Washington, DC – This week, federal prosecutors charged 15 people in Minnesota with claims of impeding federal immigration enforcement as part of “Operation Metro Surge,” a mass deportation crackdown that took place at the start of this year. The move is the latest in the administration’s growing pattern of civil rights violations, which has included pepper-spraying protesters demonstrating against the inhumane living conditions at the privately-operated Delaney Hall detention center in New Jersey; sending FBI agents to raid the Cleveland offices of voter registration group Ohio Organizing Collaborative—in what workers described as an effort to intimidate associated staff and volunteers; and targeting nonprofit organizations like Acacia Center for Justice, whose work supporting unaccompanied undocumented minors and other vulnerable populations runs counter to the administration’s anti-immigrant policies. As America’s Voice stated last year, attacks on immigration are the tip of the spear in an all out assault on civil rights and our democracy.
According to Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice:
“The Trump administration has shown time and again that it is willing to disregard the constitutional rights and basic freedoms that make America what it is. Trump and Stephen Miller are using every lever available to them to weaponize the federal government against its own people. These actions go far beyond immigration. They are the tip of the spear in a broader pattern of abusing government power, silencing dissent, and undermining the freedoms and rights all Americans deserve.”
