Free Republic

Days after rumors began to swirl that federal immigration agents were planning to conduct raids in Austin, advocates said as many as five were detained Thursday. They were nabbed in separate, targeted arrests, likely as part of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts, said Alejandro Caceres, an organizer with Grassroots Leadership, an Austin nonprofit that opposes private prisons. Other arrests were reported around the country Thursday, including in Southern California, where protests have started. “I’ve never heard of five people getting picked up in one day,” Caceres said in an interview with the Observer, adding that he’s lived in Austin...

An immigration officer is being treated for what officials say are minor injuries after a traffic stop in North Austin on Friday morning. Austin police Lt. Cara Boyd said the immigration officer pulled a vehicle over around 6 a.m. in the 13600 block of the U.S. 183 southbound service road between Anderson Mill Road and Lake Creek Parkway. Boyd said the officer was trying to take a person into custody, but family members tried to intervene. It was unclear why the individuals was being arrested, Boyd said. An Austin police supervisor said family members “got out of hand.” Austin police...

More than two dozen protesters held a rally Thursday night in front of a federal building in downtown Austin after a woman contacted an Austin immigration support group and told them federal immigration officials had detained her husband during a traffic stop in Southeast Austin. Reyna Alvarado said her husband, Francisco Alvarado, was pulled over by federal officials on Riverside Drive near Wickersham Lane around 8:30 a.m. Thursday. He is currently detained, though she was unsure where, Reyna Alvarado said. He told her wife on the phone that he is likely to be deported, she said. Immigration officials told her...