There are plans to set up a temporary street blockade and checkpoint outside the ICE field office in Cedar Rapids on Tuesday, Escucha Mi Voz Iowa was told by Department of Homeland Security officials this week. The nonprofit, which assists and advocates on behalf of immigrants, and members of the Catholic Worker have for years routinely accompanied immigrants to their mandatory check-ins at the Cedar Rapids ICE office on Square D Drive SW, inviting the public to join them to show support for the immigrants.
“[A]gents with the Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Protective Services (DHS FPS) informed Escucha Mi Voz members and Catholic Workers they plan to erect a checkpoint and blockade on Sept 2 shutting down Square D Dr., parts of the front lawn, and the alley connecting the ICE office to the neighboring building and parking lot,” Escucha Mi Voz said in a news release on Thursday.
“According to FPS, the blockade will include squad cars, officers from multiple federal, state, and local agencies, along with caution tape and barricades.”
Escucha Mi Voz called the plan to barricade the street and set up a checkpoint “an abuse of power designed to hide detentions and deportations from public view.”
“Checkpoints and barricades have no place in Cedar Rapids,” Rev. Jonathan Heifner, lead pastor of St. Paul’s United Methodist in Cedar Rapids, said in the Thursday news release. “The right to due process means families must be able to walk into check-ins with support, without being isolated or intimidated. And the right to bear witness means the public has every right to see what government agencies are doing in our name.”
Heifner was one of the clergy members who helped lead the rally in front of the Federal Building in Cedar Rapids on July 29. Hundreds marched to the building, which houses the local offices of Rep. Ashley Hinson and Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, to oppose the Trump administration’s immigration policies and to demand that Pascual Pedro Pedro be allowed to return to his home in West Liberty.
Pascual Pedro Pedro came to the United States from Guatemala seven years ago with his father. Because they entered the country without the necessary paperwork, Pedro’s father was immediately deported, and the 13-year-old Pedro was granted supervised release so he could live with his grandparents, who have been in the U.S. for nearly 30 years. According to the terms of his release, Pedro needed to check in at the ICE field office in Cedar Rapids once a year.
During his routine check-in at the Cedar Rapids field office on July 2, Pedro was seized by ICE agents. He had never missed a scheduled check-in, and had never been accused of a crime or any anti-social behavior. While living with his grandparents, Pedro attended school, graduating from West Liberty High School, where he was a standout on the school’s soccer team.
After ICE detained Pedro, he was sent to the Muscatine County Jail, which has a contract with ICE to incarcerate immigrants, then quickly transferred to Pine Prairie, the notorious ICE detention facility in Louisiana, before being deported to Guatemala without ever being able to have his case heard by an immigration judge. The whole process took less than a week. Neither Pedro nor his grandparents have been able to get ICE to provide the reason he was deported.
Prior to President Trump’s return to office, it was practically unheard of for ICE to seize immigrants in the process of fulfilling their legal obligations at scheduled check-in or court hearings. Now it’s become standard practice for ICE.
On Aug. 5, there was a rally outside the Cedar Rapids ICE field office as volunteers and members of Escucha Mi Voz and the Catholic Worker accompanied immigrants residing in eastern Iowa to their scheduled check-in.
“Hundreds of people came out Tuesday morning to support immigrants,” the Gazette reported. “Among them were a number of elected officials: Iowa state Sens. Molly Donahue and Liz Bennett; Iowa state Reps. Angel Ramirez, Jeff Cooling and Amy Wichtendahl; Iowa City Mayor Bruce Teague; Iowa City Council members Shawn Harmsen, Oliver Weilein and Joshua Moe; West Liberty City Council member Dana Dominguez; and Johnson County Supervisors Jon Green and Mandi Remington.”
Despite that show of support, three of the people who went to their check-in were detained by ICE.
The blockade of Square D Drive and the checkpoint would appear to be a response by ICE and the Department of Homeland Security to the Aug. 5 rally, and an attempt to deter another rally. But in its news release on Thursday, Escucha Mi Voz called for members of the public to join in a “Day of Action” on Tuesday and rally in front of the Cedar Rapids ICE office at 3351 Square D Drive, SW, to show support for the immigrants it is escorting to scheduled check-ins. The rally is scheduled to begin at 7:30 a.m.
“They put up roadblocks because they don’t want us to see what they’re doing,” Escucha Mi Voz’s Alejandra Escobar said. “We refuse to be silenced. We will show up organized, with cameras and testimonies, and keep the spotlight of public opinion on.”
