AUSTIN, Texas — A climate of fear is what Justin Estep, the senior director of immigration and refugee services at Catholic Charities of Central Texas, is sensing with ICE’s targeted enforcement operations across Austin.
“They are going to target folks that do have arrest warrants or deportation orders, but typically they’ll try to catch them in a public place so that they can do a larger roundup of folks who might not be listed on the warrant but might be in the area of that person,” Estep said. “Folks aren’t taking their kids to school – aren’t taking or they’re taking them out of certain programs.”
No matter what their immigration status is, Central Texans do have rights under the Constitution. Estep’s advice for his clients is reminding them about the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Amendments.
“You don’t have to self incriminate, that’s the Fifth. No illegal searches and seizures in the Fourth, and that’s why if an officer asked to search you, your answer, even though they might search you in that moment, is, ‘No, I do not consent to this search,'” Estep said. “The best thing you can do is just not say anything, not sign anything, and just keep asking to speak to an attorney and/or get your phone call to a family member.”
Considering President Donald Trump’s new executive orders around immigration, Daniel Moreno with Workers Defense, a community organization for low-wage immigrant workers, said the organization is updating and conducting more trainings when it comes to knowing your rights.
“Another component of it is of course trying to teach folks how to weed out misinformation,” Moreno said. “In Los Angeles, during the fires, there was false reporting of ICE raids. During that time and I think again, that puts an already vulnerable community that’s going through a disaster even more at risk.”
Amid uncertainty, a vow to help is now being made by Estep.
“I can’t promise things are going to be OK,” Estep said. “But I can promise that there are folks out here that are willing to help and we are already on the ground.”
With ICE conducting those targeted enforcement operations across Texas on Sunday, the Texas Department of Public Safety confirmed to KVUE it is assisting federal authorities:
“The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) is assisting our federal partners by providing law enforcement services related to illegal immigration operations across the state. DPS does not discuss operational specifics, and we would refer you to the media teams of our individual federal partners for any additional questions you may have.
“While DPS is committed to assisting our federal partners as needed, our primary focus continues to be preventing, detecting and interdicting criminal activity—including the arrest of criminal illegal immigrants in Texas. DPS Special Agents are working with local and federal law enforcement agencies to apprehend criminal illegal immigrant fugitives—people who have entered the United States illegally and committed crimes in Texas. Some of these fugitives now appear on the Texas 10 Most Wanted Criminal Illegal Immigrants List which was launched in June 2024. This ongoing collaboration between DPS Special Agents and local and federal law enforcement partners remains in full force, with two fugitives from the list being arrested just on Friday in Houston and in Mesquite.”
The Diocese of Austin also has more resources on knowing your rights here.