ICE takes 2-year-old girl and dad as fury grows over agents targeting children
ICE agents reportedly took a 2-year-old and her father in Minneapolis as anger grew over the agency targeting children and detaining them.
Minneapolis City Councilmember Jason Chavez said that Chloe Renata Tipan Villacis and her father, Elvis Joel Tipan Echeverria, were driving back home from the grocery store Thursday when immigration officials decided to detain them, The Daily Beast reported. Chavez created a GoFundMe fundraiser for the family, which has already raised nearly $60,000.
Ellen Schmidt, a MinnPost photographer, captured the moment agents swarmed the vehicle in a series of photos posted on Instagram.
"Bystanders blew whistles and yelled at agents as they tried to leave the scene while the agents deployed chemical irritants. Despite subzero temperatures, ICE continues to detain Minnesotans," Schmidt wrote.
It's unclear if Tipan-Echeverria faces any charges or is suspected of any crimes.
"On January 22 at approximately 1:09 PM CT, while conducting a targeted enforcement operation, Border Patrol identified Elvis Tipan-Echeverria, an illegal immigrant from Ecuador who committed felony reentry and broke the laws of this nation. Tipan-Echeverria was driving erratically with a child in the vehicle," A DHS spokesperson told The Beast.
“Tipan-Echeverria later parked his vehicle and agents attempted to take Tipan-Echeverria into custody, but he refused multiple lawful commands to open his door or lower his window. Agents took Tipan-Echeverria into custody and attempted to give the child to the mother who was in the area, but she refused," the DHS spokesperson said.
DHS alleged that during the arrest "approximately 120 individuals surrounded the agents blocking them in and preventing exit. Agitators in the crowd then began to throw rocks and garbage cans toward the agents and child. To safely clear the area, crowd control measures were deployed. Obstructing and assaulting law enforcement is a felony and a federal crime."
“DHS law enforcement took care of the child who the mother would not take," the spokesperson claimed. "Child and father are now reunited a federal facility.”
A judge has ordered ICE to release the child from its custody by 9:30 p.m. Friday, FOX 9 reported.
ICE has been accused of violating children's rights and taking children into custody. Immigration experts have warned that ICE has tried to use children as bait to attempt to lure parents during aggressive immigration operations. Those parents could have fears over detainment, violence or have other children to care for, CNN's Priscilla Alvarez reported Friday.
U.S. Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino boasted Friday during a press conference about detaining a 5-year-old boy in conditions that he insisted don't get "any better."
FEMA pauses job cuts with winter storm bearing down on half the country: report
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is backing off plans to terminate disaster relief workers as a major winter storm bears down on much of the country.
Bloomberg News reviewed an internal email sent this week to some FEMA officials instructing them to “cease offboarding” some of FEMA’s Cadre of On-Call Response/Recovery Employees (CORE) and promised updated guidance would follow, but the message did not explain the reasoning for the revised order.
"The pause comes as a winter storm is expected to bring heavy snow, ice and extreme cold across a wide swath of the U.S.," the outlet reported. "FEMA lost more than 3,700 employees — or about 14 percent of the agency — between January and November last year, according to newly released federal workforce data."
The Trump administration has cut into the federal workforce by culling temporary and probationary workers and encouraging veteran employees to leave with incentive packages.
The House passed a Homeland Security appropriations bill last week that urged FEMA to maintain sufficient staffing, including reservists and CORE workers, and Senate Democrats sent a letter to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem asking her to pause the terminations while the full Senate considers the measure.
FEMA said in a statement that officials were following standard protocol and activating its national response center and dismissed reports of staffing cuts as “manufactured drama.”
