WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Advocacy groups and immigration attorneys say they’re noticing a trend of deportation cases originating from traffic stops of work trucks, like those used in blue-collar fields like landscaping and plumbing services.
Many are worried that law enforcement is targeting the trucks and “racially profiling” those inside these vehicles are likely undocumented migrants. The Guatemalan-Maya Center in Lake Worth Beach said the tactic is disrupting daily life in Lake Worth Beach.
“It’s disrupting everything about our communities,” Mari Blanco, Assistant Executive Director of the Guatemalan-Maya Center, said. “It’s disrupting the way school districts work. It’s disrupting businesses. It’s disrupting churches. It’s disrupting everything about our daily lives.”
Blanco said the center is currently tracking 40 different people since March who have been detained by federal immigration law enforcement agents like ICE or Border Patrol. She said practically all of these cases have originated from traffic stops in work cars where they were either the driver or passenger.
“This is clear racial profiling,” Blanco said. “They’re stopping anybody who is brown who is driving a specific type of vehicle… It’s specific vehicles that are being targeted, and those vehicles typically carry folks who are day laborers, folks who might be brown or certain ethnicity or background. So, this is clearly a case of racial profiling.”
WPTV has watched multiple videos from people showing trucks with trailers on the side of the road with marked vehicles from the State Highway Patrol and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Multiple landscapers told WPTV that their trucks have been stopped and had men taken away by ICE or border patrol, however, none are willing to go on camera due to perceived threats of government retaliation.
Guillermo Flores Jr, an immigration attorney based in Jupiter, said almost all of his cases recently have stemmed from traffic stops involving work trucks like tradesmen, plumbers, electricians, tree trimmers and other blue-collar workers. He said the traffic stops have been started because of issues with a license plate, bald tires or commercial vehicle safety inspections.
The federal government is currently conducting Operation Tidal Wave, a multi-agency immigration enforcement campaign that ICE said led to the arrest of 800 people. WPTV’s questions about the tactics used, including border patrol agents sitting in state trooper patrol cars, hasn’t been answered as a DHS spokesperson directed us to a press conference scheduled for Thursday.
For now, Blanco said people are using social media to communicate law enforcement's presence throughout town to avoid certain exits or parking lots.
