Here & Now

Darryl Morin on a Surge of ICE and CPB Arrests in Wisconsin

Frederica Freyberg:
A surge of immigration and border control arrests in Wisconsin over the past few weeks is part of a nationwide push on the part of Homeland Security, resulting in the detention of more than 10,000 people, according to national reporting. In Milwaukee, Waukesha, the Madison area and elsewhere in the state, dozens of arrests have been confirmed by immigrant rights groups and attorneys. For reaction on this, we turn to Milwaukee and Darryl Morin, national president of Forward Latino. And thanks very much for being here.

Darryl Morin:
Thank you for asking me to join you this morning.

Frederica Freyberg:
So what is your reaction to this recent surge of detentions in Wisconsin and elsewhere?

Darryl Morin:
Well, I’ll tell you, tremendous frustration and to a certain degree, anger. You know, it would be different if they were going around and detaining people who were bad doers in the community. But we’re continuing to see that operations are continuously targeted at people, for the most part, who’ve been trying to do everything the right way. Who filled out all their asylum papers, have been showing up to all their court dates, etc. That came here with TPS only to see it removed from them. So it’s really been a very dark time for many in our community, and we appreciate the support and that we’re seeing come from all other communities throughout the state and the country, quite honestly.

Frederica Freyberg:
Do you have the numbers of arrests in Wisconsin in this most recent surge?

Darryl Morin:
Well, I know that we’ve been able to confirm 39. Immigration has put out the number of 57. We’re still working to confirm that. But 39 is what we’re comfortable reporting at this time.

Frederica Freyberg:
What stands out to you as to how these recent arrests are physically being carried out?

Darryl Morin:
Well, I’ll tell you, there’s plenty of video out there to support what I’m going to be sharing with you. We’ve seen families, particularly mothers, even with infants in the car, have their windows being broken, being violently pulled out and thrown to the ground. Having immigration agents literally unholster their weapon before they have a chance to do anything and threaten their lives. It’s been very, very scary for many folks, both immigrant and citizen alike, because we’re seeing this happen to people who are both lawfully and unlawfully present at this time. So a lot of concern, especially given what we saw in previously up in Minneapolis and now with the shooting that’s been ruled a homicide that just happened down in Houston. There’s a lot of fear and a lot of concern.

Frederica Freyberg:
Because in your mind, the kind of police tactics are not in keeping with general rules of such?

Darryl Morin:
Yeah. Generally, we’re used to seeing law enforcement officers using rules of de-escalation. And immigration officials are actually doing quite the opposite right now. And I think they’ve actually realized this because what we’re seeing is instead of wearing vests now that say, ICE or denote them as being immigrant officials, they’re now wearing vests that are now exclusively say police. So I think that’s a self admission that they no longer have the trust and credibility throughout our country and are being forced to try to steal or borrow or take the trust and credibility that people have with their local law enforcement departments.

Frederica Freyberg:
How will this continue to unfold, in your mind, given increased funding to ICE?

Darryl Morin:
Well, we know that we had put out an alert about two weeks ago because we had seen this coming. So we put out a community alert on it. In fact, it just expired today. But we’re expecting to see, while not at the same levels, we’re expecting to see the standard operating tempo of immigration actually step it up a little bit as we move forward. We’re now starting to see that they are graduating additional classes of agents through their training program. With the recent funding increase that they received yet again, they are now — ICE is now receiving more funding on an annual basis than the United States Marine Corps is. Just to tell you that outrageous amount of resources that are being thrown at this. So we’re telling everybody while we have lifted — we’ve let the community alert expire here in southeastern Wisconsin it’s still important for people who are lawfully present, who are U.S. citizens or who are at risk of separation, really, to have an emergency plan in place should you be pulled over or run off the road by unidentified vehicles and be violently thrown out of your vehicle and detained.

Frederica Freyberg:
Because I was just going to ask you what someone in your position says to people you advocate for in the midst of all of this?

Darryl Morin:
Well, we’re very fortunate that as a community, we’re strong of faith. We’ve had to overcome a lot throughout our history. Sadly, we thought chapters like this were relegated to the past. And we’re seeing them brought forward to the future. So we will continue to persevere. And as I mentioned, we are receiving calls and financial support and volunteers from all different communities. Many from people who’ve never been involved in any kind of such action. And the one common theme I’m hearing from them is this isn’t the America we grew up in. This isn’t right. How can I help? And that’s what makes it easier to get up every morning quite honestly.

Frederica Freyberg:
We leave it there. Darryl Morin, thank you so much.

Darryl Morin:
Thank you.