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Local journalist Kimberly Hayes Taylor writes of "chills throughout Southwest Detroit" as a result of heightened immigration law enforcement this year.
Corn farmer mural in Southwest Detroit is by Dasic Fernandez, a Chilean
"Roundups and rumors leave Hispanic neighborhoods on high alert," says the headline atop her extensive street-level reporting at TheHUB Detroit, a news site produced by Bridges Communications Group, a custom publisher. Taylor, a former Detroit News reporter (2002-09) and BLAC Detroit magazine editor (2012-13) writes:
A wave of fear has gripped Southwest Detroit with this year’s uptick of immigration officials arresting and deporting undocumented residents. It’s rippling throughout the largely Mexican-American community and its impact is so deep it affects every aspect of life, including the local economy. . . .
The numbers of people typically strolling down main arteries, such as Vernor, Michigan Avenue and Bagley Street, has visibly declined. Area churches report offerings are lower. Not as many play soccer or relax in Clark Park, the area’s largest outdoor recreation site, or shop or dine out.
Here's some of what people say:
► Alcides Roman, 50, mechanic and apartment building manager: "The community is striving, working hard and still sticking together, but a lot of them are scared and intimidated. I’m Puerto Rican, a U.S. citizen, but . . . what’s affecting them is affecting me. It’s a domino effect.
"I’ve got real close friends that are documented and undocumented. When they go out to go to work, they come straight home. They are afraid to do so much as not wear a seatbelt. They don’t want to be victimized or their family broken. . . . You can see the fear on their faces.”
Instagram photo by Roger Frank
► Sergio Juarez, 25, Ford design engineer: "I tend to stay close to home. I’m a bit more cautious. Mostly, because I don’t want to end up in a situation, I don’t even jaywalk.” [Juarez says he has U.S. citizenship.]
► Mary Carmen Munoz, executive director of LA SED: “I have never felt the hesitation and the fear in this community as it has been for the past four months. It seems like it’s so much longer and it’s been rough.” [LA SED is a social services and economic development agency.]
► Jonathan Contreras, immigration attorney at Servicios Southwest: "We’ve noticed people getting arrested for showing up to court -- not immigration court, just regular court. Since this new administration started, we’ve noticed people getting arrested or detained by ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] for things that previously would not have been of concern.”
► Bishop Donald Hanchon, Archdiocese of Detroit: "“People are giving less in the Sunday collection. . . . People are saving money, in case somebody is arrested and deported. The current situation has people not knowing what to do. . . .There have been arrests and deportations of people you wouldn’t think of as ‘criminal.' "
► Charles Danto, furniture store owner on West Vernor Highway: "It’s much slower than last year. People are afraid to answer the door. They are afraid to walk the street."
► Juan Manuel Solana Morales, Mexican consul in Detroit: "“If you have been detained and deported before, they are going to detect you. If you are found, you are going to be deported under the new rules. . . . In extreme cases, we buy tickets to send the children to Mexico” [to rejoin parents].
-- Alan Stamm
