Virginia Church: Immigration Officers and Enforcement Actions

virginia church: The Feb. 8 arrests across the street from the Rising Hope Mission Church in Alexandria, which doubles as a soup kitchen and cold weather shelter, struck a nerve because critics say it targets vulnerable immigrants who need emergency services, according to Metro News. They say it also violates Immigration and Customs Enforcement's own policy prohibiting enforcement actions at sensitive locations such as churches, schools and hospitals. Nearly a month after at least two people were arrested by immigration officers outside a northern Virginia church, Democratic lawmakers from across the country say they are still seeking answers about what happened. At a news conference Thursday, critics including Virginia senator and former Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Kaine said the Trump administration's reassurances that it continues to follow the policy protecting sensitive locations ring hollow in light of the arrests at Rising Hope. Nicholas Marritz, a lawyer with the Legal Aid Justice Center, said efforts to learn the identities of those arrested or other details about the enforcement action were rebuffed when he and other activists went to ICE regional offices seeking answers. We are hearing some words, but the words aren't matching up with what people are seeing, Kaine said. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.