Two Detroit high school students have been caught up in the United States' immigration enforcement's latest sweep, as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents detained the Venezuelan cousins at their home on the east side of Detroit. Their apprehension, out of school hours, has sent ripples of fear and outrage throughout their community. The teenagers, who attend Western International High School and have work permits along with pending asylum requests, are currently held in a Texas detention center, WXYZ reports.
According to details provided by Kristen Schoettle, a teacher at the students' school, the raid was intended for another migrant but resulted in the arrest of the two teens alongside their parents. The community backlash has seen the organizing of a protest rally, and claims that the teens' education is being unjustly disrupted due to these enforcement actions. Chalkbeat Detroit Bureau Chief Lori Higgins expressed to WWJ Newsradio that details surrounding the reasons for the arrest and the students' current status are shrouded in secrecy.
This incident is not the first of its kind in Detroit this year, as another student at the same high school was arrested and deported this past spring, adding tension to a community already wary of the Trump administration's aggressive deportation policies. The Detroit Free Press reported on the protest at Clark Park, where students and teachers criticized the Detroit Public Schools Community District for not providing a sense of safety for their immigrant students.
Teachers and classmates spoke out at the protest, stressing the exceptionalism of the detained students and their right to remain in the U.S. to pursue their aspirations. "It’s absolutely disgraceful that these kids are being punished, are being criminalized, just for having some dreams," Kristen Schoettle told the Detroit Free Press. Youssef Fawaz, a spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Detroit, linked the students' arrests to agents executing a search warrant for a fugitive Ecuadoran national.
