SALT LAKE CITY ā Demonstrators gathered outside the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Salt Lake City Monday as a show of support for immigrants amid talk of heightened enforcement action in the city.
“The reason we’re out here today is because we want to send the message that Utah stands with immigrants,” said Liz Maryon with the Salt Lake City Bail Fund, which organized the gathering.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services building at 660 S. 200 East is where immigrants applying with the federal government to normalize their migratory status typically go for appointments and interviews with immigration officials.
Immigrant advocates last week said they had received word that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials planned to increase enforcement action this week inside the Citizenship and Immigration Services office, targeting immigrants with appointments at the facility. Opposition to that activity ā Maryon said she’s heard two people were detained last week after appointments in the facility ā also figured in the demonstrators’ plans.
“ICE was planning on making some mass detainment today, and the fact that we called a rally ā we’re hoping that would deter them,” Maryon said.
As people entered the Salt Lake office, Maryon would take down their contact information and an emergency contact if they were willing to provide it in the event they didn’t exit, presumably due to arrest. As of late Monday morning, she said everyone she saw entering had come out.
“So far, everyone’s coming out within 30 minutes,” she said.
One man who went in the office with his daughter, who had an appointment to provide immigration authorities with biometrics information, reported no issues on exiting.
“Everything was normal. They treated us very good. I don’t have any complaints,” said the man, who didn’t provide his name. “I didn’t see anything to make me afraid.”
Reps from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services didn’t immediately respond to queries seeking comment. But the demonstrators had plenty to say. As of Monday morning, around 30 of them were chanting and holding signs alternately criticizing Immigration and Customs Enforcement and showing support for immigrants. The demonstrators planned to stay until 3 p.m., when appointments with immigrants at the facility end for the day.
“It is beyond dismaying. It’s horrifying how our immigrant population is being treated. We know that immigrants are the backbone of our economy of Utah,” said Brigette Weier, pastor of St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Taylorsville and one of the demonstrators.
Those with business at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office are trying to follow the law in normalizing their status, she said. “We keep talking about following the law. That is what people are coming to their immigration hearings to do, and to be arrested and detained for weeks without due process is A) unconstitutional, and B) unmerciful,” Weier said.
President Donald Trump has prioritized detention and deportation of immigrants in the country illegally, with increased enforcement action around the country. That activity has included arrests of suspects inside U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services facilities elsewhere around the country, according to news reports. Trump and his administration maintain that immigrants in the country illegally pose a public safety risk and drain public resources.
Weier, though, argues that the enforcement activity some of the immigrants face is out of proportion to any misdeeds they may have committed. “No one thinks people should be sent away for a misdemeanor. … What’s happening to these people is more illegal than their actual quote/unquote indiscretion,” she said.
Chelsea Adams, another demonstrator, felt she needed to attend the protest to show support for her community.
“I have lots of friends that are of every community, the Hispanic community. I have a lot of love for humans, and I just can’t keep sitting here watching what’s going on with the treatment of humans anymore,” she said.
Mark Etheridge said it seems like many of the people targeted by immigration authorities have no criminal records and that some are actually U.S. citizens. “They have misdemeanors or unpaid traffic tickets. You don’t go to prison for that stuff,” he said.
This story may be updated.
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