Federal immigration raids prompt emergency NKY Hispanic meeting

COVINGTON – Social justice and Hispanic groups met Monday morning to organize emergency relief and legal assistance for families reeling from recent federal immigration raids in Northern Kentucky.

A two-day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid last week resulted in the arrests of 22 suspected of living illegally in the United States, the federal agency confirmed. During his campaign and since taking office in January, President Donald Trump has talked tough about illegal immigration, including his desire to build a wall across the U.S. southern border with Mexico.

Earlier coverage: ICE agents round up 22 in Boone County

"We just want to help humanity, and they're in a bad way," said Amanda Donelan, a vice president of Supporting Latino Families in Northern Kentucky

Officials with Immigration Enforcement in Chicago have provided additional details about the arrests last week. Nine people were detained in Covington, six in Florence and four in Newport. Two people were apprehended in Walton and another in Erlanger. All but two were men.

Sixteen are from Guatemala, five from Mexico and one from Zimbabwe, according to ICE.

"Most had prior criminal histories that included convictions for assaulting a police officer, child neglect, forgery, fraud and driving under the influence," ICE wrote in a news release from its Chicago office. The Enquirer had contacted officials there seeking information about the arrests.

Six of the 22 were arrested for illegally re-entering the United States after having been deported, a felony punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison.

"This operation focused on targeting fugitives and criminal aliens in three Kentucky counties, but we routinely conduct daily operations," said Richard Wong, field operations director of Enforcement and Removal Operations in Chicago. "Our ICE officers help improve public safety in these communities."

Advocates in immigrant communities disagree, saying ICE is targeting non-criminal immigrants who entered the country illegally and who are otherwise breaking no laws. Advocates say ICE had detained another 54 people – almost all of them Latinos – throughout Northern Kentucky beginning Nov. 22 through Dec. 5.

Families affected by last week's arrests will be contacted individually by service providers, Donelan said.

Representatives of Cristo Rey Parish in Florence and other social safety net groups are already working to step in and provide help for families.

Linda Vila Passione, another vice president with Supporting Latino Families in Northern Kentucky, led Monday's meeting. About 20 people from social justice organizations, Hispanic community groups and schools gathered inside the Center for Great Neighborhoods in Covington. Kenton County Schools and Covington Independent Schools had representatives there.

Family resource coordinators at schools have already sent home extra food for families they know were impacted by ICE raids, Passione said.

With prime wage earners in the affected families gone, she said, "basically we have only women and children left at home without food, without resources available."

Trump's tough talk has negatively affected Latino immigrant communities, elevating fear and driving more families underground; they are not sending children to school or seeking medical care.

Despite the heightened anti-immigrant rhetoric, the latest available data from the U.S. Justice Department show that during the federal fiscal year ending Sept. 30, the government reported 59,910 new immigration prosecutions. According to the case-by-case information analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University, this number is down 14 percent compared to the previous fiscal year when the number of criminal prosecutions totaled 69,636.