People Are Impersonating ICE Agents To Harass Immigrants And Commit Crimes, Police Say

Advocates told HuffPost the incidents show the dangerous environment immigrants are facing under President Donald Trump.

Multiple police departments across the U.S. have recently arrested suspects who allegedly impersonated ICE agents and appeared to be using President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement policies to intimidate immigrants or further their own criminal activities.

Sean Michael-Emmrich Johnson, a 33-year-old South Carolina resident, was charged on Jan. 31 with kidnapping and impersonating a police officer after a viral video shared by Spanish news network Nuestro Estado showed him detaining and taunting a group of Latino men.

“You all got caught!” Johnson can be heard telling the men with a smile. He can then be seen taking the keys out of the ignition of the men’s truck, preventing them from leaving. “Where are you from, Mexico? You from Mexico? You’re going back to Mexico!”

One of the men can be heard speaking Spanish over the phone before Johnson interrupts to say, “Now don’t be speaking that pig-Latin in my fucking country!”

Police arrived to a report of a traffic violation and encountered Johnson, who allegedly told them the men in the landscaping truck he was harassing were Mexican and did not have a valid driver’s license, according to a heavily redacted arrest warrant obtained by HuffPost.