As immigration and customs enforcement or ICE agents sweep the nation, making thousands
of arrests and what President Donald Trump promises to be the largest deportation operation
in U.S. history, communities, including here in Wisconsin, are on edge.
A state representative whose district in Milwaukee represents the largest Hispanic
population in Wisconsin has introduced a bill to prevent state or local police from
helping to detain people in churches, schools, hospitals, and publicly owned buildings solely
on the basis that they are alleged to not be legally present in the U.S.
We're joined by Democratic Representative Sylvia Ortiz-Vellaz, and thanks very much
for being here.
Thank you for having me here today.
How on edge are people in your community in the midst of these ICE sweeps?
I've never seen anything like it.
People are scared about whether or not they're going to come home from work and be able to
pick up their kids.
They're scared if they're going to be swept up in raids, even regular citizens.
The reason we're scared is because of the past history in this nation when mass deportations
have happened and also because some of the directives, extreme directives that are coming
out of Washington, D.C.
Because there is a Homeland Security Directive now in place that does allow immigration enforcement
to find individuals without legal status in or near these sensitive areas.
And that's a real big concern for several reasons.
One Wisconsin, we already have a worker shortage, and we know that there's a lot of good hard
working people in our state that we depend on to put food on our tables in the roofs
over our heads.
We also know that we need to fix our immigration reform, and that's not something we can do
here at the state.
So people are an edge for good reason when kids deserve to feel safe.
And that's my concern.
And one of the reasons I wrote this bill is because these directives were coming out.
We also want to protect people's civil rights against illegal searches and seizures from
our government.
That's very important as well.
Again, nobody wants criminals in our communities.
It doesn't keep us safe.
But we're afraid they're going to go well beyond that and take the good hard working
people that don't pose a public threat.
Would state legislation supersede things like ICE directives?
Well, the way it works is they can certainly perform their legal duties, but the state
is not required to help them in that.
And I think that's important to understand.
As far as I know right now, there's not been any funding coming from the feds.
And right now, all states are possibly facing cuts from Congress.
And in these uncertain times, it's not very wise for us to spend money when we legally
don't have to because we don't know what we're going to have.
Because your bill would also prohibit the use of taxpayer dollars from aiding in the deportation
of immigrants.
Yeah.
And that would only, again, it only applies when there's no judicial warrant.
So certainly if they have a judicial warrant, they have a criminal record.
We definitely want to make sure our communities are safe.
But what we're afraid of is people's rights being violated.
We're afraid that they're going to take people who pose no public threat.
And we're afraid they're going to take you with citizens.
And so if someone is at their place of work or on the street or in their car and they
are approached by ICE agents, is it your recommendation that they ask to see a judicial
warrant?
Absolutely.
It is the law that I know it to be for more than a couple hundred years.
Everyone has the right, regardless if it's a state actor, a local, county, city or federal
actor, to be protected against illegal searches and seizures.
Meanwhile, Assembly Speaker, Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Voss, is poised to introduce
his own bill around this.
Would that be the opposite of what you're calling for?
Absolutely not.
Because from what I know, and again, I haven't seen the entirety of the bill, my bill doesn't
come with a Fisko note.
I'm waiting to see if his does.
And his bill does not address the sacred places.
And it doesn't protect, also it doesn't protect the state against possible violations
of the Equal Protection Clause.
So one of the items that we put into the bill is to protect public government spaces.
And that was great.
So we can avoid violating our state constitution, says that we serve inhabitants.
So if we do not serve everyone, it's possible we could be, there could be a constitutional
issue with equal protection under our laws in our state.
What I understand, having not seen the bill myself, is that Speaker Voss' bill would
require local law enforcement to cooperate with ICE.
And I mean, I guess when it comes to, you know, judicial warrants, I understand that cooperation.
But in lieu of that, I'm really here to talk for the good, hardworking people who pose
no public threat and for the people in Wisconsin that need to have food on their tables and
brooms over our heads.
And again, you know, I'm urging Congress to come up with solutions, to secure our borders
and solve our broken immigration system.
How confusing are the enforcements for people who are in the U.S. under all kinds of different
methods, you know, like temporary protected status or awaiting an immigration hearing?
Well, it's really complex because things are changing every day.
Some people who felt they were pretty safe in their immigration status, people who already
have a legal path, have had a legal pathway feel that that could be a jeopardy.
So there's a lot of fear as well for people who are permanent residents, people who have
legal statuses, TPS statuses, they're changing every day, they're being removed, people thought
they were safe.
So there's a lot of unknowns and things are changing all the time.
And quite frankly, it's causing quite a bit of chaos.
I think what Wisconsin needs to focus on is Wisconsin.
And we need to take care of Wisconsinites.
I don't believe we should allow the federal government to come in and violate our state
constitution.
Oh, I expect them to follow the law and not do any illegal searches and seizures.
And quite frankly, it's a slippery slope.
You allow them to do seizures, legal searches and seizures here, you know, where else does
that go?
And so literally in where you live, there are people who are not leaving their homes,
not going to school.
So I was at an event yesterday in my community and there were, I noticed there were a lot
of people there that would normally have been there and they weren't.
And it's unfortunate because people are staying at home, people are scared that they're not
going to come back home.
There are people who are afraid that they're going to lose their homes because, you know,
we literally created a way for people to buy homes that were undocumented and they
have made investments.
But more importantly, we're hoping that people get prepared so that they have a way someone
pick up their kids at school.
I guess the worst story I've heard so far is a 13-year-old girl, a citizen in my district.
She's been dealing with cancer for the last five years, essentially the age eight.
And both of her parents aren't documented.
Her mother takes care of her every single day because she needs medical attention all
the time.
Her father works and there might be a time that they're going to have to decide whether
or not they leave their daughter here and she passes away without her parents or if
they take her to Mexico and she doesn't get the treatment she needs, but at least she'll
be able to die there with her parents surrounding her.
Members, I'm Sylvia Ortiz-Vellaz.
Thanks very much.
Thank you.
Thank you for your time.
I really appreciate you covering this issue and these dark times I know that the light
will guide us home and we'll be the better for it.
What's it?
I think we're clear.
Thank you.