An ICE Agent Sent Text Messages to a Local Man In an Attempt to Deport Him
Immigration enforcement agents in Oregon continue to test their newfound freedom under Trump’s mass-deportation agenda
ICE agents in Oregon appear to be testing a new malicious tactic to add to their grotesque and inhumane collection of mass-deportation tools.
According to The Portland Mercury, ICE has been using text messages in order to trick immigrants into revealing personal details, such as their country of origin and immigration status, in an attempt to collect evidence against them and initiate deportation procedures:
“Hello,” the message read, addressing the man by his first name. “This is Officer Smith. My address is as follows: 4310 SW Macadam Ave. Portland, OR 97239. Please feel free to call me with any questions that you have. I will need to heard [sic] from you soon.”
“Officer Smith” is Scott P. Smith, an agent with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The address on Macadam is the local ICE headquarters in Southwest Portland. The man he texted, who the Mercury has agreed not to name, is suspected by ICE to be living in the United states illegally and was recently charged with a misdemeanor in Multnomah County.
Smith soon got the man on the phone, attorneys say, and manipulated him into divulging his native country and immigration status. The agent was collecting evidence against him for a potential deportation proceeding.
Speaking to local immigration attorneys, The Mercury also reports that this tactic by ICE agents has not been seen in the Portland area in the past:
Two attorneys who work extensively with immigrants in Portland — John Schlosser, a public defender for Spanish-speakers charged with misdemeanors in state court, and Eileen Sterlock, a federal immigration attorney — tell the Mercury they’d never heard of ICE agents texting people before Smith’s September 20 message. Neither had Juan Rogel, executive director of the immigrants’ rights group Milenio.
This new development comes on the heels of a viral Facebook video that depicted Oregon ICE agents entering a private residence without permission, consent, or a warrant.
Even more troubling is John Schlosser’s statement, the attorney represented the immigrant who ICE contacted via text, regarding some of the ICE agents in that same Facebook video.
Schlosser says that the bearded ICE agent in the video “has stalked him and his clients in the Multnomah County courthouse and surrounding streets several times in the past year.”
Read the full story via The Portland Mercury.
