`It was chaos’: Dozens of immigration arrests shock Dalton
Gilbardo Guerrero, a pastor in Dalton, woke up Dec. 30 to a flurry of concerned messages from members of his Spanish-language congregation.
Federal law enforcement officials were in town, and they were racking up immigration arrests, pulling over cars and detaining their occupants during the morning commute, Guerrero said.
By the time the day was over, approximately 40 arrests were made, according to an estimate from CLILA, a longtime immigrant-serving organization in Dalton.
According to Guerrero, the operation has not been repeated, but it sent shock waves of fear across the majority-Hispanic town northwest of Atlanta.
“It was chaos,” Guerrero said.
During a livestream, America Gruner, CLILA’s president, described the operation as a series of “flash checkpoints,” with officials in unmarked black vans briefly blocking streets and intercepting cars before leaving to set up impromptu checkpoints at other locations.
Agents wearing Immigration and Customs Enforcement vests asked drivers and passengers about their immigration status, Gruner said, detaining those thought to be in the U.S. unlawfully.
In the wake of the operation, impacted Dalton residents established contact with loved ones from inside the ICE detention field office in Atlanta and from the Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, both Guerrero and Gruner said.
ICE did not respond to a request for comment.
Local law enforcement said they played no role.
Cliff Cason, chief of the Dalton Police Department, said his agency “was not involved with any immigration enforcement activity” taking place on Dec. 30. A public information officer with the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office describe the arrests that day as a “federal government/ICE situation.”
Among the individuals arrested were five roofing company workers. The men’s employer, Miguel Jacinto, told Gruner during a CLILA livestream that they were part of a six-person crew that set out from Dalton around 6:40 a.m. that day to reach a job in Woodstock.
They didn’t get far.
After federal authorities intercepted their work van, only the driver was released, Jacinto said. The driver had a valid license, he said.
“I know that the guys did not want to resist … One of them said: ‘It’s better to go along and not fight,’” Jacinto said, relaying the driver’s account of the traffic stop. “They took it with calm.”
By the following day, most of Jacinto’s detained workers were at Stewart, he said. He noted all five had agreed to be deported back to their home country, Guatemala. He launched an online fundraiser to support their families.
“They did so much work here. They gave so much to this community,” Jacinto said. “It’s sad. I didn’t expect to start the new year this way.”
In the wake of the operation, Guerrero said Dalton residents were limiting their outings out of fear.
“It was an overnight change, at the Walmart, in Mexican restaurants, the number of clients went down drastically,” he said, adding that he has received calls from community members to patrol Dalton’s streets in the morning to assess whether federal agents have returned.
“And I have been doing that every day, at 5, 5:30, 6 a.m. I’m out on the streets.”
So far, it has been quiet, he said.
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