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Texas resident Karla Soriano, whose husband was arrested and deported to Honduras five months ago, is considering deporting herself because she fears spending months in ICE detention. (Turgut Yeter/CBC)

What U.S. mass deportation looks like on a quiet Tuesday morning

By Jonathan Montpetit 

It was 7:15 in the morning when we arrived outside the field office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in San Antonio, Texas, and already there were a half-dozen unauthorized immigrants waiting for their appointment, even though the office didn't open until 9 a.m.

We — producer Sylvène Gilchrist, camera operator Turgut Yeter and I — spent the next five hours on the sidewalk, observing what mass deportation looks like on an average Tuesday in America. 

The people outside the office had all entered the U.S. without inspection, making them "illegal immigrants" in the eyes of the administration. 

But they also had all applied for some kind of status, like asylum. Because of that, they've been allowed to work and live in the U.S. while immigration courts decide on their case, as long as they check in regularly with ICE. The agency has been using these check-ins as easy spots to boost their arrest numbers.

Detainees held at the South Texas Family Residential Center wave signs during a demonstration in Dilley, Texas, on Jan. 24. (Brenda Bazán/The Associated Press)

Of the people sitting outside, some were called forward to receive their next check-in appointment. They left looking relieved, hugging the family members who accompanied them. Others were told to go inside the office. It was likely they were headed for detention.

Some immigrants attending the check-in have tried to control their fate by arriving early and dressing nicely. Among the first to arrive that day was Ilinaida González Ramos, a Cuban dentist who fled four years ago. She was wearing a dress of such radiant yellow it seemed to glow in the dull morning light. 

"I haven't been able to sleep for the past two days," she told us. The last time she attended a check-in, she ended up spending more than seven months in a detention centre.

This time, though, she was allowed to leave. Her lawyer, Amanda Aguilar, was also there, and told us there doesn't seem to be any logic as to whom ICE decides to detain on any given day. What unauthorized immigrants do — pay taxes, get car insurance, volunteer — none of it seems to make a difference.

A drawing by a nine-year-old girl who was detained at the family detention centre in Dilley, Texas. It was included in a recent court filing by migrants' rights advocates. (Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law)

"They have so much faith in our system that if they do everything right they're not going to be detained arbitrarily. Unfortunately, that's just not the case," said Aguilar, an attorney for a Texas non-profit. 

A little after 8 a.m., a small group of activists arrived with a folding table. They put out bags of chips and a cooler full of water bottles for the immigrants. 

Every time a vehicle entered or exited the ICE building, one of the activists — a young man wearing an N95 mask and a red and white keffiyeh — took a picture of the licence plate with his phone. He also handed out small cards with legal information printed on them and pamphlets with a hotline number for people to report ICE activity. 

Amanda Aguilar, right, speaks with someone waiting outside the ICE field office in San Antonio. Aguilar is an attorney for a Texas non-profit that provides legal aid to immigrants. (Turgut Yeter/CBC)

"I'm afraid to go out," Ramos said. "What if a tail light isn't working or someone says I didn't stop at a stop sign? I know a lot of people who were detained because they said they didn't stop long enough."

By noon, the number of people outside the office had dwindled until only two young men were left sitting on the plastic chairs beneath the canopy tent. 

"I am nervous about leaving them," Aguilar said. 

She offered to take down their information in case they were detained, but they told her not to worry. 

"That is one of the saddest things about here. I've spoken to so many people who are like 'No, everything is going to be OK,' and they don’t know that they are not going home that day."

I did a deep dive on what the ICE detention situation looks like in the U.S. now in my digital article, which you can find here. You can also watch the video here.