ICE says only criminal offenders targeted in southeast Louisiana raids

KENNER, La. (WVUE) - Days after FOX8 reported the city of Kenner will not have its annual Hispanic Heritage Festival due to concerns about an increase in immigration agents, ICE New Orleans says its only focus is arresting and removing criminal offenders.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) New Orleans issued a statement this week saying its agents are focused on “targeted enforcement” and the removal of immigrants with criminal records.

Here is the full statement:

We prioritize public safety by locating, arresting & removing criminal alien offenders & immigration violators from our communities. We conduct targeted enforcement. We spoke earlier this year alongside Kenner officials providing this information directly to the public & press.

The agency said it spoke earlier this year alongside Kenner officials to clarify its enforcement priorities, but it did not respond to questions about whether it has the capacity or intention to conduct arrests at public gatherings like the Hispanic Fest.

The statement also did not define who qualifies as an “immigration violator.”

ICE drew renewed attention after agents raided a Kenner construction site on June 16 where workers were building the city’s new fire station. The agency has not said how many were arrested, who was detained or what charges they face.

“We knew that in January that there would be an uptick in immigration investigations,” Kenner Police Chief Keith Conley said.

Conley says that Kenner Police officers assisted in the construction site raid, but none of his officers helped in making arrests.

“When they [ICE] call and ask us to assist them, we’ll just go and make sure everything is done orderly and there are no incidents,” Conley said.

Conley says that his police department works with immigration enforcement like it does with any other law enforcement agency doing work within city limits.

The department also signed a 287(g) agreement with ICE, which would allow some officers access to immigration data on immigrant arrestees and detainees. However, Conley says that the program is still about 6-8 months from being implemented.

The recent uptick in ICE activity and collaboration between ICE and Kenner Police has many of the city’s 20,000 Hispanics worried.

Those community concerns were so great, the city decided to pull the plug on its annual Hispanic Heritage Festival three months before the event.

“I’ve stayed in touch with the administration and I’ve definitely voiced my concerns about the situation in general, not specifically the event,” Mayra Pineda said.

Pineda is the president/CEO of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Louisiana and says that she has heard concerns about ICE from her 840 registered businesses.

She says while there are concerns about ICE agents targeting immigrants at public gatherings like the Hispanic Heritage Fest, ICE New Orleans did not respond to questions about whether the agency would be capable of an operation like that.

Meanwhile, Conley says there wouldn’t have been issues.

“(The cancellation) was done, I guess, on the administrative side. I feel like we can put on a safe festival,” Conley said. “I don’t know what they’re safety concerns are. I would have to get with the mayor on that.”

Many of Kenner’s Hispanic businesses looked forward to the economic boost the festival would have brought, even if they weren’t an official vendor at the fest.

“To know that that’s cancelled, it definitely something that you didn’t think would happen,” Yani Morales said.

Morales owns Fiesta Latina along Airline Highway with her sisters. She says the restaurant has always seen a steady stream of customers since the doors opened in 2004.

Morales says revenue is down at least 20% since March, when ICE agents started patrolling, arresting and raiding communities in Kenner.

Morales says her Hispanic customers are staying home rather than being out in public and risking an encounter with ICE. She says, ultimately, it’s businesses like hers that are suffering.

 “We have definitely cut a lot of our staff, especially our servers,” Morales said. “We are trying to figure out when is this going to end, is it going to be long-term, short-term.”

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