The Truth Behind ICE Raids in Amarillo: What’s Really Happening?

Over the course of the last week or so in Amarillo, there has been a lot of discussion and chatter about ICE being in the city and just nabbing up anyone they feel may be an illegal immigrant.

Some reports were coming out saying that ICE agents were at Caprock High School taking kids out of class, while other reports state they were targeting certain types of businesses.

There are a couple of different things at play here, and some rumors that need to be debunked as social media has definitely hyped up what is going on in the city, and the country, when it comes to ICE agents.

ARE ICE AGENTS IN AMARILLO

The answer to that question is yes. However, it's not like they were just all deployed in the last week or two. There are typically always ICE agents in the city, and have been since around 2003 from what I can tell.

They don't just go around nabbing people because they feel they may be in the country illegally. Typically they are looking for those with a criminal record or have warrants out for their arrest. In other words, no different than what police officers do.

DID THEY REALLY SHOW UP AT CAPROCK HIGH SCHOOL

From what I can gather, no, there is no truth to the rumors that ICE agents had descended upon the school and were pulling kids out of class to detain them. This is where social media can get dangerous and you can't believe everything you read.

They wouldn't be allowed to enter a school, or anywhere, without a judicial warrant of some sort. So if there was indeed ICE agents at Caprock, it would've been related to someone with a warrant.

WHERE ARE ICE AGENTS SHOWING UP

From different reports, some confirmed, some not, it appears they've been targeting businesses such as JBS, construction sites, and automotive places. The reason for that is they are known to bring these people in to work for them.

Some are paid under the table, so legitimately paid and have taxes taken out of their checks like everyone else. It's just that there is a history there, so agents are targeting those types of businesses.

WHERE IS ICE ALLOWED TO BE

As stated above, in order to enter inside a business or go and detain someone, they have to have a warrant. If they don't, there ARE certain places they can be and await someone's arrival. They're allowed to enter areas that are open to the general public and post up there.

Places such as parking lot, waiting room of a business, or a dining area are all places ICE can enter and wait.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE OTHER RUMORS GOING AROUND

There are honestly quite a few of them. One rumor that's been running around is that ICE agents are profiling people and pulling them over. They do indeed have the right to pull you over, but only if they have reasonable suspicion if the driver or any of the passengers have committed a federal crime or immigration crime.

Another rumor is that they are just storming into places such as JBS and detaining anyone they feel could be in the country illegally. As stated above, this is not something they're allowed to do, so it's not a rumor I would believe. They could be showing up there and waiting for people to finish their shifts, but there wouldn't be agents just storming in.