Multiple sightings of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on one neighborhood block has raised concern among residents.
Here are 10 things we know about the ICE presence on Buffalo's West Side:
1) The sightings of ICE agents have been reported on a single block on the West Side of Buffalo.
2) Neighbors say that unfamiliar vehicles have been idling on the street on more than one morning, starting last week. One neighbor told BTPM NPR that on Saturday, they looked into one of the vehicles and saw a uniformed ICE agent inside.
3) Not all of the people in the vehicles appeared to be uniformed, according to the resident.
4) Last Wednesday morning, ICE agents knocked on the door of a property on the block where an Iranian man and his child live. Their housemate answered the door and spoke with the officials, telling them the Iranian man had legal representation. The ICE agents left.
5) The Iranian man and his child are in the U.S. legally, according to his legal representative. That’s because he is seeking asylum in the U.S. and following the legal process created by Congress to do that. He is awaiting a court date to determine if his asylum case qualifies for him to remain in the country.
6) The man has no criminal history, according to his legal representative.
7) He told BTPM NPR that in Iran, he was imprisoned for six months and tortured by the Iranian government. That’s why he fled the country. His legal representative told BTPM NPR he was imprisoned because he was part of organized groups that spoke out against the Iranian government's human rights abuses.
8) The visit from ICE came days after the U.S. bombed Iranian nuclear sites.
9) Buffalo's ICE office neither confirmed nor denied the reports. When BTPM NPR asked, they said: “For reasons of operational security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement does not discuss law enforcement tactics or confirm current, ongoing or future operations.”
10) In response to the reports, elected officials in the area have condemned the ICE activity.
State Senator Sean Ryan said: "ICE is out of control."
State Senator April Baskin said: "We will not stand for this disgraceful behavior in the city of good neighbors."
State Assemblymember Jon Rivera said we are "witnessing the weaponization of immigration policy against people who pose absolutely no threat to public safety."
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