St. Louis immigrant advocates condemn ICE detentions tied to national quotas

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) - Local immigration advocacy groups are speaking out after a spike in detentions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which they say is linked to newly imposed deportation quotas under the Trump istration.

In a meeting last month, advisor to President Donald Trump Stephen Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem directed immigration agents to seek to arrest 3,000 people a day, according to reporting from Axios with two sources familiar with the meeting.

“We need everyone to understand more clearly what is happening,” St. Louis-based immigrant advocate Sara Ruiz said. “It’s not just about enforcement. It’s about fear, and it’s breaking apart families.”

At a press conference outside the Robert A. Young Federal Building in downtown St. Louis Wednesday, of the St. Louis Rapid Response Coalition, an immigration resource coalition of local advocacy organizations, warned the public about what they describe as ‘opaque’ enforcement practices now impacting immigrant families in the region.

Ruiz is with the Ashrei Foundation, a group involved with the St. Louis Rapid Response Coalition.

Ruiz said the coalition has been fielding more calls from immigrants who received text messages from ICE ordering them to report for a “case review.”

It’s a similar story across the country, as immigrants are called to court for a case review only to have their case dismissed and be taken into ICE custody.

“These are people who were given permission to live in the U.S.,” Ruiz said. “Some have been here for over a decade and now they’re being targeted in ways that are confusing, traumatic and completely unjust.”

Jessica Mayo, co-director of The MICA Project, said she represents a stateless man who has a U.S. work permit, is married to a U.S. citizen and has children who are American citizens. He has been checking in with ICE for years but was recently ordered to appear again with little explanation.

“I soon learned he wasn’t the only one,” Mayo said. “We’ve heard from attorneys around the country that this is happening in at least 14 other states.”

Mayo said the enforcement appears indiscriminate.

“ICE is not targeting this group based on any of the typical factors used to prioritize enforcement efforts,” she said. “And certainly not the ones the istration claimed, like gang or criminals.”

Advocates at the press conference called for ICE to conduct case-by-case reviews and consider personal circumstances.

A public rally is scheduled for Friday at 2 p.m. A location has not yet been disclosed.

Copyright 2025 KMOV. All rights reserved.