Dallas police address community fears over deportations, say they won't aid ICE raids
Dallas Police officers said they are concerned that the recent deportations of undocumented immigrants by the Trump administration will cause those who live here to become fearful of interacting with law enforcement.
That's why there's a series of meetings that started Wednesday night in an effort to reassure immigrant communities in North Texas that police officers will not be part of any deportation raids or arrests.
Three meetings happened in the DFW. One in Irving, another in White Settlement and one at a church in Southeast Dallas featuring Dallas Police Department interim chief Michael Igo, who insisted that his officers will not assist in any U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids or arrests.
In her 37 years as pastor of her Pentecostal church in Dallas, Sarita Rico said she had never seen her congregation, many of whom are Mexican and Latin American immigrants, more on edge.
"They just want to work," Rico said. "They just want to do something for the families. They don't want to think about being deported or anything like that."
The pastor said she doesn't know how many of her church's worshippers are in the U.S. illegally but she's noticed that some have stopped attending services.
"Some families are afraid to send their children to school," Rico said.
During Wednesday night's service, a delegation of Dallas police officers led by Igo spoke with a simple message: "The Dallas Police Department is not assisting any federal agency on detaining people that are either documented or undocumented in the City of Dallas," he said.
The chief tried to assure the Spanish-speaking parishioners that his department would not turn in or report anyone here illegally who calls 911 for help or is pulled over for traffic violations.
He also said federal immigration officials assured him that no arrests or raids will be conducted in churches, schools or hospitals.
"I need you guys to continue to call the police, to not be afraid to come out of your homes to go to work, to send our kids to school," Igo said.
Igo did warn that undocumented immigrants with active criminal warrants are at risk of deportation.
"If somebody did commit a crime a long time ago and there's still a warrant for that person there's a very good chance they may be taken for that," Igo said.
Dallas police will hold four more of these presentations over the next eight days.
