DETROIT — After months of waiting, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has finally issued its overdue report on an investigation into abusive enforcement at Hope of Detroit Academy, and throughout the Detroit area. 

 On Monday at the Detroit Hispanic Development Center, community leaders gathered to condemn the investigation.

 “We should not be surprised an agency that is willing to violate its own policies and target an elementary school would be unable to hold itself accountable,” said Alliance for Immigrants Rights community organizer Jonathan Contreras. “But we had hoped for more.  Even though the Obama administration failed to keep their promise and reform immigration, we hoped at least our children would not have to look out for immigration agents at school.” ICE agents raided the Academy in March and issued a statement admitting the action violated its own policies. The day of the raid one parent was arrested and sent to jail while other parents were hiding out afraid of being detained.

 Officials say the investigation was not completed appropriately because it was conducted by ICE’s own agents and managers, not an independent third party. Further, numerous victims and witnesses were never contacted or interviewed, and ICE failed to determine if any searches were conducted with legal judicial warrants, and simply took the word of the officers involved that victims gave permission to enter.According to other reports ICE mis-characterized the statements of two victims, and also ignored major problems including the surrounding and surveillance of the Academy in the investigation.

 “ICE’s failed investigation is what happens when the fox is charged with watching the hen house,” Art Reyes, member of the Hispanic and Latino Commission of Michigan, said. He says ICE leadership has proven that they are unable to police themselves or honestly address major issues in their agency, and surrounding an elementary school with immigration agents is a problem that deserves serious attention. In response to the unresolved problem of ICE abuse and increasing racial profiling by Border Patrol, the coalition announced a major march to take place August 20th, at 12 p.m., in Southwest Detroit’s Clark Park.  The March Without Fear is co-sponsored by AIR, the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, ACCESS, UAW Local 600, One Michigan, the Michigan Indo-American Democratic Caucus and other groups with the goal of addressing ongoing civil rights challenges, including racial profiling, that affect Detroit’s Latino, Arab American, African American, and Asian communities.