In the last few days, raids on roads across America have seen immigration agents arrest at least a dozen Serbian truck drivers, which has caused great concern and fear in the Serbian community in America, especially in the Midwest region, where most of our compatriots currently live.
ICE agents, who were deployed in large numbers in the so-called Midwest states after the decision of the Trump administration, began the operation “Midway Blitz” a little over two weeks ago, in which numerous illegal immigrants were targeted.
The action caused great unrest among the immigrant community, and the peak of tensions was the death of Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, a 38-year-old Mexican immigrant, who died resisting arrest in the Chicago suburb of Franklin Park.
He hit a federal officer with his car and drove him on the hood for several meters, after which the officer fired the fatal shots into him. Villegas-Gonzalez died shortly after being admitted to the hospital, and the officer sustained serious injuries.
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Although it was initially said that ICE agents would arrest only illegal immigrants with criminal records in their home countries, plus those who committed crimes in the US, it turned out that in the continuation of the action, all illegal immigrants were targeted.
Truckers targeted
In recent days, drivers of cargo and transport vehicles have also become targets of arrests, so that numerous Serbs working in this industry have also come under attack.
Our truck drivers were mostly arrested on highways, at the weigh stations where they were obliged to stop to check the weight of their vehicles.
–Our drivers were arrested in the states of Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Texas, and one arrest happened on the bridge leading to the Canadian border, which drivers often mistakenly wander onto on the way from Michigan to Wisconsin, and on which it is practically impossible to turn a truck around and return, a source from a Serbian trucking company, who is familiar with the events of the last few days, told Serbian Times, and then added:
-Except for this one case on the state border, all the others were arrested at the weigh stations, where they were met by immigration agents and directly escorted to immigrant detention units in the states of Michigan, Texas, Nebraska, and Indiana.
Legal reasons for arrest vary
Drivers of small, so-called box trucks, which can be driven in the US with ordinary driver’s licenses (Category B), were arrested, and the legal basis for their detention varies:
-Some did not have a work visa, and a few are in the asylum process. One of them had a driver’s license from Florida but had his residency registered in Illinois in his documents, which was suspicious to the agents. Most of those arrested had driver’s licenses from the state of Washington, where they are easiest to obtain, our interlocutor says, and then underlines:
WEIGH STATION IN INDIANA STATE: The last Serbian truck driver was arrested here
-It is also a problem if you do not speak English well and cannot communicate effectively with ICE officers, which can be an additional reason for them to detain you. Company dispatchers usually warn such people without regulated status and with poor language skills not to drive or direct them to safer routes, where there are no weigh stations.
The last piece of information we managed to find out on this topic is that immigration agents are currently located at the exit to Highway 55 South from the direction of Joliet Avenue.
It should be noted that in the last few days, there have also been arrests of illegal immigrants in large retail stores such as Home Depot and Walmart, and those who possess a Green Card but have a criminal record or a serious traffic violation (DUI) have also been targeted.
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Source: Serbian Times. Photo: