Authorized statement regarding ICE/HSI agents’ operation in the Capetillo community in Río Piedras

Authorized statements from Annette Martínez Orabona, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Puerto Rico, regarding the intervention of ICE/HSI agents in the Capetillo community in Río Piedras:

“The ACLU of Puerto Rico categorically condemns the violent intervention and assaults committed by agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the Capetillo community in Río Piedras on Saturday night, as documented through videos and corroborated in interviews with affected individuals. Since the beginning of this year, the ACLU has pointed out and denounced the discriminatory, violent, and illegal policies of the Trump administration in the United States and in Puerto Rico. In the face of these abuses, we reiterate our call to the Puerto Rican community to defend human dignity and the fundamental rights that protect all people, including our immigrant sisters and brothers, who are part of our community and have been historically.

In the United States and in Puerto Rico, we have seen a constant pattern of abuse by ICE and HSI agents: mass raids, stops without reasonable suspicion, excessive use of force, and detentions under inhumane conditions. The ACLU and its affiliates have filed multiple federal lawsuits to halt mass raids driven by racial profiling, arrests without warrants or probable cause, and detention conditions that cross the line into inhumane treatment. These cases show that we are not dealing with isolated incidents, but with systematic practices that require structural remedies, including in Puerto Rico. In these active cases, there are courts that have recognized that these practices cross the constitutional line. The ACLU of Puerto Rico does not currently represent any plaintiff in a case for civil rights violations arising from the violent interventions by ICE and HSI agents. However, our organization remains actively engaged in monitoring this issue and will defend, in whatever forum is necessary, the civil rights of affected individuals.”

.