Written by Maggie Samples//Graphic by Ben Evans
The actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Feb. 24 led to the arrest and detainment of 17 people in Searcy and the surrounding communities, as confirmed by Lt. Scott Seiders of the White County Sheriff’s Office.
The arrests were the result of a collaboration between the federal agency and local law enforcement, including the Central Arkansas Drug Taskforce. Those arrested have since been transferred to an ICE detention facility.
Searcy resident and Harding alumna Andrea O’Connell said Oscar Muniz-Rios, a friend of hers, was pulled over while driving his son to school and arrested.
“He got pulled over in one of the traffic stops that happened on Moore St. [Monday],” O’Connell said. “Because he doesn’t have a valid American driver’s license, so they arrested him and for 24 or 48 hours his family couldn’t figure out where he was, but they did find out that he was taken to a detention facility in Louisiana, waiting to be deported.”
At the time of the traffic stop, the mother of Muniz-Rios’ son was out of state and was unable to pick up her son, O’Connell said.
“When [the authorities] got a hold of her, they were like ‘we’re just going to have him wait in the car until you get here, and I don’t think that’s what happened, but there was the threat of that at the time,” O’Connell said.
Muniz-Rios has been employed at Los Tucanes in Kensett for over 20 years, according to O’Connell. He has one child with his ex-wife and serves as a father figure to her two other children. The family went to Louisiana over the weekend to tell him goodbye.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Little Rock said in a press release that those arrested “had some type of prior contact with law enforcement.” O’Connell said that Muniz-Rios does not have a criminal background.
“I don’t know about the criminal background of all the others, but I know for sure at least one did not have a criminal background,” O’Connell said.
Immigration attorney and Harding alum Guillermo Hernandez heard about the arrests being made after a friend called him about a missing friend.
“He basically told me that they couldn’t find him, that he’s never late to work, he never misses work, that they couldn’t find him, and his phone was going directly to voicemail,” Hernandez said. “He also told me that there were some rumors about immigration authorities picking people up around Searcy.”
Hernandez is on the board at El Puente, a group that offers classes and programs attempting to bridge the gap for the Spanish-speaking community in Searcy. He was also contacted by other people with missing family members through the organization.
Hernandez said that around 3 or 4 in the afternoon, families started receiving phone calls from their missing family members.
“They started calling their families and they informed us that they were detained at the immigration detention facility in Little Rock,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez said that although the authorities were only looking for people related to criminal activities, some that were stopped and detained were not involved in criminal activities.
“Of course, there were other people that were coming out in the morning, they were just going to work, kind of like my friends and clients, and they were stopped,” Hernandez said. “Even though they didn’t have any relationship to criminal activity, they couldn’t prove that they were legally in this country, so they were still picked up.”
Hernandez said the arrests will affect more than the people detained, including their families and communities.
“Those 17 that they picked up in Searcy, obviously I don’t know all of them, but I seriously doubt that all 17 were related to the criminal investigation,” Hernandez said. “I know for a fact some of these kids that were in school that day, they went back home and they no longer found their dad.”
Hernandez encouraged the Christian community to be understanding of those who had been detained.
“They’re trying to make a better life for themselves or for their families,” Hernandez said. “They’re not criminals. I understand that they came into the country illegally, and I am by no means advocating for illegal immigration, but the fact is that these people are already here, and they are hard workers, and they’re not hurting anybody.”
Executive Director and co-founder of El Puente Ruth Simpson said the Hispanic community of Searcy has been “greatly shaken.”
“Whether a person is here legally or not, many are terrified,” Simpson said. “Children have noticed an uptick in bullying at school and many adults are afraid to leave their homes even to go to the store, church, or to work.”
Simpson said that the community is fortifying themselves and taking action to protect their children, many of whom are American citizens.
“In order to prepare for the worst, families are signing guardianship rights to other people for their children and power of attorney for their belongings,” Simpson said. “It is recommended that those who have children born in the US make sure the children have passports in case their parents are deported.”
Simpson said that the idea that all illegal immigrants are drug dealers or sex traffickers is incorrect, with the majority of immigrants being hardworking and contributing to their communities in good ways.
“In regards to immigration, people say, ‘just do it the right way,’ but they do not understand that we have made that process nearly impossible because it takes 10-20 years and thousands of dollars,” Simpson said. “In my experience, there are many resilient, kind, generous people who do not come here to get ‘free handouts’ from us, but rather contribute to our communities by working hard and being good neighbors.”
