Michael Paul Williams

If a climate of fear is the point of the raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, it’s working. ICE raids have cast a chill among undocumented immigrants, and even those with legal status.

“There is a heightened fear to leave their homes for anything — even the basic errands to go buy food or go to work,” says Karla Almendarez-Ramos, manager of the city of Richmond’s Office of Immigrant and Refugee Engagement . “We also heard from (Richmond Public Schools) partners of students not wanting to go to school, because they fear when they go to school … they won’t find their parents” when they return home, she said.

Meanwhile, people are afraid to ask her office for help, she said in an interview.

“It is frustrating, because we know that our community is str

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