‘It’s terrifying’: ICE threats spark week of anxiety in D.C.

The rumors were flying over the weekend and into Monday: federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were preparing to target D.C. restaurants, delivery drivers, and schools this week as part of President Donald Trump’s widespread crackdown on undocumented immigrants. 

On Tuesday morning, those rumors seemed to become reality as a picture was shared on social media showing four federal agents standing outside the Columbia Heights Education Campus on 16th Street NW. Parents and administrators at the Mundo Verde public charter school were also on edge; by 9 a.m. that day, ICE agents were said to be heading to one of the school’s two campuses. A similar rumor flared on Wednesday afternoon.

While several D.C. restaurants were visited by federal agents doing immigration checks, no such incursions happened at any schools this week. But parents and administrators at a number of D.C. schools prepared for the worst. They rushed to check in with attorneys, shared know-your-rights pamphlets and cards, organized alternate means of transportation for students, and even set up day-long watches outside schools to monitor for any oncoming federal enforcement.

“The law is no longer a boundary,” said one school leader who, like many people interviewed for this story, asked that neither they nor their school be specifically named for fear of attracting federal scrutiny. “There are too many stories in the press of things happening. All these eyes are to make sure that people’s constitutional rights are protected. I had to ask people to come to work with documentation. It’s terrifying.”

There hasn't yet been a widespread immigration crackdown in the city, but immigrant communities and their advocates have remained on edge, especially as Trump officials issued warnings against sanctuary cities – a label D.C. officials once touted, and now retreat from. There have also been a few high-profile immigration enforcement actions since Trump took office: In March, immigration officials tried to detain a healthcare contractor outside an Adams Morgan school; that same month, a Venezuelan couple living in the city under protected status was detained, released, and detained again. There were more reported sightings of ICE officers in D.C. neighborhoods on Wednesday.

Advocates say public enforcement actions, like some of those carried out this week, serve to generate rumors, incite panic, and intimidate the community. Agents showed up in teams to restaurants this week to drop off letters asking to see employee files – a request that is within their right, says Abel Nuñez, the executive director of the Central American Resource Center.

“But they rarely go in with enforcement agents in full gear to drop off that letter," he says. "The only reason I can think of is to intimidate those people and warn the owners, ‘You’re on our radar.’” 

“It’s disturbing,” says Shawn Townsend, executive director of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington. “I wish we would have had a more coordinated effort [from the federal government] on these visits. All of our restaurants want to be in compliance and provide what’s requested of them.”

In a letter to the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday, an owner of one of the restaurants that was visited by the federal agents expressed their frustration with the tactics employed.

“The ICE officers requested entry into the premises and generally surrounded the building with agents, causing both alarm and unnecessary confusion at our place of business,” they wrote. “As we have informed all of our staff at this location, and all of the other locations that we operate, they are not required to speak with ICE, show any form of documentation or answer any questions the officers may have. If the ICE officers have a judicial warrant, it should be presented to the Manager on duty before any entry onto our property. This did not occur and we told the agents that any paperwork they may wish to see is not stored at that location.”

Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to an email requesting comment on the enforcement actions in D.C., but told a Washingtonian reporter that 100 D.C.-area restaurants received inspection notices.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Mayor Muriel Bowser said she was “disturbed” by the news she was hearing from restaurants. “It appears that ICE is at restaurants or even in neighborhoods, and it doesn’t look like they’re targeting criminals. It is disrupting. This is not [Metropolitan Police Department] action, there is no MPD activity involved,” she said.

Nuñez says that while he believes that students at D.C. schools remain safe, he understands why even rumored immigration activity or sightings of agents can cause panic amongst immigrants, regardless of their legal status. That seemed to be the case on Wednesday afternoon, according to WTOP, when a planned arrest by U.S. Marshalls at a building in Van Ness briefly ballooned into a rumor that ICE agents were targeting nannies at a playground.

“I think [people] are nervous, and they are nervous because they see it on the news. It’s not just what they feel, it’s what they see. I think the probability is still low of [immigration agents] going into a school. But just them being there creates this anxiety, and they know this. They are doing it in a way to create fear. People are rethinking how they run their lives,” he says.

The school leader who spoke to The 51st said they noticed how some families reacted when threats of immigration enforcement ticked up. “We have kids that are not in school this week,” they said. (This has similarly happened in other places across the country.)

"This doesn’t impact me or my family directly, but at the same time I understand it is a terrifying situation and the way ICE is operating is ludicrous," says Diana Alonzo Watkins, whose family immigrated to the U.S. from Honduras and who now has a fifth grader at a D.C. school.

A variety of D.C. schools have worked with lawyers and advocacy organizations to share information about the rights of students, families, and administrators. D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb’s office has similarly distributed a 19-page document responding to questions and concerns about immigration and schools. 

Generally, immigration enforcement authorities are not allowed into nonpublic parts of school buildings, and D.C. schools are not required to collect immigration information from families. And despite the current stance from the Trump administration, Bowser has defended the city’s practice of not inquiring about immigration status – especially by police.

“MPD has a critical job to make the District of Columbia safe for everyone,” she wrote in a letter to federal officials last month. “MPD’s policy for more than two decades has been to not ask individuals about immigration status. As law enforcement, MPD knows that when there are groups who hesitate to report crime to the police, they often become targets for serious crime. Allowing that to flourish makes everyone in the city less safe.”

Despite the lack of immigration enforcement thus far, some parents and administrators say they will remain vigilant outside of schools.

“We’re willing to sustain this for this week, because there is this credible threat. But we’re also talking about how we make this sustainable and have small teams and people with specific duties and phone trees to keep it going,” says Reid, a parent with a child at one charter school who asked to be referred to by their first name only. 

“We’re just looking for suspicious vehicles, people who don’t need to be hanging out at an elementary school. We’re out here… to make sure the teachers, parents, caretakers, and kids all see this is safe and there’s people they trust looking out for them,” he added.