Several people arrested in New Orleans amid ICE siege': It's racial profiling'

"Dozens of people have been detained across the New Orleans area as the Trump administration's latest sweeping federal immigration crackdown in a Democratic-led city entered its second day. The city's immigrant communities remain terrified and traumatized, advocates said, with many in hiding as people have been arrested in public spaces including parking lots outside Home Depots and Lowe's hardware stores, at bus stops, shopping malls and in residential areas around the city."

"Rachel Taber, an organizer with Union Migrante, shared a video with the Guardian of masked border patrol agents questioning and then handcuffing a man in the parking lot of the Lowe's on Elysian Fields on Wednesday. Agents ask the man where he was born. I'm a US citizen, he responds. But where were you born, the agent asks again, before repeating the question in Spanish. An unmarked white pickup truck is visible in the background. The man declines to answer any more questions, and the agent tells his colleague to handcuff him."

"CNN also reported the case of a 22-year-old US-born mother who was chased home by federal agents in an SUV from the grocery store in Marrero. She told CNN: I kept yelling at them, I'm legal! I'm a US-born citizen! Please, leave me alone! I'm going home, my daughter is in the house. My baby is waiting for me!' They're not picking up criminals, said Taber. They're picking up people off the streets, whoever they can catch these are moms and dads coming home from work, ambushed getting out of their cars."

Dozens of people were detained across the New Orleans area during a sweeping federal immigration operation, prompting fear and trauma in immigrant communities. Arrests occurred in public spaces including parking lots outside Home Depots and Lowe's, at bus stops, shopping malls, and residential areas. An organizer shared video of masked border patrol agents questioning and handcuffing a man in a Lowe's parking lot after repeatedly asking where he was born. Reports include instances of U.S. citizens detained and later released after proving citizenship, and a US-born mother chased home from a grocery store. Local advocates reported multiple arrests and incidents of property damage at a Walmart parking lot.

Read at www.theguardian.com