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A surge of immigration and border control arrests in Wisconsin over the past few weeks

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is part of a nationwide push and a part of homeland security resulting in the detention

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of more than 10,000 people according to national reporting.

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In Milwaukee, Waukesha, the Madison area, and elsewhere in the state, dozens of arrests

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have been confirmed by immigrant rights groups and attorneys.

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For reaction on this, we turn to Milwaukee and Darryl Maureen, National President of

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Forward Latino, and thanks very much for being here.

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Thank you for asking me to join you this week.

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

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I'll tell you, tremendous frustration and to a certain degree, anger, you know, it would

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be different if they were going around and detaining people who were bad doers in the

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community, but we're continuing to see that operations are continuously targeted and people

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for the most part, who've been trying to do everything the right way, who filled out

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all their asylum papers, have been showing up to all their court dates, et cetera, that

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came here with TPS only to see the removed from them.

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So it's really been a very dark time for many in our community, and we appreciate the

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support that we're seeing come from all other communities throughout the state and the country,

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quite honestly.

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

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Well, I know that we've been able to confirm 39, and immigration has put out the number

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of 57.

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We're still working to confirm that, but 39 is what we're comfortable reporting at this

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time.

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

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Well, I'll tell you, there's plenty of video out there to support what I'm going to be

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sharing with you.

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We've seen families, particularly mothers, even with infants in the car, have their

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windows being broken, being violently pulled out and thrown to the ground, having immigration

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agents literally unholster their weapon before they have a chance to do anything and threaten

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their lives.

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It's been very, very scary for many folks, and both immigrant and citizen alike, because

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we're seeing this happen to people who are both lawfully and unlawfully present at this

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time.

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So a lot of concern, especially given what we saw help in previously up in Minneapolis,

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and now with the shooting that's been ruled on the side that just happened down in Houston,

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there's a lot of fear and a lot of concern.

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Those in your mind, the kind of police tactics are not in keeping with general rules of such?

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Yeah, generally we're used to seeing law enforcement officers using rules of de-escalation, and

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immigration officials are actually doing quite the opposite right now.

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And I think they've actually realized this because what we're seeing is instead of wearing

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vests now that say ICE or denote them as being immigrant officials, they're now wearing vests

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that now exclusively say police.

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So I think that's a self-admission that they no longer have the trust and credibility throughout

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our country and are being forced to try to steal or borrow or take the trust and credibility

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that people have with their local law enforcement departments.

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

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Well, we know that we had put out an alert about two weeks ago because we had seen this coming,

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so we put out a community alert on it.

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In fact, it just expired today, but we're expecting to see, well, not at the same levels,

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we're expecting to see the Standard Operating Temple of Immigration actually step it up a

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little bit as we move forward. We're now starting to see that they are graduating

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additional classes of agents through their training program with the recent funding increase

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that they received yet again. They are now, ICE is now receiving more funding on an annual basis

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than the United States Marine Corps is. Just to tell you, the outrageous amount of resources

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that are being thrown at this, so we're telling everybody, well, we have lifted,

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we've let the community alert expire here in Southeastern Wisconsin. It's still important

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for people who are lawfully present, who are US citizens, who are at risk of separation,

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really to have an emergency plan in place, should you be pulled over, run off the road

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by unidentified vehicles and be violently thrown out of your vehicle and detained.

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Because I was just going to ask you what someone in your position says to people you advocate for

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in the midst of all of this? Well, we're very fortunate that as a community,

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we're strolling a faith. We've had to overcome a lot throughout our history. Sadly, we thought

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chapters like this were relegated to the past and we're seeing them brought forward to the future,

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so we will continue to persevere. And as I mentioned, we are receiving calls and financial

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support and volunteers from all different communities. Many from people who've never been

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involved in any kind of such action. And the one common theme I'm hearing from them is,

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this isn't the America we grew up in. This isn't right. How can I help? And that's what makes

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it easier to get up every morning, quite honestly. We leave it there, Daryl Maureen. Thank you so much.

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Thank you.

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I have a I have a question, sir, that I didn't ask. But have you have you been in contact at

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all with Homeland Security or is there are there lines of communication between organizations like

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yours and and and that agency or no? It's very limited. I'll share with you. I do have a letter

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going out to the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Right now, we have DACA

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recipients. I know, you know, DACA recipients are right. They were brought here from no fault of

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their own. They have a temporary status under the program that was created by President Obama.

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And if you go to the DACA renewal website, because they have to renew every two years,

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it says not to submit your renewal application further than 150 days out. Well, right now,

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we're seeing it take up to 180 days to process those renewals. So we have people who are literally

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having to leave their jobs because of the delays in the processing of their renewals.

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And some of those individuals, not here in Wisconsin yet, but in other states,

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we know they've gone and they've picked them up and detained them and are trying to remove them

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from the country. And they've done nothing wrong. They did everything that they were supposed to

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do, et cetera. So that's what we're calling in the Secretary. We're reaching with him through

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internal channels, asking him to address that situation. Others are being a lot more vocal

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about the issue publicly. But these are things we try to do when we think there may be an opportunity

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for some small movement. That's the approach we like to take. So just to let you know what we're

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doing. Thank you. I appreciate that. When is that letter going out? Okay. Just come week.

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Okay. Great. Thank you. I'll take a look at that DACA situation as well. All right.

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Okay. Appreciate it. Okay. Try to have a good weekend. Okay. I was just going to say that to you.

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Yes. Okay. We'll do. Bye-bye.