With public schools shut down and only essential personnel working, many Californians are stuck at home. For undocumented immigrants, this may cause anxiety.
But the approximately 2.6 million undocumented immigrants living in California, as estimated by the Public Policy Institute of California, don’t need to fear a knock on their front door from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
ICE announced Wednesday that it would stop making arrests, except for those that are considered “mission critical” until after dangers posed by the COVID-19 crisis had passed.
In a tweet posted March 5, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Heather Swift said, “ICE does not conduct operations at health care facilities. Anyone in need of medical care should seek care.”
Exceptions to this temporary policy include people without legal status who pose a risk to public safety or those who are subject to detention on criminal charges, ICE stated.
Gina Di Napoli, University Police Department chief, said in an interview with the Spartan Daily that at any given time, it’s highly unlikely for ICE agents to be at the San Jose State campus.
“ICE is looking for people that are selling drugs, committing felonies, doing stuff that is criminal to the community,” Di Napoli said.
She said that San Jose State students don’t need to worry about ICE coming on campus.
“We have never got a tip or anything regarding if a student was undocumented or not, and even if we did, we wouldn’t do anything,” Di Napoli said.
However, ICE could still be present outside of San Jose State.
“People should be aware of what’s going on, having general knowledge with anything that goes on, not just on campus but in the city too,” psychology junior Shawn Miranda said.
More than 200,000 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients live in California, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Ana Navarrete, SJSU’s UndocuSpartan Center program coordinator, said students who fear ICE should know their rights in case they are ever detained.
The SJSU UndocuSpartan Center is a student resource center where staff aid undocumented students in gathering
legal resources.
“As a campus, our message for the students [is] know your rights if you are questioned by an immigration officer and to create a plan in the event that ICE might come and detain you,” Navarrete said.
Navarrete said fear of detainment and deportation has been prevalent in the
Bay Area community for a long time now. In the event that ICE agents are spotted in a Santa Clara County community, she said there are organizations like the Rapid Response Network, run by the Sacred Heart organization, that aim to protect immigrant families from deportation threats and provide accompaniment support.
SJSU history professor Alberto Garcia said that immigration advocacy groups should do more educational campaigns to inform immigrants of their rights.
ICE agents must abide by search and seizure rules established by the Constitution and the Fourth Amendment when conducting investigations because every person in the U.S. has protected rights regardless of legal status, Garcia said.
He added that undocumented citizens don’t need to open their doors to agents if they don’t have a warrant.
ICE’s suspension of enforcement announcement followed ongoing criticism of the Department of Homeland Security for not implementing safety precautions regarding the COVID-19 pandemic
weeks before.
On March 5, Rep. Judy Chu (Pasadena) and Rep. Karen Bass (Los Angeles) signed a public letter sent by a Congressional tri-caucus calling on ICE to “suspend implementation of the public charge rule in order to protect public health,” especially around hospitals and medical clinics.
Bay Area officials are taking public safety precautions even further. On March 10, San Francisco’s public defender and district attorney announced a move to keep individuals such as the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions, who are more vulnerable to the coronavirus, out of jail.
“Our elected leaders represent us, and if we want leaders to reform ICE or move away from deportation policies, we can call our congressional representatives to make this a priority,” Garcia said.
Dan Nguyen contributed to this article
