U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials say they have no plans to arrest immigrants seeking shelter from Hurricane Florence.
All immigration enforcement initiatives specifically “associated with evacuations or sheltering” have been suspended in light of the severity of the storm, an ICE spokesperson said in a statement. The only exception being a “serious” threat to public safety.
“Our highest priority remains the preservation of life and safety,” the statement says.
Concerns have been raised over social media that some people were choosing not to evacuate despite the substantial safety risk because they were worried they could face deportation.
WATCH: Hurricane Florence: FEMA warns ‘don’t let your guard down’ as storm now category two
Earlier this week, Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley claimed President Donald Trump’s administration had transferred almost $10 million from the government’s disaster relief agency to immigration enforcement. It’s a claim Trump officials deny.
In a post published late Wednesday, author and pastor John Pavlovitz — who lives in North Carolina, where Hurricane Florence is fast bearing down — wrote he was hearing stories of many people refusing to evacuate for fear of ICE.
“I was sickened,” wrote Pavlovitz, drawing a line between two years of ICE empowerment under Trump and immigrants thinking twice about whether to evacuate.
“This is where we are now,” he said.
“People of colour would rather face the fury of a natural disaster than the cruelty of our government, and I don’t blame them. They have good reason.”
The Trump administration’s approach to immigration drew international condemnation earlier this summer when it enacted a zero-tolerance policy and forcibly separated more than 2,000 children from their parents, some of whom have yet to be reunited.
Regardless of ICE’s own promise to suspend activities in light of the hurricane, the American Red Cross has made it clear it will not abide by any requests by officials to see the immigration papers of people seeking shelter.
The Red Cross doesn’t ask for anyone’s identification when seeking shelter, the organization said in a statement, although it does collect names and address in order to track who is using its services. If someone seeking shelter does reveal their immigration status, Red Cross said that will not be shared.
“Red Cross staff will protect the person’s confidentiality,” per the statement. “Moreover, we have made our federal partners aware of Red Cross policies regarding the confidentiality of the people we serve.”
Hurricane Florence was downgraded to a Category 2 hurricane on Tuesday but is still expected to be quite dangerous when it makes landfall Friday morning.
— with files from the Associated Press