St. Louis-area immigration attorneys and advocates say federal officials are targeting longtime residents as part of a nationwide push to substantially increase deportations.
Several immigrants with final orders to leave the country received text messages from Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Monday afternoon. Many of them have been in the U.S. for years, but have been allowed to stay in the country under a government-sponsored supervision program.
The messages directed the recipients to report to their local ICE office within 48 hours.
St. Louis Public Radio reviewed one of the text messages, which was sent to an immigrant without legal status who is under ICE’s Intensive Supervision Appearance Program. ISAP is an alternative to detention for noncitizens who are in the country unlawfully.
"Your ICE officer has requested that you report to the office for a case review this week,” the text message reads. “Please arrive at the office either on Tuesday, June 3rd, or Wednesday, June 4th. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the office."
"That's actually their way of saying: ‘Come in and while you're here, we will detain you,’” said Jessica Mayo, an immigration attorney and co-founder of the Migrant and Immigrant Community Action Project. The organization is a St. Louis-based nonprofit providing legal representation to immigrants and their families.
There have been at least 8 people detained in St. Louis as of Wednesday evening, according to Chesterfield-based immigration attorney Hannah Sullivan. ICE confirmed the effort resulted in detaining more than 2,200 people across the country — the most immigrant arrests in a single day in agency history.
Mayo said she’s also heard from lawyers in at least 14 other states whose clients received similar communications. She suspects hundreds, if not thousands, of immigrants received them nationwide.
ICE did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
"We learned that the first round of people who reported on Tuesday as directed were mostly detained by ICE,” Mayo said. “Some were allowed to check in and leave, but many were arrested and taken to immigration detention centers where they will be rapidly processed for deportation.”
The messages came days after Trump administration officials, including top White House aide Stephen Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, instructed ICE to ramp up their deportations to 3,000 per day. A top immigration official told NPR the administration’s mandate is to deport 100% of people without legal status through any means necessary.
Noem echoed the directive on FOX News earlier this week while adding that no one should be surprised by the administration’s efforts.
"The president is doing exactly what he campaigned on and what the American people elected him to do, and that's enforce the law,” Noem told FOX News. “So we are going to do mass deportations. We are focusing on dangerous criminals.”
However, Mayo disagrees with the characterization based on what she sees.
"From our experience, there are many, many people being detained who have little or no criminal history,” she said, pointing to cases where people have been pulled over and detained over minor traffic stops. “It just doesn't have much to do with your criminal history at all.”
Navigating a changing landscape
Because the individuals who received texts this week already have final orders of removal, Mayo said they could be deported without appearing before a judge.
One of Mayo’s clients is a 52-year-old St. Louis man who left China because of the government’s restrictions. The immigrant has lived in the United States for more than a decade and is under an order of supervision because he missed one court hearing. He spoke with STLPR on the condition of anonymity because he’s afraid of retaliation from immigration officials.
He says he reports to ICE regularly, holds a work permit, commutes to Jefferson City to manage a buffet and files taxes. He has a wife who is a U.S. citizen and two children, ages 15 and 12, who were born here. He doesn’t have documentation from China, where he was born, so he is stateless.
“For that reason, he has been unable to complete the process of obtaining status through his U.S. citizen family members,” Mayo said. “Now, he faces either indefinite detention — because ICE cannot deport him to his country of birth — or deportation to a country that he has never visited.”
He was concerned when he got the unusual message from immigration officials on Monday.
On Wednesday, after driving to St. Louis from mid-Missouri, he wept outside the Robert A. Young Federal Building as rain pummeled him and Mayo. He recounted the final words he shared with his children last night.
“I talked to my kids and told them what if I happen to be deported or detained. Just tell them to study hard, to work hard. When they grow up, depends on where I’m at, they can come and visit me,” he said. “My wish to come here was so I have freedom. I can work hard. I can support my family.”
He then reported to immigration officials in St. Louis. By early Wednesday afternoon, he was released, but he will have to report to ICE again in August. But, Mayo said not all St. Louisans required to report had the same luck.
Fighting back
St. Louis community members are preparing to push back on immigration enforcement by federal authorities.
"We won’t stand for communities and families being senselessly torn apart for political points,” said 6th Ward Alderwoman Daniela Velázquez. “We will stand together and not stay silent when these un-American policies come knocking on our door.”
Valencia Alvarez, an advocate with Migrantes Unidos, criticized the timing of the enforcement actions and called for more thoughtful case-by-case reviews.
"St. Louis just had a tornado. We are tired of federal officials using resources to terrorize [the] community instead of helping our community when we need it the most,” she said. “We are asking [ICE] to exercise individualized case reviews and discretion. We want you to allow people to continue the processes they’ve begun and have been asked to follow — and to not tear families apart.”
The stepped-up enforcement has affected families like that of the 52-year-old St. Louis resident from China, who said he’s simply seeking a fair opportunity.
“I just want them to give us a chance. We are not criminal. We are not anything that doing bad to the society. We contribute to the society,” he said before walking into the St. Louis ICE Office. “We work hard. We want to be part of the United States.”
The St. Louis Rapid Response Coalition plans to hold a rally at 2 p.m. Friday to “ensure that ICE knows that the community is watching” and to oppose the deportation efforts. The location has not been announced.
Update: This story has been updated to include the most up-to-date number of people arrested by ICE.
