Residents of an Arlington community woke up Monday to immigration enforcement activity on their street.
Video sent to News4 shows what appears a man being handcuffed and detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at an apartment complex on 4th Street North.
Telemundo 44 spoke with a man who said he saw it happen.
“He was getting in his car, and that’s when the police were there and got to him,” the man told T44. “They knew who he was because they went and just captured him.”
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That witness didn’t want to be identified but said the man taken into custody was his neighbor.
“I was uncomfortable because I was getting on my way to work, and suddenly, they just show up and they want to take you away just because of your papers and, yes, it’s a little scary,” he said.
Reports of possible ICE raids in Northern Virginia started popping up on social media Sunday night, just days after Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed an executive order instructing state police to cooperate with federal immigration officers.
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Mass deportations were a campaign promise of President Donald Trump. The Department of Homeland Security reported last week that ICE arrested more than 20,000 people in a single month.
“The worst part of all of this is that people are already scared,” interim Congregation Action Network Executive Director Rev. Julio Hernandez said.
The video of Monday morning’s incident was sent to his group, which organizes faith communities to defend immigrant rights. They began anticipating more ICE arrests when the governor signed his executive order, Hernandez said.
“There’s this rhetoric that people are criminals, but the majority of the people are hardworking people,” he said. “People think that immigrants come here to get rich,” Hernandez said. “Really, they just come here to survive.”
People in the community said they live in fear.
The man whose neighbor was taken into custody said his wife worries every time he goes to work.
“I tell her I have to go to work because I provide for the family,” he said. “In this country, we pay bills, and the bills don’t wait for you.”
News4 reached out to ICE for more information about what happened and is waiting to hear back.
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