What To Do If ICE Stops You

With immigration enforcement activity increasing across the country, many people are asking a simple but urgent question: What are my rights if ICE approaches me?

MPR News senior reporter Sarah Thamer spoke with Gloria Contreras Edin, an immigration attorney, about what to do if ICE or other federal agents stop you in your car, approach you on the street, or come to your home. 

Read the full article here.

Excerpts

If ICE stops you while you’re driving, what should you do? Do you pull over or keep going?

Even though it’s a really scary thing and it’s nerve wracking to be stopped by ICE agents, my first suggestion is that you stay calm and you stop your car, and you don’t drive away or resist, and you follow the agent's orders.

If an ICE agent asks, ‘Are you a U.S. citizen?’ do you have to answer?

You don’t have to answer it unless you want to answer it. But once you’re stopped, you don’t have to answer any questions at all, especially [from] an ICE agent. Now, a [local] police officer, it’s different, but an ICE agent, you don't have to discuss with them your citizenship status. It's none of their business.