ARCADIA, Wis. — Federal deportation agents swept \through Hispanic neighborhoods in this Trempealeau community of 4,800. According to citizen posts on social media, “multiple individuals” were abducted. Police Chief Nic Scholl said he had not received even a courtesy call that Immigration Control and Enforcement agents would be operating in the city. Arcadia and nearby Independence have substantial Hispanic populations attracted to jobs at Ashley furniture factories and in the local chicken industry and on dairy farms. The 2020 U.S. census lists 2,400 people of Hispanic lineage in Arcadia, roughly two-thirds of the population. The ICE agents were described in online posts as numbering about a dozen. The posts said they were in unmarked vehicles, as is the agency’s usual practice. Where detainees were taken was unclear. Newly hired Sheriff Erica Koxlien, who runs the Trempealeau County jail 12 miles from Arcadia in Whitehall, declined to respond to news media inquiries. The usual ICE practice is to take detainees to local jails if the agency has a detention contract. The agency also holds detainees giant facilities like the Whipple federal building at Fort Snelling in Minnesota, 70 miles from Arcadia, and the Mauston detention center in Juneau County, Wisconsin, 95 milers from Arcadia. Detainees usually are held incognito, then shipped to another country and dumped.
How Mexican is Arcadia? The menu at Restaurante Mexicano Santa Fe, like many establishments, is in Spanish. Gringos are welcome.
Racist Trump pogrom
Raids to round up immigrants i]are part of the massive President Trump pogrom for racial cleansing. Trump’s close White House aide for the project, white nationalist Steven Miller, has a goal to deport 1 million immigrants a year. Targeted are people of black and brown skin.