Pittsburgh-area community leaders receive reports about 2 immigration raids
Jaime Martinez, the community defense organizer with Casa San Jose, said the non-profit organization's hotline received multiple reports on Wednesday about Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in the eastern part of the city.
"We heard of five different detentions yesterday alone," said Martinez of Casa San Jose, which serves immigrant communities.
One of the detentions happened in Wilkinsburg. Video shows a Hispanic man in handcuffs being walked by FBI agents into a van. KDKA has learned those agents were assisting the Department of Homeland Security with immigration enforcement.
Wilkinsburg Mayor Dontae Comans posted about it on his Facebook page on Wednesday.
"Everyone here, we're family," Comans said on Thursday. "We're Wilkinsburg, and we just want to protect each other. We have ordinances that protect everyone, no matter what part of life you're from."
KDKA's Mamie Bah asked, "What do you say to people who say you shouldn't be here illegally?"
"That's how this country started." Mayor Comans said. "It's all about getting that path to being a resident, and I feel like we need to help them."
Comans shared photos with KDKA of federal agents in Braddock. The borough's mayor was caught off guard by the presence of agents.
"I'm just unaware that they were in our neighborhoods, in our boroughs," said Mayor Delia Lennon-Winstead.
"Would you cooperate with ICE agents if they reached out to you all?" Bah asked.
"Being an elected official and under the seat of the mayor, I would do my best to help and cooperate," Mayor Lennon-Winstead said.
In a statement to KDKA, a spokesperson for the FBI wrote, in part, "The FBI in Pittsburgh continues to provide investigative, technical, and analytical support to our partners at the Department of Homeland Security in their immigration operations all over the region as directed by the attorney general."
Martinez's wish is that people in the community look out for one another.
"Our community is under attack," Martinez said. "Be a good neighbor, that means being on the lookout for where ICE is, calling our hotline."
Casa San Jose's emergency response line is 412-736-7167.
