New reports of ICE activity spread concern across Sanpete

MORONI—Immigration enforcement activity apparently resumed in Sanpete County on Monday, Nov. 2, with several people describing suspected encounters with federal agents and a local restaurant announcing another temporary closure.

Reports began circulating early Monday morning, approximately five weeks after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents took five people into custody during a confirmed Sept. 30 operation.

According to a friend of the family, one of the five, after being taken to Texas and then to California, was released. Apparently, ICE determined it did not have grounds to hold him. The family was reported to be traveling to California to pick him up.

Although several residents reported seeing suspicious vehicles or being stopped by unidentified officers, the Messenger has not independently confirmed whether or how many people were taken into federal custody.

North Valley Police Chief Steve Gray said his department was not informed of any new ICE activity and did not participate in it.

Reports begin early Monday

The first reports appeared before sunrise on a local Facebook group. One group member reported that a brother-in-law had been stopped near the Moroni cemetery at approximately 5 a.m. The post described a white Chevrolet Tahoe and a man wearing a green vest who requested identification.

Shortly after 7 a.m., other residents began reporting encounters near the turkey plant in Moroni.

A local woman who contacted the Messenger directly reported being followed and ultimately pulled over near the turkey plant because she was driving a car that was owned by an undocumented immigrant.

“The officer didn’t even check my license or anything and when I asked him if he wanted to see it,” she told the Messenger. “He said, ‘No, because you’re not who I’m looking for’.”

Another resident reported that a black SUV followed her from the turkey plant toward the outskirts of Moroni.

Additional posts described suspected ICE vehicles along roads between Moroni and Wales and in the Mt. Pleasant and Fountain Green areas.

Later Monday morning, a social media post accompanied by photographs claimed that at least two people had been taken into custody in Moroni.

More than a dozen photos and videos were posted or shared among the Facebook group members showing several individuals apparently being taken into custody.

Reports also surfaced in Ephraim. An online Spanish-language news page, Noticias al dia VIP, posted a photograph with a caption alleging that ICE agents had been seen in a trailer park on Nov. 2.

Businesses and families affected

The reported activity renewed discussion about the effects of immigration enforcement on local businesses and families within Sanpete County’s Hispanic community.

Mishayne Farnsworth-Juan, associated with Los Juan restaurant in Moroni, posted an announcement that the restaurant would close again temporarily because of ICE activity.

“Los Juan in Moroni will be closed again Today. Sorry for the Inconvenience. You can thank I.C.E.,” the post stated.

In subsequent comments, Farnsworth-Juan explained that much of the restaurant’s business comes from community members who are afraid to leave their homes when immigration agents are in the area. She said the restaurant’s Mt. Pleasant location would remain open.

Not all local reaction to the enforcement events was sympathetic to undocumented immigrants. One resident, posting on the Sanpete Community Facebook Page (a different page from the one exchanging reports about ICE activity), called for a boycott of any local business that criticized or opposed the immigration enforcement activities in Sanpete.

Another report received by the Messenger came from the daughter of a Hispanic woman who was in line to order pizza in an Ephraim restaurant. The daughter said another customer in line told her mother he would be calling ICE about her because she had been speaking in Spanish. Jasmine Carrasco wrote that her mother became frightened and left the restaurant.

“She never got her pizza,” Carrasco said.

Carrasco said her mother has lawful immigration status but nonetheless felt threatened.

The concerns follow similar disruptions after the Sept. 30 operation, when some families kept children home from school and some residents avoided going to work.

North Valley moves toward ending ICE agreement

Chief Gray told the Messenger on Tuesday that “our department wasn’t notified of any ICE activity whatsoever.”

Gray said the North Valley Police Board had discussed a pending Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) agreeing to participate in ICE’s 287(g) program. Local police departments participating in the program receive special training and assist in enforcement activities. In return, the departments receive federal funding and equipment.

The board wanted to consult further with ICE representatives, Gray said. Nonetheless, he said, “We have an attorney drawing up a cancellation of the MOU,” Gray said.

Gunnison Valley chief supports continued cooperation

While North Valley moves toward ending its agreement, Gunnison Valley Police Chief Jason Adamson said his department, which also has a 287 (g) agreement, intends to continue working with ICE.

“We are still going to work with them,” Adamson said. “We’re going to be a happy partner to help them.”

Adamson said the agreement provides access to federal identification systems and databases, including fingerprint and facial recognition tools.

He said one of his primary concerns is determining whether people his officers encounter have been deported and later reentered the United States. Crossing the border one time is a misdemeanor but repeated crossings are felonies.

Adamson also cited access to grant funding and equipment and databases with information about immigrants with criminal records as reasons to maintain the partnership.

He described a one-night ICE visit, also in September, during which Gunnison Valley officers, working with ICE officers, encountered eight individuals he said were in the country illegally.

According to Adamson, two were released. One was a woman with young children who were U.S. citizens. The other was a man receiving medical treatment in the United States.

Adamson said two people who were detained had been deported and later reentered the country, while another individual taken into custody had 17 traffic violations.

Still another person allegedly presented fraudulent identification documents, prompting a referral to the Utah Attorney General’s Office. Producing fraudulent documents is a state crime.

The remaining two individuals accepted offers from ICE to voluntarily self-deport. According to the chief, federal authorities arranged their flights and gave them stipends of $3,000.

Adamson said his department did not participate in an ICE operation around the third week in September during which, according to a leader in the Sanpete Hispanic community, four people were taken into custody outside the Gunnison Maverik store.

Asked whether the partnership could damage relationships with Hispanic residents, Adamson said, “I do want to have empathy for somebody, and I can treat somebody with dignity or respect, but I’m still going to arrest them if they commit a felony.”