ICE increases pickups of undocumented immigrants

It appears Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, has increased its volume of pick-ups in the past week according to one local attorney. Pick ups meaning finding undocumented immigrants in the area and detaining them.

Attorney Eddie Gonzalez said he used to normally get a call or two a week about  people getting picked up.

This week alone he's already received eight or nine calls. 

Gonzalez said they've already begun talking about the pickups on Hispanic radio and he adds ICE has gotten bolder with the way they are doing the pick ups.

"Usually when immigration comes for someone they usually come to the house, they knock on the door usually it's really early in the morning they look for that person, but I've heard cases of people being picked up at markets, gyms," Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez said they won't actually pick someone up in the gym or market, rather they'll wait outside in the parking lot to avoid commotion.

If you are picked up there may be a chance you can still stay in the country if you fight something called a cancelation of removal case.

Gonzalez  said if you are picked up by ICE and decide to get a cancelation of removal case you can get bond and be released.

Gonzalez said if the person who's been detained has been here for at least 10 years and either has a wife who is a citizen or a kid who is a citizen and isn't charged with an extremely violent crime that they have a chance of winning their case. 

"So the attorney, what he has to do, he has to tell the immigration judge and he has to tell the prosecutor 'hey look, he's been here for 10 years or more than 10 years, he's got kids here, the kids are going to suffer if he has to go back because, cause if he goes back they're going to go back with him and so we need to find a way for him to basically fix the situation' and if you're able to convince the court, then he actually gets residency," Gonzalez said.

Residency, Gonzalez said, is similar to citizenship but can be taken away if you commit a crime. 

Gonzalez said the added bonus to being a resident is that it makes the path to citizenship a lot easier.