Detroit’s progressive city council members sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security this week demanding ICE agents end vehicular pursuits in residential neighborhoods.
Police Commissioner Victoria Camille signed onto the letter sent Wednesday with council members Denzel McCampbell and Gabriela Santiago-Romero. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin was the recipient of the letter, which demanded the department end vehicular pursuits in Detroit’s residential neighborhoods and adhere to federal pursuit standards.
In the letter, McCampbell, Santiago-Romero, and Camille also call on DHS to publicly release its most current vehicular pursuit policy and confirm key details regarding May and June pursuit incidents which resulted in injuries. They are asking the department to share key findings from the resulting investigations and hold accountable any agents who break the rules.
In separate incidents earlier this year in May and June, ICE pursued two individuals at high speed through neighborhoods on the city’s west side. Council members said in a release the chases happened in areas where children play.
“It is not clear why ICE risked the safety of Detroiters in their pursuits. Two of the people, one of whom is actively seeking asylum, were not targeted for criminal activity but for being immigrants,” lawmakers said in a statement from McCampbell’s office.
Both chases ended in injury, with one breaking her knee and the other being impaled by a fence post. A resident’s property, including a fence, garage, and vehicles, was also destroyed.
Most recently on June 5, ICE agents pursued Mohamd Salim Abdessamed near Whitlock Avenue and Warwick Street. Abdessamed lost control of his vehicle and crashed. The chase left him hospitalized with severe injuries, being impaled by a fence post before landing on top of two parked vehicles.
“It is vital that we do not let our federal government govern us by fear and persecution. This is federal overreach, plain and simple,” Council Member Denzel Anton McCampbell said in a statement. “From the available evidence, it is clear that ICE broke its own rules to pursue non-violent, community-contributing individuals who are here for safety and opportunity. Labeling them dangerous enough to pursue at high speed in our neighborhoods and by parks where children should be safe to play is BS, and we will not stand for it.”
McCampbell, Santiago-Romero and Camille said in the statement that the vehicular pursuits may have violated DHS’s own rules, as it remains unclear whether the vehicles involved were properly marked or had lights and sirens activated. Council members said the available evidence suggests that only the agents’ lights may have been on.
Federal regulation defines a lawful immigration pursuit as one carried out in a “designated pursuit vehicle.” ICE’s own 2012 Emergency Driving Handbook directs agents to “consider and evaluate critical safety issues posed by emergency driving, including the potential risk of death or serious physical injury to themselves, the general public, and the suspect.”
Santiago-Romero said the two individuals recently detained after a chase were non-violent, and agents were recklessly speeding on local streets.
“These folks are our neighbors who have embedded themselves in our community and local economy,” Santiago-Romero said. “We must work in solidarity to demand a stop to the lawless, rogue enforcement actions of ICE.”
Democratic city officials said in the statement that the overwhelming majority of individuals targeted in Detroit immigration operations have no criminal record, “and no civil immigration objective justifies a high-speed chase that endangers the people being pursued, the agents involved, and innocent bystanders, homeowners, and children.”
“Out of concern for the safety of all people, we maintain strict guidelines for DPD around vehicular pursuits,” Camille said. “High speed pursuits are reserved for suspects of violent felonies; must include the use of lights and sirens; and may only be initiated after considering public safety factors like population density and proximity to schools.”
