Detroit officials say Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are putting people in danger during high speed pursuits through city streets.
City Council Member Denzel McCampbell represents District 7 in the city, where one of the chases recently occurred.
McCampbell said in separate incidents this May and June, ICE pursued two individuals at high speed through neighborhoods in District 6 and District 7 in residential neighborhoods. He said both chases ended in injury, with one person breaking her knee and the other being impaled by a fence post.
In addition, a resident’s property, including a fence, garage, and vehicles, was also destroyed.
McCampbell said both of the injured people were only suspected of being in the U.S. without legal status, and were not suspected of a crime.
"It's not a criminal matter, it is civil," he said. "And also to have these dangerous pursuits happening in our neighborhoods that puts the folks they are chasing in harms way, kids that may be playing outside, folks that are walking down the street, and also to have no recourse for accountability, that is something that we all should be concerned about."
McCampbell said ICE did not respond to his or other city officials' requests for information about the incidents, and ICE also did not tell loved ones of the injured people about what had happened, or in what hospitals they were being treated.
McCampbell, along with District 6 Council Member Gabriela Santiago-Romero and District 7 Police Commissioner Victoria Camille, wrote a letter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, calling on DHS to cease vehicular pursuits, publicly release its most current vehicular pursuit policy, confirm key details regarding the May and June incidents, share findings from the resulting investigations, and hold accountable any agents who break the rules.
Officials with Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to Michigan Public's email requesting a response to the allegations.
