Austin activists gathered to protest against increasing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests following a recent shooting incident in Houston. This demonstration took place outside the Travis County Administration Building on Wednesday morning, signaling growing concerns within the immigrant community about heightened immigration enforcement in the area.
Caitlin Corkill, an activist affiliated with both Indivisible Austin and the Austin Sanctuary Network, expressed alarm over the recent escalation of ICE activities. “There’s an escalation of ICE presence in Austin and brutality of ICE, as seen in Houston recently, and all over the city in the last week,” Corkill stated. The nationwide surge in arrests has reportedly resulted in approximately 10,000 immigrants being detained by federal authorities in recent days, a trend that has been highlighted by various news outlets.
The protest in Austin coincided with a tragic incident in Houston, where an ICE agent fatally shot a Mexican man lacking legal status during what the agency described as a “targeted enforcement operation.” In response to this heightened enforcement, the Austin Sanctuary Network has seen an increase in calls to its hotline, which serves as a resource for reporting arrests and requesting legal assistance.
Peggy Morton, chair of the Austin Sanctuary Network, noted a significant rise in requests for their accompaniment program, which provides transportation for immigrants to required check-in appointments at the ICE office in San Antonio. “I used to give rides … maybe two a month or three a month. Now it’s like four a week, and San Antonio is a long way off,” Morton explained.
Activists are especially troubled by the locations where ICE arrests are occurring. Morton recounted a recent case involving Isalia Martinez, a woman from Mexico who was detained in the parking lot of a CommUnity Care health clinic. Following her arrest, Martinez was deported to a city in Mexico that she was unfamiliar with. “A doctor’s office is a place where you should feel safe and secure without fear of being harmed,” Morton emphasized.
Alejandro Caceres, another organizer with the Austin Sanctuary Network, urged Travis County officials to take action to safeguard residents seeking medical care. “Isalia was detained at CommUnity Care. That is a county-funded clinic,” Caceres pointed out. “We have been coming to the same court for about two years now, telling [Travis County Judge] Andy Brown, ‘Hey, this is happening in your community, this is happening in Austin, this is happening in the streets,’ and it has felt like we’ve been speaking to a wall this whole time.”
The potential for Travis County to intervene in immigration enforcement remains uncertain, given that counties in Texas must adhere to all federal and state laws and lack the authority to implement ordinances as cities can. Nevertheless, Caceres confirmed that the Austin Sanctuary Network intends to formally request the county’s involvement in protecting the immigrant community during the upcoming Travis County Commissioners Court meeting scheduled for Tuesday.
