Weekly vigil shows solidarity with undocumented immigrants in Detroit

A group of protesters has started gathering in Detroit every Friday with signs showing support for undocumented immigrants. They say it's in response to what some residents feel is an increase in customs and immigration agents patrolling their neighbourhood since the election.

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On Feb. 10 more than a dozen people met at the corner of Clark Ave. and Vernor Highway near the heart of Mexicantown with banners bearing messages such as "Dreamers belong with U.S." and "Build bridges of love not walls of hate."

"This Latino woman pulled up ...  she rolled down her window and she said, 'Thank you, thank you so much for being here. God bless you' and she just burst into tears," Melinda Bryce, who attended the vigil with her daughters.

Fear following election

People living in Mexicantown and the surrounding area said children as young as five are fearful and anxious about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement driving around their school.

It's a tight-knit community with one high school and two elementary schools. More than 75 per cent of those students are Mexican. The sight of white vans slowly driving up and down these streets has many looking over their shoulder.

Some students even panic when they're parents are late to pick them up, thinking they've been taken by immigration officers, said Helena Solano, a school counsellor in the area.

"It just sets off a lot of fear and a lot of anxiety," she explained.

Solano admits to having students with undocumented parents, adding that some of them have come into her office, pacing the room in fear.

"It is a very, very frightening thing to see somebody who has the power to take your parent in custody immediately and that you may never see that parent for a long time," she said.

Concerns based on 'rumour'

A spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement told CBC News the concerns about an increase in the presence of the organization's agents is "likely a rumour."

In a brief email, Khaalid Walls wrote, "Our agency had no operational activity in that area."

Take videos of government vans

But Rashida Tlaib, a social justice attorney in Detroit, said sometimes border agents go "rogue," meaning not everyone at the agency is aware of what they're doing.

Tlaib encourages people in the area to take photos and videos as evidence because it helped her in the past.

"We actually had, a couple years ago, claims from parents that they had seen various immigration operations happen near schools," she said. "They [Immigration officials] claimed yet again that it wasn't true and there's no directive out there. It took us catching them red-handed by using pictures and videotapes."

Tlaib said officials apologized after the incident.

The lawyer said there is an internal Homeland Security policy that border patrol officers shouldn't patrol schools, churches or funerals, so if agents have started circling Mexicantown the enforcement action should be stopped.