CLEVELAND — After the Trump Administration issued quotas for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field offices to step up arrests of individuals who are in the country illegally, dozens of people have been taken into custody across Northeast Ohio.
According to the Geauga County Sheriff's Office, 57 people have been taken into custody across the area and are being held in a facility in Chardon. Authorities weren't able to confirm where they were arrested.
Authorities said the Geauga County Safety Center holds ICE detainees who are arrested anywhere within the country, not just in Ohio.
When detainees are brought in, they often don’t know where they were arrested. The facility has a maximum capacity of 182 detainees. Currently, it holds 52 ICE detainees. On average, it has between 50 and 60 ICE arrests, though this number can fluctuate. For example, two weeks ago, it had 38 ICE arrests.
No federal authority has responded to our requests for comment.
We are working to learn more about the 57 individuals who were arrested.
'WE WERE NOT INVOLVED; WE WERE NOT INFORMED'
In Cleveland Heights, the city is "working to confirm the veracity" of residents' concerns that ICE descended on a restaurant and made numerous arrests.
Early Monday afternoon, city officials said in a statement, "The City of Cleveland Heights did not have prior knowledge of, was not involved in, nor did it cooperate or coordinate with federal officials from ICE in a raid on Cilantro Taqueria. The alleged raid and detention of persons at this establishment have not been confirmed by the City of Cleveland Heights at this time."
During a news conference later in the afternoon about a recent apartment fire, Cleveland Heights Mayor Kahlil Seren was asked about the incident at the restaurant and said that the feds didn't loop the city into their activities.
"We are still working to get confirmation to exactly what happened," Seren said. "We have reached out to the federal government and Homeland Security, and we have been told that we are not going to receive information about this incident from them."
Watch the mayor's response:
The restaurant's owner, Sandro Galindo, told us that federal agents arrested six employees. The restaurant reopened on Tuesday. Specifics regarding what happened weren't provided. Attorneys are working to have the employees released, Galindo said.
ICE QUOTAS
Over the weekend, the Trump administration issued new quotas for ICE field offices across the country, demanding at least 75 arrests per day of people who are illegally in the country.
According to The Washington Post, field office managers will face repercussions if the arrest targets are unmet.
ICE has already made nearly 1,000 migrant arrests, and over 500 others have been detained on suspicion of being in the United States illegally.
RELATED: ICE ramps up migrant arrests as Trump immigration crackdown intensifies
COMMUNITY ON EDGE
While it's unclear exactly where the raids are taking place, Victor Leandry, the executive director of El Centro in Lorain, one of the largest nonprofits providing social services to the Hispanic community in the state, says the community is on edge, bracing for when ICE might arrive.
“I don't want to increase fear in our community. I don’t want to do that, but I want our community to know that they need to be prepared,” Leandry said.
El Centro has been organizing training sessions to educate the community and local institutions on how to protect themselves when interacting with ICE. This comes after the Trump administration removed any restrictions preventing ICE officers from going into places of worship, schools, and hospitals, which were called “sensitive areas.”
“First of all, we need to go back to know your rights. We need to let people know that they need to carry with them documentation, like some of the executive orders say that they need to prove that they've been here for two years or more,” said Leandry.
He also reminded the immigrant community to always carry their documentation, keep their finances in order, and ensure that any warrants they may have are signed by a judge.
Scripps News staff contributed to this report.
