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(Miami, FL) - People with a pending immigration status and no criminal charges are still subject to ICE street arrests especially in Florida and Texas.
In fact, the stats have quadrupled in Jacksonville and Miami with mandatory help from local law enforcement. The biggest increase was in Jacksonville followed by Miami with an average of 715 arrests per month up from 115.
Immigration attorney Tammy Fox-Isicoff advises immigrants with pending status to not drive or travel via an airport where the government can track you.
Fox-Isicoff says "Most of my clients have done nothing wrong. They have filed for asylum or paid to expedite a green card but are still being arrested."
She adds that bond is not always granted and immigration judges fear being removed from the bench for lenient rulings.
"ICE enforces the law as written. What makes someone a target for immigration enforcement is whether or not they are illegally in the U.S.— full stop," a DHS spokesperson said in a statement to CBS News. "Many of the individuals that are counted as 'non-criminals' are actually terrorists, human rights abusers, gangsters and more; they just don't have a rap sheet in the U.S."
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin justifies the arrest of non-criminals saying they are criminals in their home country. ICE is making more than 380 arrests a day in Texas and 230 a day in Florida which is an increase of more than 100-arrests a day from the Spring.
Meanwhile, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is boasting that "No state has done more to help DHS on interior enforcement than we have. Let’s get those numbers higher! "