matt Mahan stated that the department did not help federal immigration authorities “in any way.”
"I sincerely hope that ICE remains focused on enforcement actions related to violent and serious criminals harming our city, not neighbors who are contributing and law-abiding members of our community," Mahan said in a statement.
The Rapid Response Network, a left-wing project that protects illegal aliens from deportation, responded to two locations in San Jose where ICE agents were conducting operations to enforce deportation orders aimed at specific people. The network has a 24/7 phone line where anyone can call in reports of ICE activity.
Of course, a local left-wing politician spoke out on this.
"They're hunting down immigrants in our community as if they were animals and it's absolutely disgusting," San Jose councilmember Peter Ortiz said in a statement.
Notice that Ortiz used the term “immigrant,” not “illegal alien.”
"Here on the east side of San Jose, our economy relies on immigrants," Ortiz said, adding that "whether it's undocumented, naturalized, Vietnamese, Latino. Fifty percent of the businesses that are open in this community, really in the city of San Jose, are immigrant-run."
ICE officials issued a statement on the matter to The Mercury News.
“ICE does not conduct raids or sweeps, nor does the agency operate roadblocks or checkpoints. ICE’s enforcement resources are based on intelligence-driven leads and ICE officers do not target noncitizens indiscriminately,” the statement said, adding that ICE is the “principal federal law enforcement authority in charge of domestic immigration enforcement” and aims to “protect the homeland through the arrest and removal of those who undermine the safety of U.S. communities and the integrity of U.S. immigration laws.”
According to the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), in February 2019, San Jose resident Bambi Larson was murdered by a Salvadoran illegal alien and gang member. Reportedly, the accused had been freed multiple times as a result of Santa Clara County’s lax illegal alien policies. San Jose’s chief of police worked to have this changed, but the Santa Clara Board of Supervisors voted to retain its sanctuary status.
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