Immigration enforcement has ramped up across the nation, but in New York's Capital Region, ICE agents have been taking a quieter approach. We spoke to a Times Union reporter about her coverage of ICE in the Capital Region, and the New York Civil Liberties Union shared how it's continuing to support immigrants amid a change in ICE's tactics.
Read the full transcript below:
Maryam Ahmad: This is WAMC's Northeast Notebook. I'm Maryam Ahmad.
Jahaira Roldan: These folks were on their, are leaving their prayer service and were kidnapped by masked, unidentified agents.
Maryam Ahmad: Immigration enforcement has intensified across the country during President Donald Trump's second term. According to the Deportation Data Project, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 50,000 people across the country in July. That's the highest number of people arrested by ICE since October 2022. On today's program, we'll look at ICE's changing enforcement efforts in upstate New York.
Advocate: Troy, ICE is here!
ICE agent: Why do you support the raping of women and children?
Maryam Ahmad: What you are hearing is an interaction between federal immigration agents and protesters in Troy, New York. The video was recorded and shared by the Capital Region Sanctuary Coalition in June.
Advocate: Troy, ICE is here!
Maryam Ahmad: Confrontations between advocates and ICE across the country are shared widely on social media, but it appears that ICE is taking steps to avoid public encounters with whistle-blowing protesters, like we saw in Minnesota.
Cat Carroll: I had one advocate tell me about a man who was taken into an ICE vehicle on a busy stretch of New Scotland Avenue, but then the man was transferred to a nearby parking lot, where then the handcuffs were placed on him and the paperwork was filled out outside of the public view.
Maryam Ahmad: Cat Carroll is a Report for America Corps member. These reporters are journalists who cover underreported issues and communities. She's been following ICE's presence in the capital region for the Times Union. I asked her for her observations on ICE's changing tactics.
Cat Carroll: Yeah, so we've heard from advocates across the capital region that ICE is taking a much quieter approach. This has been a change across the nation since Markwayne Mullin was confirmed as Homeland Security Secretary at the end of March.
Cat Carroll: We've really seen a shift away from large-scale, highly public ICE action. Yeah, I've heard from advocates that it's a lot more difficult to organize around ICE's presence, whereas in the past community could come together and blow whistles or alert the community. Now it's very swift action that they're seeing.
Maryam Ahmad: Carroll says in many cases, ICE actions are taking place at work sites or very early in the morning.
Maryam Ahmad: In my own reporting, I've noticed that there seems to be a gender divide between who is being arrested more. So it's most likely men who are breadwinners and in those work vehicles. Is that something you've heard?
Cat Carroll: Yeah, I mean it's also worth noting that in New York State, or at least in the Capital Region, many of the people who are being detained are being transferred to the ICE detention facility in Batavia, and that is a facility that is only for men.
Yousaf Sherzad: Well, but you say like he doesn't want his name or something published.
Maryam Ahmad: Okay, I mean obviously his last name is out there.
Maryam Ahmad: In late June, I spoke to a man who was arrested just a couple blocks from our radio station on Central Avenue in Albany. His three sons were also arrested and first sent to a facility up the Northway in Saratoga County. The first voice you hear is his, and translating for us is Yousaf Sherzad, who is the president of the Afghan American Community center in Albany.
Bakhtani: [Speaking in Pashto]
Yousaf Sherzad: On the way near the mosque, we got stopped. They arrested me and they took me to the Malta ICE office over there. We were there for about four hours. Then after that, they took us to another place. So I'm not sure what the name is, Batavia or Batavia. Batavia, and we were there for four days. And after that, they took us to Buffalo Immigration Detention Facilities. We were there for about a month.
Maryam Ahmad: Cat Carroll says locating detainees has been difficult.
Cat Carroll: I think the most significant challenge is certainly with just access to data, access even for even for family members who have members sitting in detention in Batavia.
Yousaf Sherzad: So yeah, we were able to contact people outside from the detention facility. We were able to make calls over there, but they were only allowed to text us. They could not call us, so they would text us, and then we were allowed. We were able to text or call.
Cat Carroll: Also, in the Capital Region, a significant challenge is just a shortage of immigration attorneys who are representing these individuals who maybe end up in detention or have questions about the legality or their, their fears right now is as they, they learn of this uptick.
Maryam Ahmad: And what are you hearing from family members of these people who have been detained? What are they worried about?
Cat Carroll: That that fear is really difficult to measure and difficult to quantify. And you think about even just the chilling effect in the Capital Region that this action has had. And you know, advocates are saying that they're hearing from community members that people are debating whether it's it's worth it to go to work or to go out to get groceries or to be seen in public or to even drive.
Maryam Ahmad: After the Bakhtani family was held for a month, they were brought back to Albany. Since then, they've had regular check-ins with the ICE office in Malta as they await a decision on their asylum application.
Yousaf Sherzad: So we are happy now over here. My kids, they are working, and we are living a good life in peace and safe. And we are happy and hopeful for the better future and progress. And we are doing very good now.
Maryam Ahmad: Also, keeping a close eye on ICE tactics in the region is the New York Civil Liberties Union. Melanie Trimble is the Capital Region Director for the NYCLU.
Melanie Trimble: I just got an email from a person over in Troy who volunteers for the Capital Region Sanctuary Coalition, and she is very concerned because the license plates are being manipulated on the, on the automobiles that ICE is using.
Maryam Ahmad: Trimble says it's left up to sanctuary groups and other advocates to gather data on ICE operations, including how arrests are carried out and where detainees are sent.
Melanie Trimble: You know they have to sort of rely on their network of people in the, in the community and advocates around the community that will gather information about where the stops are, who's been arrested. ICE is not being transparent about where these people are being sent and held.
Maryam Ahmad: She says the work advocates and sanctuary organizations are doing to educate immigrants of their rights is difficult and sometimes ignored. She says even documented immigrants feel their safety is not ensured.
Melanie Trimble: The biggest problem is that individuals are afraid to check in with the immigration courts to make sure that their documentation is in order, because they've heard stories of ICE descending upon the courthouses and taking people away, even though they are here legitimately and pursuing the proper channels, uh, to become, uh, documented.
Maryam Ahmad: Earlier this year, Democratic New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed a suite of laws designed to protect the rights of immigrants and push back on some of the federal government's aggressive enforcement actions. Included was legislation to prevent ICE from making arrests without a warrant in sensitive locations like hospitals, houses of worship, and schools. But Trimble says there are no guarantees.
Melanie Trimble: Immigrant children, no matter what their status or what their parents' status is, are entitled to an education in the United States. We have a model policy formulated with the help of the Department of Education that we've sent to all of our school districts in the Capital Region. I personally have been following up with a lot of school districts to make sure that if they don't adopt at least adopt our model policy, that they have a policy of their own that is solidly behind children and complies with what the Department of Education in the state of New York has recommended. So that's another thing that we're really going to look very cautiously at as the school year begins. Are children being intimidated into not attending school?
Maryam Ahmad: Though it seems ICE's tactics have garnered less visibility, advocates like Trimble say their presence in the region remains strong.
Melanie Trimble: We are not we're not sure that ICE's presence has decreased. I think it's gone underground.
Maryam Ahmad: WAMC asked ICE to comment on the perceived difficulties in communicating with individuals after they've been detained, as expressed by the community and family members of detainees. ICE asked us for the names of the specific detainees in question, but we declined to provide the names of our sources. An ICE spokesperson responded in part by saying quote, "While in detention, illegal aliens have access to phones to communicate with their family members and lawyers."
Maryam Ahmad: Northeast Notebook is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. It was produced by Molly Anderson. Our editor is Diane DeVore. Our executive producer is Lucas Willard. Music by Eduardo Rivera. Consider subscribing to Northeast Notebook wherever you get your podcasts. If you like the show, take a second to rate and review. It really does help others find the show. I'm your host Maryam Ahmad. Thank you for listening.
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