>> 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. >> Thank you for asking me
to join you this morning. >> So what is your reaction
to this recent surge of detentions in Wisconsin and
elsewhere? >> 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 are 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. >> Do you have the numbers
of arrests in Wisconsin in this most recent surge?
>> Well, I know that we've been able to confirm 39.
Immigrations put out the number of 57. We're still
working to confirm that. But 39 is what we're
comfortable reporting at this time.
>> What stands out to you as to how these recent
arrests are physically being carried out?
>> Well, I'll tell you, there's 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 holster 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 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.
>> Because in your mind, the kind of police tactics
are are not in keeping with general rules of, of such.
>> 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 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.
>> How will this continue to unfold in your mind,
given increased funding to Ice?
>> 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, well, we have lifted we've
led 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?
>> 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? >> 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. >> We leave it there. Daryl.