Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press.
The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who present themselves to the public as police officers should be fired and prosecuted for impersonating agents in a role they are not supposed to perform.
"This deception caused a woman to unknowingly turn her own husband over to ICE agents, even though he had committed no crime and was a law-abiding resident," said Ralina Cardona, a member of LULAC's National Board.
In a statement he said that "this officer and others like him who do the same are confusing the community and making people distrust all law enforcement, even when they may be witnesses to a crime or victims of one".
In this sense, Cardona added that ICE is deceiving immigrants in the country since they only seek to capture any person, criminal or not, "and in this case, the man they took is a husband, a father and a hard-working person".
The League of United Latin American Citizens explained that the ICE agent in this latest incident was captured on a security camera, where he can be seen wearing a jacket with the letters NYPD and POLICE on it.
The ICE agent arrived at the front door of an upper Manhattan residence looking for someone named Fernando Santos-Rodriguez, but the woman who answered did not allow the officer to enter her apartment.
She told him at the door that her husband's name was similar, but that he was a different person, and believing him to be a police officer unrelated to immigration, she provided him with information about where her husband worked.
ICE subsequently tracked him to his workplace and arrested him, despite the fact that the 48-year-old man had no criminal record in the 30 years he has lived in the U.S.
"This careless act by ICE puts the entire community at risk," said Lydia Guzman, chair of LULAC's National Board Immigration Committee, and undermines confidence in local law enforcement or turning to them when they are victims of crime.
"ICE's actions erode public confidence in local law enforcement, even if they claim they were not involved. Not being able to call the police puts us all at risk, because crimes will not be reported and witnesses will not cooperate. This act was irresponsible and reckless," Guzman added.
LULAC demands that Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. review this matter immediately and file the appropriate charges against the ICE agent.
For his part, New York Mayor Bill DeBlasio is calling for the termination of ICE agents implicated in NYPD impersonations.
Meanwhile, Santos-Rodriguez's wife and four children requested that her husband and father, respectively, be released under the provisions allowed by immigration law for undocumented persons who are witnesses to a crime and must testify in a court proceeding.
It is worth noting that over the weekend Brooklyn County residents held a protest in front of a police station to denounce this situation and demand that the mayor and the Police Department "stop working with immigration officers."
