
NYC reps alarmed about reports of detention of Puerto Ricans by ICE
Velázquez: Trump pushing agency "to detain as many people as possible"

CITYWIDE — Members of Congress representing New York City have expressed alarm about reported detentions of Puerto Ricans by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Newark, Wisconsin and other areas.
Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory, and people born on the island are automatically citizens of the United States at birth, according to longstanding U.S. law.
While no instances of Puerto Ricans being detained in New York City have been reported at this time, U.S. Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-NY7-Brooklyn, Queens) on Friday called the arrests elsewhere “dangerous and unjust.”
“Since [President Donald] Trump took office, it’s been reported that Puerto Ricans who are U.S. citizens were detained in Newark and Milwaukee simply for speaking Spanish,” Velázquez told the Brooklyn Eagle. “That’s racial profiling, plain and simple. No one in America should have to live in fear because of the language they speak or the way they look.”
She added, “These reckless tactics are dangerous and unjust.”
Velázquez, the first Puerto Rican woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1992, is currently serving her sixteenth term in Congress.
About 29% of New York City’s population is Hispanic, according to a report by the NYC Comptroller’s Office. According to the 2020 Census, more than 20% of New York’s Hispanic population is Puerto Rican. A roughly equal percentage of Hispanic residents are Dominicans.

AP photo by Susan Walsh
‘Sown fear among residents’
On Jan. 27, U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D- NY13- Harlem, Inwood) chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and Rep. Pablo José Hernández, resident commissioner of Puerto Rico and a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, called on the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary and ICE to address incidents of wrongful detention in Puerto Rico and New Jersey.
On Jan. 23, ICE agents raided a small business in Newark and detained a Puerto Rican military veteran without a warrant, even after he showed a valid veterans identification card to the agents, Espaillat and Hernández wrote. In addition, Dominicans in Puerto Rico have reported ICE agents demanding their identification papers.
“Reports from media in both regions highlight reckless action by ICE Agents, which have caused considerable distress within communities,” the representatives wrote. “These actions have alarmingly sown fear among residents, disrupted businesses, and raised serious concerns about the behavior of federal agencies and the preservation of due process rights.”
In another report, a toddler, his mother and his grandmother were taken to an immigration detention center on Monday by U.S. officials in Milwaukee after they were overheard speaking Spanish, Telemundo Puerto Rico reported (via the Daily Beast).
In Philadelphia, the owner of a Puerto Rican restaurant in the city’s Port Richmond section said ICE agents showed up at their door without a warrant simply because it is a Puerto Rican restaurant, according to 6abc.

President Donald Trump has claimed that ICE would prioritize the detention of dangerous criminals. However, on Jan. 26, The Washington Post reported that quotas of 1,200-1,500 arrests per day had been placed on immigration agencies.
White House border czar Tom Homan said that he planned to travel to the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo Bay in the coming weeks to oversee the construction of a detention camp that will hold as many as 30,000 people, The Washington Post reported Friday.
“When it comes to immigration, this administration doesn’t have real enforcement priorities,” Velázquez said. “It’s focused on quotas, pushing ICE to detain as many people as possible without regard for due process or public safety.”
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