Federal officers raid wrong hotel room

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - The Emerald Palm Hotel on Government Blvd. looked like a good place to rest for James Mitchell, his wife and two small children.

However, Mitchell said his family was terrified when law enforcement officers burst into their room around 5 a.m. Tuesday.

"Our door gets beat on, and he said, 'Security.' And I said, 'What's security doing here?' He said, 'No, it's the police,' and I open - cracked the door - and he just pushed the door open and comes walking up in my room ... out of no where with flash lights on my kids and my wife," Mitchell said.

Mitchell's children were frightened, his wife embarrassed, and he still doesn't know what agency raided the room or why.

"Finally, I'm like, 'I want to get to the bottom of this and find out who was responsible for humilating my wife, kids and family at five in the morning, while we're under dressed.' It was very humiliating," Mitchell said.

It didn't take FOX10 News long to discover the officers were members of Immigration's ICE Unit, who found the man they were looking for in the back parking lot of the hotel.

Hotel employees said 47-year-old Anatoly Polishchuk was recently evicted because he was behind on the rent.

Jail records show Polishchuk has an arrest history dating back to 2004, and that immigration wanted him detained.

FOX10 also wanted to know if Polishchuk's arrest is part of a sweep for illegal immigrants in the area.

That question came up after another man who lives in a west Mobile apartment complex told FOX10 News a mysterious group of officers came to his apartment recently looking for someone with a foreign name who didn't live there.

In both cases, the people agree it's unnerving to have police at your door if you haven't broken the law.

They may feel a little better now that they at least know who was behind the raids.

Immigration officials in Miami confirmed both raids were the result of operations involving criminal aliens.