00:00Well, for more insight, we can speak now to the Director for Latin American and Latino Studies
00:04and the Immigration Lab, a professor at American University in Washington, D.C.,
00:09Ernesto Castaneda. Thanks so much for your time.
00:13We're watching there another killing and the Trump administration trying to push the blame elsewhere,
00:17but the video footage is pretty clear.
00:20One wonders who checks the legality of ICE agents in the United States.
00:25Good morning, Eve. Indeed, the majority of the American people have seen the video and are pretty appalled.
00:35They are very upset and many people in Minneapolis and elsewhere angry at the level of violence that ICE has done,
00:43not in the middle of a raid, not looking for a particular immigrant with a criminal background,
00:48with a warrant and on the way to their house, but actually in these large operations
00:54that see terror in the communities that they pass through.
01:00And then a lot of people opposing peacefully, observantly, legally, filming on their phones
01:04that have been detained, verbally attacked, and in this case, killed by ICE, Border Patrol,
01:11and other federal agents that are going beyond the legality and the law and the role of these individuals,
01:19which is very different from the type of, it's not even policing,
01:23but the type of intimidation that they are doing, in this case, in democratic-led cities and states.
01:30Because it comes just weeks after the killing of Renee Good,
01:33and I believe there was an FBI investigation after that killing,
01:36but more into her rather than the agents who killed her.
01:40That is correct.
01:43There is no investigation, as far as we know, towards the agent that killed her.
01:48You're right.
01:49And not only that, but the statements, very clear, from President Trump, Vice President Pence,
01:55and the Secretary of Homeland Security, and other authorities,
01:59is basically saying that he wouldn't face consequences for this,
02:04and basically communicating to the agents that they could engage in violence
02:09and that there will be no consequences for that.
02:11So we see this escalation after the terrible incident against Renee Wood.
02:15The normal thing would have been for the administration to remove or decrease the number of ICE agents
02:22and do more targeted operations.
02:24But instead of that, they brought in even more people, and we see the consequences.
02:27Indeed. And one wonders how they might react now,
02:31notably given the thousands of people that have taken to the streets,
02:34despite the very, very cold temperatures.
02:39Yes, very cold temperatures, very hard to protest.
02:42But nonetheless, hundreds of thousands, indeed, in Minneapolis,
02:46and many other cities in solidarity have come up peacefully to show the rejection
02:51against the rates or the operations from ICE and other agencies.
02:56And on Friday, we have the largest demonstration before the killing of Alex.
03:00But even now after, it's people remembering him and upset that he was killed for no apparent reason.
03:07And the justification that the government first gave that he was varnishing his gun against officials,
03:15there's no evidence from any angles that that was happening.
03:18So people, indeed, are upset, but they are seeing that there's no indication that the federal administration
03:25nor the FBI are going to do any investigations into the matter.
03:28So they are taking this into the streets and politically because they know that there's going to be otherwise
03:33no justice for Alex or Renee so far.
03:37And there's also, we've seen the killings and we've talked about the killings,
03:40but also highly disturbing was the detention of that little five-year-old, Liam Ramos,
03:45last week swiped off the street on his way home from school.
03:48And apparently his family had done everything they were supposed to do.
03:51And I believe his case isn't an isolated one.
03:53No, no, no, it's very common.
03:57A lot of people that are in the middle of asking for asylum, they have already turned their papers
04:02and they are waiting for the day in court to make their case, are being detained.
04:06Or people that enter the country legally with this program called CBP1 app, they enter legally
04:11and they are the ones that have been targeted.
04:13Also people applying for green cards or even in the citizenship ceremonies.
04:17So that's easier for the agents to find these individuals because they have their addresses,
04:21they have their names.
04:22So in order to fill the quotas, they're going for people like that.
04:25And unfortunately, Liam is not the only minor that has been detained with his parents or alone.
04:31And now there's a lot of them in detention in terrible conditions and they've been protesting.
04:35So yes, also people very upset about that case.
04:38And also shootings of Venezuelan-born immigrants that have not been killed by officials,
04:43but they have been also injured.
04:46And it also seems to have been another incident yesterday in Los Angeles
04:51with a Salvadorian man.
04:52So this violence isn't discriminant.
04:55And there's no real evidence that any of these people were escaping or were in the process
04:59of hurting anyone or they were violent criminals.
05:02So indeed, very worrisome.
05:04And what happens once they're sent, I mean, to these detention centers,
05:07I believe, and many of them sent to Texas?
05:09Yes, so they're detained sometimes, often without due process, sometimes even citizens.
05:17And then one of the things that the administration has been doing is they're being sent away from
05:22their communities.
05:22So it's harder for them to contact family members.
05:25So many of them treat them or feel that they have been disappeared by forces of the state.
05:31It's very hard for them to contact with their lawyers or for volunteer lawyers to go and try
05:36to help them because they don't even know where they are.
05:38And it may take days or weeks for the families to locate them.
05:41So yes, they may be sent to Florida, to Texas, or other large centers that are overcrowded.
05:46There's over 68,000 people in detention right now.
05:49There is not enough beds for all of these people.
05:52So they are sleeping in horrible conditions.
05:54We hear reports of them sleeping in the floor, crowded with these kind of aluminum-looking
05:59blankets, in very, very cold rooms where the lights are on, very flashy, bright lights
06:06on all night and all day.
06:08Many of these places don't have any windows.
06:10Even the kids are not allowed often to go out and play.
06:13So these are conditions that would be illegal in a prison.
06:17But because these are supposed to be temporary places before people are deported, they have
06:21these horrible conditions.
06:22But sometimes people are held there for weeks and for months against U.S. procedures.
06:28But it's been harder for Congress people to go and observe these places.
06:33And the few nonprofits and priests and people that have been able to go inside have been
06:37talking about these terrible conditions.
06:40Yeah, it sounds like they have no rights at all.
06:42And I mean, it's not just confined to Minnesota, but we've seen Trump increasingly send more troops
06:48to Minnesota.
06:48And one wonders why these states, when I believe there's more immigrants in other states, indeed,
06:56like Texas.
06:59That's right.
07:00I mean, originally, most of these so-called immigration enforcement operations were targeting
07:06places that had black majors.
07:08São Paulo has a black major.
07:11Minneapolis has a white major.
07:13But for the most part, it's been people where there's large minority populations or
07:17there are democratic strongholds or they have a black major.
07:20But they have expanded.
07:22So in Minneapolis, part of the discourse from the White House is that they are targeting the
07:26Somali population, which the president has called trash.
07:30And there's indeed some credibility that there's some cases of fraud by some individuals of
07:36that origin.
07:38But that doesn't mean that because of that, the whole community should be targeted and
07:42that Minneapolis will be the force of this.
07:44And something else in common is that all these communities are in the border, the U.S.-Mexico
07:50border, but also along the coasts and on the border with Canada or the lakes.
07:54So therefore, in those areas, there's less civil rights.
07:58And because of a law that was passed after 9-11, border patrol can be active in these
08:02places.
08:03So Minneapolis, Chicago, even though we don't traditionally think of them as border cities,
08:08they are technically so.
08:10And the last case is that because of the agreements that most places in Florida have with ICE.
08:17And in Texas, actually, the most deportations right now are happening from those two states,
08:21but they are not happening through these very visible, spectacular media-friendly campaigns
08:26that the Trump administration is doing in places like Minneapolis and Portland and other
08:30cities, but they're happening through jails and through traffic stops.
08:34So they also have been targeted heavily in immigrant-populated areas and states like
08:39Florida, Texas, even if they are Republican-governed.
08:42Where do you see things going from here?
08:47Well, this is not sustainable.
08:49Things should change.
08:50Anybody listening to the voices of the people, of pundits, of critics, of people in the streets
08:56will change tactics.
08:58But so far, Stephen Miller, Lewandowski, Kristi Noem, and the people in Homeland Security that
09:05are in charge of these operations, they are not elected officials.
09:09They are firm believers in the urgency of these mass deportations.
09:15So they're going to double down.
09:16They're not going to continue.
09:17They are increasing their radical rhetoric.
09:21Same with Trump.
09:22He's getting a little upset that public opinion, he can see, is turning against these very violent,
09:29unjustified causes.
09:31But it's very hard for him to change his mind publicly.
09:35You have to come up with a big excuse.
09:36So, unfortunately, I don't see them leaving Minneapolis very soon.
09:40They will eventually leave and go to another city.
09:43But for the meantime, they don't want to be seen as losing this occupation in the ground symbolically and these media.
09:52So I don't think this is improving anytime soon.
09:54But, yes, the right thing would be for less forces to be, less ICE to be in Minneapolis.
10:00The next struggle, battle linguistically speaking, is going to happen in Congress this week when the Senate is going to see if they can reduce the huge amount of money that's supposed to go to ICE and the Border Patrol in the new budget.
10:16And if they can ask for some guarantees for minors, for detention centers, for these operations before the money is reimbursed.
10:23So we'll see if any Republican is willing to accept this.
10:26OK, one to watch Congress this week.
10:28Ernesto Castaneda, thanks so much for your time and bringing us your insight.
10:31Much appreciated.
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