WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:27.400 A surge of immigration and border control arrests in Wisconsin over the past few weeks 00:27.400 --> 00:32.960 is part of a nationwide push and a part of homeland security resulting in the detention 00:32.960 --> 00:37.600 of more than 10,000 people according to national reporting. 00:37.600 --> 00:42.560 In Milwaukee, Waukesha, the Madison area, and elsewhere in the state, dozens of arrests 00:42.560 --> 00:46.480 have been confirmed by immigrant rights groups and attorneys. 00:46.480 --> 00:51.600 For reaction on this, we turn to Milwaukee and Darryl Maureen, National President of 00:51.600 --> 00:56.080 Forward Latino, and thanks very much for being here. 00:56.080 --> 00:58.000 Thank you for asking me to join you this week. 00:58.000 --> 01:03.240 So what is your reaction to this recent surge of detentions in Wisconsin and elsewhere? 01:03.240 --> 01:11.320 I'll tell you, tremendous frustration and to a certain degree, anger, you know, it would 01:11.320 --> 01:15.240 be different if they were going around and detaining people who were bad doers in the 01:15.240 --> 01:21.320 community, but we're continuing to see that operations are continuously targeted and people 01:21.320 --> 01:24.960 for the most part, who've been trying to do everything the right way, who filled out 01:24.960 --> 01:30.360 all their asylum papers, have been showing up to all their court dates, et cetera, that 01:30.360 --> 01:33.320 came here with TPS only to see the removed from them. 01:33.320 --> 01:38.320 So it's really been a very dark time for many in our community, and we appreciate the 01:38.320 --> 01:43.720 support that we're seeing come from all other communities throughout the state and the country, 01:43.720 --> 01:44.920 quite honestly. 01:44.920 --> 01:49.920 Do you have the numbers of arrests in Wisconsin in this most recent surge? 01:50.920 --> 01:56.680 Well, I know that we've been able to confirm 39, and immigration has put out the number 01:56.680 --> 01:57.680 of 57. 01:57.680 --> 02:02.800 We're still working to confirm that, but 39 is what we're comfortable reporting at this 02:02.800 --> 02:03.800 time. 02:03.800 --> 02:10.160 What stands out to you as to how these recent arrests are physically being carried out? 02:10.160 --> 02:16.960 Well, I'll tell you, there's plenty of video out there to support what I'm going to be 02:16.960 --> 02:17.960 sharing with you. 02:17.960 --> 02:24.200 We've seen families, particularly mothers, even with infants in the car, have their 02:24.200 --> 02:31.320 windows being broken, being violently pulled out and thrown to the ground, having immigration 02:31.320 --> 02:37.200 agents literally unholster their weapon before they have a chance to do anything and threaten 02:37.200 --> 02:39.560 their lives. 02:39.560 --> 02:47.240 It's been very, very scary for many folks, and both immigrant and citizen alike, because 02:47.240 --> 02:51.720 we're seeing this happen to people who are both lawfully and unlawfully present at this 02:51.720 --> 02:52.720 time. 02:52.720 --> 02:58.760 So a lot of concern, especially given what we saw help in previously up in Minneapolis, 02:58.760 --> 03:04.600 and now with the shooting that's been ruled on the side that just happened down in Houston, 03:04.600 --> 03:07.480 there's a lot of fear and a lot of concern. 03:07.480 --> 03:17.080 Those in your mind, the kind of police tactics are not in keeping with general rules of such? 03:17.080 --> 03:23.920 Yeah, generally we're used to seeing law enforcement officers using rules of de-escalation, and 03:23.920 --> 03:27.880 immigration officials are actually doing quite the opposite right now. 03:27.880 --> 03:32.200 And I think they've actually realized this because what we're seeing is instead of wearing 03:32.200 --> 03:40.760 vests now that say ICE or denote them as being immigrant officials, they're now wearing vests 03:40.760 --> 03:42.920 that now exclusively say police. 03:42.920 --> 03:48.360 So I think that's a self-admission that they no longer have the trust and credibility throughout 03:48.360 --> 03:54.200 our country and are being forced to try to steal or borrow or take the trust and credibility 03:54.200 --> 03:58.280 that people have with their local law enforcement departments. 03:58.280 --> 04:03.640 How will this continue to unfold in your mind, given increased funding to ICE? 04:06.120 --> 04:12.920 Well, we know that we had put out an alert about two weeks ago because we had seen this coming, 04:12.920 --> 04:15.800 so we put out a community alert on it. 04:15.800 --> 04:21.960 In fact, it just expired today, but we're expecting to see, well, not at the same levels, 04:21.960 --> 04:28.520 we're expecting to see the Standard Operating Temple of Immigration actually step it up a 04:28.520 --> 04:32.600 little bit as we move forward. We're now starting to see that they are graduating 04:32.600 --> 04:38.120 additional classes of agents through their training program with the recent funding increase 04:38.120 --> 04:43.800 that they received yet again. They are now, ICE is now receiving more funding on an annual basis 04:43.800 --> 04:50.680 than the United States Marine Corps is. Just to tell you, the outrageous amount of resources 04:50.680 --> 04:54.040 that are being thrown at this, so we're telling everybody, well, we have lifted, 04:54.040 --> 04:58.360 we've let the community alert expire here in Southeastern Wisconsin. It's still important 04:58.360 --> 05:03.640 for people who are lawfully present, who are US citizens, who are at risk of separation, 05:03.640 --> 05:09.160 really to have an emergency plan in place, should you be pulled over, run off the road 05:09.160 --> 05:13.560 by unidentified vehicles and be violently thrown out of your vehicle and detained. 05:14.280 --> 05:19.960 Because I was just going to ask you what someone in your position says to people you advocate for 05:19.960 --> 05:26.280 in the midst of all of this? Well, we're very fortunate that as a community, 05:26.280 --> 05:32.360 we're strolling a faith. We've had to overcome a lot throughout our history. Sadly, we thought 05:32.360 --> 05:37.720 chapters like this were relegated to the past and we're seeing them brought forward to the future, 05:37.720 --> 05:44.360 so we will continue to persevere. And as I mentioned, we are receiving calls and financial 05:44.360 --> 05:49.720 support and volunteers from all different communities. Many from people who've never been 05:49.720 --> 05:54.760 involved in any kind of such action. And the one common theme I'm hearing from them is, 05:55.880 --> 06:01.560 this isn't the America we grew up in. This isn't right. How can I help? And that's what makes 06:01.560 --> 06:06.760 it easier to get up every morning, quite honestly. We leave it there, Daryl Maureen. Thank you so much. 06:08.520 --> 06:08.920 Thank you. 06:09.720 --> 06:22.760 I have a I have a question, sir, that I didn't ask. But have you have you been in contact at 06:22.760 --> 06:28.520 all with Homeland Security or is there are there lines of communication between organizations like 06:28.520 --> 06:36.600 yours and and and that agency or no? It's very limited. I'll share with you. I do have a letter 06:36.600 --> 06:43.960 going out to the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Right now, we have DACA 06:43.960 --> 06:47.720 recipients. I know, you know, DACA recipients are right. They were brought here from no fault of 06:47.720 --> 06:53.080 their own. They have a temporary status under the program that was created by President Obama. 06:53.080 --> 06:57.000 And if you go to the DACA renewal website, because they have to renew every two years, 06:57.800 --> 07:03.240 it says not to submit your renewal application further than 150 days out. Well, right now, 07:03.320 --> 07:09.160 we're seeing it take up to 180 days to process those renewals. So we have people who are literally 07:09.160 --> 07:15.400 having to leave their jobs because of the delays in the processing of their renewals. 07:16.200 --> 07:19.560 And some of those individuals, not here in Wisconsin yet, but in other states, 07:19.560 --> 07:23.720 we know they've gone and they've picked them up and detained them and are trying to remove them 07:23.720 --> 07:28.200 from the country. And they've done nothing wrong. They did everything that they were supposed to 07:28.280 --> 07:32.840 do, et cetera. So that's what we're calling in the Secretary. We're reaching with him through 07:32.840 --> 07:39.160 internal channels, asking him to address that situation. Others are being a lot more vocal 07:39.160 --> 07:45.480 about the issue publicly. But these are things we try to do when we think there may be an opportunity 07:45.480 --> 07:50.600 for some small movement. That's the approach we like to take. So just to let you know what we're 07:50.600 --> 07:56.360 doing. Thank you. I appreciate that. When is that letter going out? Okay. Just come week. 07:56.840 --> 08:03.640 Okay. Great. Thank you. I'll take a look at that DACA situation as well. All right. 08:03.640 --> 08:07.640 Okay. Appreciate it. Okay. Try to have a good weekend. Okay. I was just going to say that to you. 08:08.280 --> 08:13.240 Yes. Okay. We'll do. Bye-bye.