Police aim to ease Hispanic deportation fears

Keith Uhlig, USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

ABBOTSFORD - Anxiety levels among Hispanics in central Wisconsin have reached new heights as the Department of Homeland Security ramps up its intent to deport more people living in the United States illegally.

That fear also has had ripple effects for the region's law enforcement agencies, which are now reaching out to Latinos to reassure them that police officers and county deputies are not acting as agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Police leaders such as Marathon County Chief Deputy Chad Billeb, Portage County Sheriff Mike Lukas and Colby-Abbotsford Police Chief Jason Bauer have been making special efforts to connect with people in the Hispanic community.

Immigrants might refuse to call police if they are crime victims or witnesses, out of fear that local officers will detain them if they lack proper documents to be in the United States legally. "We're also concerned at what may happen at traffic stops," Billeb said, in reference to the potential for dangerous situations if people try to elude police.

Meanwhile, rumors are running rampant among Latinos that ICE officers are in central Wisconsin, staking out Wal-Mart or rounding up people at grocery stores.

"Everybody is really scared," said Nivia Castillo, the owner of Super Mercado La Tropicana, a Hispanic grocery store in downtown Abbotsford. "People are afraid to be driving, or to go to Wausau or Marshfield for shopping."

Marathon County has about 3,200 Hispanic residents, and Portage County has about 2,100 Hispanic residents, according to 2014-2015 estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau. But those figures don't account for undocumented people. Statewide there are about 71,000 undocumented immigrants in Wisconsin, according to figures compiled by New American Economy, a group of mayors and business leaders who support immigration reforms.

Tony Gonzalez, owner of EAG Interpreters Hispanic Outreach and an advocate for Hispanic people and issues, is helping police officers reach immigrants to deliver their message.

Gonzalez said fear "has run amok" among Hispanics. "People are not going to work. They are not sending their kids to school," he said. "It's palpable and out there."

Part of the problem, Gonzalez said, is that Homeland Security's memos regarding the deportation of undocumented immigrants employ broad language. The agency's highest priority is to arrest and initiate deportation proceedings for undocumented immigrants who have been convicted of a crime. But the memos, released last week, also make clear that ICE agents should detain any undocumented people they encounter.

"I'm a citizen and everything," Gonzalez said. "But I'm waiting for someone to come and stop me. ... I mean, who are they going to target? A guy who is brown like me."

Marathon County Chief Deputy Chad Billeb

Bauer, the police chief in Colby and Abbotsford, said he knows that nerves are taut among the Hispanic people who live in his patrol area. But so far he hasn't noticed a big change in people's actions. Hispanic people are still dropping in at the Abbotsford City Hall to register vehicles and take care of other business, he said.

If police stop an undocumented immigrant who has committed a serious crime, they will detain that person and contact federal authorities, Bauer said.

"But it's been years since we called ICE," he said.

There is no evidence that ICE agents are operating in central Wisconsin, Billeb said, and the federal agency has always contacted local police agencies in the past.

"If ICE were to come to Wausau," Billeb said, "they would likely have to house these people in our jail. And we don't have any room."

Lukas said the Portage County Sheriff's Department has been similarly working with Hispanic residents to ensure that lines of communication remain open.

"We want them to feel safe and secure in the county," he said.

Castillo, the Abbotsford grocery store owner, resides legally in the United States and recently returned from a trip to Mexico. She said she doesn't worry about being deported herself, but she is anxious about what a mass deportation could do to her business. "I mean, these people, they are my customers," she said.

Keith Uhlig: 715-845-0651 or kuhlig@gannett.com; on Twitter @UhligK.