TUCSON, Ariz. 鈥 An undocumented man from Honduras, who has lived on Tucson, Arizona鈥檚 south side for more than a decade, narrowly avoided being picked up by immigration agents who initially claimed to be utility workers, according to neighbors who witnessed the apparent immigration operation.聽
While watering flowers in her front yard the morning of May 28, Christine Cari帽o was approached by two men claiming to be from Tucson Electric Power, she said. One said they were looking for a neighbor of hers.
鈥淗e said, 鈥榃e鈥檙e trying to find somebody that wanted a free estimate,鈥欌 said Cari帽o, 37, a mother of three and long-time resident of the close-knit neighborhood.
Cari帽o recalled TEP workers had been in the area recently, but the two men weren鈥檛 in uniform, as TEP requires; one had a bright reflective shirt on and the other a black T-shirt.
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Their questions about the undocumented neighbor made Cari帽o suspect that the men were agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, she said, speaking to the Arizona Daily Star at her home the next day.
As one of the men moved toward her neighbor鈥檚 yard, Cari帽o said, she noticed the other wearing a badge under his shirt.
When she asked if he was from HSI 鈥 Homeland Security Investigations, ICE鈥檚 investigative arm 鈥 鈥渉e just smiled. So I took off running鈥 across the street to warn her neighbor, Cari帽o said.
Cari帽o filmed her interaction with the two men while they were inside the yard of her neighbor鈥檚 home, after the undocumented man鈥檚 stepson let them inside the front gate, believing they were TEP workers, she said. The young man and his stepfather declined to speak with the Star.
Long-time southside resident Christine Cari帽o intervened recently when two men who told her they were utility workers questioned her neighbor about his immigration case. Her effort kept the neighbor, who is from Honduras, from allowing the suspected ICE agents into his home.
Cari帽o said she intervened just before the undocumented man, who was inside, was about to let the suspected agents into his home, which would have made the man vulnerable to arrest.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e lying! They鈥檙e not in uniform,鈥 Cari帽o says in the video, which she shared with the Star and which KGUN 9 first reported. 鈥淒on鈥檛 let them in; they don鈥檛 have a warrant.鈥
Immigration agents can鈥檛 enter a private space such as a home without consent, unless they have a judicial warrant signed by a judge. ICE agents usually have only an administrative warrant, which doesn鈥檛 carry the same authority, or no warrant, advocates say.
Speaking outside the undocumented man鈥檚 front door, the suspected agents then said the man had missed an immigration court date, which the man denied, saying he attends all of his scheduled court dates, Cari帽o said.
An ICE spokeswoman declined to comment on the allegations of agents impersonating TEP workers, saying, 鈥淚t鈥檚 an ongoing investigation,鈥 in an email response to the Star鈥檚 questions.
The spokeswoman, Yasmeen Pitts O鈥橩eefe, told the Star twice via email that if she were in the reporter鈥檚 position, 鈥淚鈥檇 be very careful with the TEP storyline.鈥 She declined to elaborate.
All TEP employees wear uniforms displaying the TEP logo, and all of their vehicles are marked, to avoid concerns about impersonation, TEP spokeswoman Rhonda Bodfield said in an email.
Cari帽o said the incident will make TEP customers scared to let utility workers into their homes.
鈥淭hat should be considered a crime, impersonating a company to try to remove somebody from a home,鈥 she said. 鈥淚f he had a warrant, the situation would have been different. Do it the right way.鈥
4th Amendment protections
The apparent immigration operation on May 28 appeared to use the type of deceptive tactics that were the subject of an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit filed in California in 2020, a civil rights attorney said Friday.
Immigration agents misrepresenting their identity or purpose is 鈥渦nfortunately a tactic we鈥檝e seen employed in Southern California and across the United States,鈥 said Stephanie Padilla, staff attorney at the ACLU Foundation of Southern California.
鈥淭he home has a lot of protections under the Fourth Amendment. You cannot misrepresent your purpose or your identity when you鈥檙e doing ICE enforcement operations at or around the home,鈥 she said.
The ACLU鈥檚 complaint centered on the practice of ICE agents trespassing on civilians鈥 porches and private areas around their homes, without permission or a warrant, in order to make arrests. It also alleges the common practice of ICE impersonating local police or probation officers to gain access to a home, or to 鈥渓ure鈥 someone outside so they could be arrested, is unconstitutional.
鈥淎s part of these ruses, ICE officers routinely wear uniforms that have 鈥楶OLICE鈥 written on them. Typically only after arresting unsuspecting residents do ICE officers reveal their true identities and purpose,鈥 the complaint said. 鈥淭he Fourth Amendment does not permit ICE officers to coerce 鈥榗onsent鈥 to enter the home by impersonating another government official and misrepresenting their purpose in seeking entry.鈥
The latter claims are the subject of a still-pending settlement agreement with the Department of Homeland Security, which as currently written prohibits ICE from misrepresenting their identity and purpose in enforcement operations.
A May 2024 court order on the trespassing claims ruled for the plaintiffs, calling ICE鈥檚 actions a violation of the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures.
The ruling applies only to ICE鈥檚 L.A. field office, which operates in seven Southern California counties, but sets a precedent for future litigants who might fight back against these tactics, Padilla said.
South Tucson Mayor Roxanna Valenzuela says the immigrant community has been living with heightened fear amid the Trump administration鈥檚 deportation campaign.
She praised Cari帽o鈥檚 actions, in response to the apparent ICE ruse, which took place about a mile south of South Tucson.
鈥淭hat lady is a hero,鈥 Valenzuela said. 鈥淲e need to protect each other. Now is not the time to be silent.鈥
Cari帽o said she and her south-side neighbors have been 鈥渧igilant鈥 about looking out for immigration agents, as enforcement operations have increased in frequency, and they stay closely in touch to protect one another.
鈥淵ou have to stand up for what is right,鈥 said Cari帽o, who said she considers herself the 鈥渃ommunity mom.鈥
Her daughter, Ashley Salazar, 21, said ICE shouldn鈥檛 target long-time residents like her neighbor, whose wife is now returning early from a visit to see her husband鈥檚 family in Honduras, due to the incident. The couple has lived across the street for more than 10 years, and they gave Cari帽o her first lemon tree for her garden.
鈥淲e know them and they鈥檙e good people,鈥 Salazar said. 鈥淗e鈥檚 been here many years. Why now?鈥
ICE arrest quotas rising
Immigration officials 鈥 facing aggressive arrest quotas for the Trump administration鈥檚 mass-deportation campaign 鈥 have been frustrated by advocates鈥 work to educate the public on their right to refuse entry to immigration agents who don鈥檛 have proper documentation.
In February, President Donald Trump鈥檚 鈥渂order czar鈥 Tom Homan suggested he would have Democratic U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez investigated for supporting 鈥渒now your rights鈥 sessions for her constituents.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller recently told Fox News that ICE is now expected to make at least 3,000 arrests a day, triple the daily arrests at the start of the Trump administration.
This image shows a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Silver Spring, Md.,聽on Jan. 27.
The White House has been working聽to increase the pool of deportable immigrants on multiple fronts, including the administration鈥檚 moves to revoke legal status for people who entered the U.S. legally, at a port of entry, via the CBP One app, and to give DHS access to IRS for undocumented filers.
Agents also have been targeting immigrants as they attend required court hearings, attorneys say, with a slew of in recent days in major cities across the U.S., including in Phoenix and to a lesser extent in Tucson.
And on Friday, the Supreme Court ruled to let the Trump administration revoke humanitarian parole protections granted to 500,000 people from Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba and Nicaragua, which came after the high court also allowed the administration to revoke temporary protected status for another 350,000 Venezuelans provided by the Biden administration, the Associated Press .
DHS has argued former President Joe Biden abused humanitarian parole and says those protections were always temporary in nature. In her dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said Friday鈥檚 Supreme Court order will 鈥渉ave the lives of half a million migrants unravel all around us before the courts decide their legal claims.鈥
The Trump administration鈥檚 due process violations and unconstitutional practices not only harm undocumented immigrants, but also U.S. citizens, who have been the subject of wrongful arrest by ICE, said Alba Jaramillo, organizer with Tucson鈥檚 Coalici贸n de Derechos Humanos, or Human Rights Coalition.
鈥淥nce law enforcement officials like ICE agents begin to violate our constitution, then it鈥檚 not just immigrants that are at risk of not having their due process rights protected,鈥 she said. 鈥淚t is all of us, regardless of our immigration status.鈥
Former Pima County, Arizona,聽Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Adelita Grijalva, now a candidate for U.S. Congress, said May 30 reports about immigration agents potentially impersonating TEP workers are 鈥渄eeply troubling.鈥
鈥淥ur communities deserve safety, transparency, and trust 鈥 not fear at their own front doors,鈥 Grijalva said in an emailed statement. 鈥淚 commend our community for standing up for transparency. The Trump Administration is attempting to chip away at the very rights that make our country great. Resorting to acts like this are unfathomable and we deserve better.鈥
Jaramillo said Derechos Humanos鈥 Rapid Response network connects volunteer advocates with vulnerable people who can request witnesses to quickly show up and provide support during immigration operations, or to accompany them to court hearings.
This moment requires everyday people to stand up for one another, Jaramillo said.
鈥淲e cannot leave it in the hands of law enforcement to do what鈥檚 right. We can鈥檛 even leave it in the hands of our elected officials to protect us or to make public statements,鈥 she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 up to us to organize and to use our Rapid Response network to defend our own community. We shouldn鈥檛 be living in a country where we have to do that but sadly, our protection is now left in our hands.鈥
