Undocumented families in Ga. worry amid immigration raids
ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - As federal immigration raids begin around the country, including in Georgia, some undocumented families are worried about their future.
Stefan Javiarra Lebron sat in his car all night waiting for the Atlanta ICE Field Office to open. He said after seeing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrest more than 950 undocumented immigrants and lodge 554 detainees nationwide on Sunday, he wants to know if his undocumented, pregnant wife will be targeted.
“I’m not the type to speculate whether this is going to happen or not, so that’s why I’ve been here since midnight. I want to be the first person in line,” he said. Before sunrise, he was one of multiple people already starting to form a line in front of the office.
Immigration agents conducting ‘targeted operations’ in Georgia
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson said arrests in Georgia have been made as part of “enhanced targeted operations.”
Lebron, a Latino community activist in Gainesville, said his wife’s parents brought her to the U.S. when she was 3 years old.
“It was out of their control, you know?” he said. “You’re 2 years old, you come from another country, what can you do? You shouldn’t be held able for something you had no control over.”
Lebron said it’s been 30 years since she arrived. Now, the couple has two children together, with a third on the way.
An ICE spokesperson said the arrests were made as part of “enhanced targeted operations.” The agency told Atlanta News First’s partner station, Telemundo Atlanta, that arrests took place near Buford Highway, in Chamblee and in Brookhaven.
Seeing the images of arrests across the country and in Atlanta this weekend put Lebron on edge.
“I wouldn’t want her to be detained and be pregnant, as well,” he said.
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The arrests are part of an offensive launched by President Donald Trump’s istration to detain and deport undocumented immigrants. Similar operations have taken shape across the country, including in Denver, Los Angeles and Chicago.
Lebron said he wants to know if the Trump istration’s focus is on people who have come over in the last five years, or if people who have been here their whole lives are included.
Border czar Tom Homan told CBS News that the agency is focusing on public safety threats for now, which Lebron says he agrees with.
“I feel that if you want to come here and you want to live the American dream, you know, there’s nothing wrong with that,” he said. “I do protest against illegals that come here and bring drug trafficking and sex trafficking and killing people, and whatnot and stuff; it’s horrible. We already have enough of that going on in this country. We don’t need any more.”
But on Sunday, Homan added, “If you’re in the country illegally, you’re on the table.”
Lebron said he’s been frustrated to watch the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program flip back and forth under each presidential istration. It’s a program meant to protect people like his wife, who were brought to the United States as young children.
“I would expect and hope and pray that our president has a change of heart and kind of reiterates the immigration policy to where it’s more lenient and more understanding of people who want to come here and work,” said Lebron. “Just for everyone to pray and stick together and don’t give up.”
ICE said agents are working in conjunction with the FBI, the Drug Enforcement istration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
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