MIAMI — Recent figures show nearly 50,000 immigrants were arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in July — a 70% increase since February.
As detentions rise, so are the number of encounters between law enforcement and people pulling out their phones to record what’s happening.
From Homestead to Lake Worth, people are watching for ICE operations in their communities and turning to social media to warn their neighbors.
One woman, who asked Local 10 to use her online nickname, La Akateka, said she has been doing this for about a year.
She recently streamed a scene at a gas station that went viral.
The video shows law enforcement pulling one man out of a work truck and arresting him. Another man is arrested as he stands nearby and watches.
The video also shows an officer approach another man and question him.
Another person in the video says the man “was minding his own business” and had nothing to do with the prior detention.
As more people record these encounters, legal experts say people should know their right to record, but also be aware of the limits.
The videos are drawing more eyes as the federal crackdown on immigration intensifies.
One question for people recording is whether they are getting in the way of ICE agents doing their jobs.
La Akateka pushed back on that idea.
“I’m not actually getting in the way when they know exactly what they’re doing,” she said. “Am I getting in their way because I’m putting them on blast?”
DHS has not commented on what is seen in the viral video. It maintains that agents and officers are simply doing the job they’ve been asked to do.
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