Immigration enforcement activity is ramping up in Pittsburgh’s Latino neighborhood.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were seen at various locations throughout Pittsburgh’s Beechview neighborhood on Sept. 8 and Sept. 9, with one arrest taking place, according to residents and advocates.
Here’s when and where they were seen.
Where was ICE seen in Pittsburgh?
ICE agents were seen on Sept. 8 and Sept. 9 in Pittsburgh’s Beechview neighborhood. They were spotted stopping but not detaining a father as he walked his daughter to school, eating at Chicken Latino on Broadway Avenue and engaging in a verbal altercation with Joey Berumen, whose family runs the Mexican grocery store Las Palmas, said Monica Ruiz.
Ruiz, executive director of Casa San José, a local resource center for Pittsburgh’s Latino community, reported the incidents to Pittsburgh’s Public Source.
Did ICE arrest anyone in Pittsburgh?
No one was arrested on Sept. 9, Ruiz told Axios Pittsburgh. But that same day, Joey Berumen, whose family runs the Mexican grocery store Las Palmas, told local NBC-affiliate WPXI that ICE agents arrested an individual outside the store.
“They grabbed some customer who was in the front of the store,” Berumen said, adding that the customer was detained as Berumen was leaving the building.
“He went to his vehicle, and two black Explorers and a Nissan Pathfinder just closed him in,” Berumen said. “As soon as he got into the vehicle [they] opened up the door and arrested him and took him.”
Why is ICE in Pittsburgh neighborhood?
An ICE spokesperson told WPXI that the agency was conducting raids throughout Allegheny County.
Pittsburgh doesn’t have a large Latino population overall, with the demographic making up just 4.5% of the city’s total population, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
But Beechview has a larger population of Latino people. In 2023, Pittsburgh’s Public Source examined census data and found that the neighborhood’s Latino population had climbed to 10%, the largest ratio of any major neighborhood or municipality in the region. The neighborhood also has large populations of Black, multi-racial and Asian people.
Finch Walker is the Pittsburgh Connect Reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Contact Walker at FWalker@usatodayco.com. Instagram: @finchwalker_. X: @_finchwalker.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ICE enforcement ramping up in Pittsburgh’s only Latino neighborhood
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