Detroit officials demand ICE stop high-speed vehicular chases following 2 crashes
Detroit officials sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Wednesday condemning recent high-speed chases by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, in Detroit's residential neighborhoods.
In two separate incidents in May and June, Detroit officials say ICE conducted high-speed vehicular chases through Detroit neighborhoods, which "risked the safety of Detroiters." The letter comes from city council members Denzel McCampbell and Gabriela Santiago-Romero, along with Police Commissioner Victoria Camille, who called on DHS to end vehicular pursuits and publicly release details of the incidents.
According to city officials, the first chase on May 19 left a Detroit asylum seeker with a broken knee and other injuries requiring emergency surgery.
The most recent chase was on June 5 in Detroit's west side. City officials say the driver lost control and crashed into a fence, landed on two parked cars and was impaled by a fence post. He was hospitalized in critical condition.
The letter says that according to neighbors who witnessed the event, agents were driving unmarked vehicles, and only one had its emergency lights on.
At the time of the incident, ICE officials said that officers attempted to stop the driver during a targeted enforcement operation.
"As officers attempted the stop, the suspect immediately tried to evade arrest and struck three government vehicles, pinning an ICE officer's leg in the car door. The suspect continued on before losing control of his vehicle and crashing through a fence and a garage before the vehicle came to a stop on top of two other vehicles," a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said.
An ICE officer was also taken to a local hospital for treatment.
Federal law requires lawful immigration pursuits to be carried out in a "designated pursuit vehicle." Notably, ICE's Emergency Driving Handbook directs agents to evaluate whether the severity of the emergency outweighs critical safety issues — such as death or serious physical injury to themselves, the suspect, or the public.
City officials say they "have seen little evidence that such a weighing occurred in either of the Detroit incidents."
The council members emphasized public safety concerns associated with ICE high-speed chases.
"From the available evidence, it is clear that ICE broke its own rules to pursue non-violent, community-contributing individuals who are here for safety and opportunity," McCampbell said. "Labeling them dangerous enough to pursue at high speed in our neighborhoods and by parks where children should be safe to play is B.S., and we will not stand for it."
"It's unconscionable that these two non-violent individuals have been detained by ICE and the Trump Administration, who violated their own policies, recklessly speeding on our local streets," Santiago-Romero said.
CBS News Detroit has reached out to ICE for comment.
