Friends and family members of Lisandro Pantaleon Pacheco were shocked to learn Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents had detained the Park City High School graduate on his way to work last month, describing Pacheco as a quiet young man who prioritized his education and community.

“I always admired him as a person and the way he carried himself,” said Alexis Montalvo, who grew up in the same neighborhood as Pacheco. “He really is a kind soul that you can lean on, and I always had confidence in him if I had something on my mind. I would always ask for his opinion because I knew he would come at it with a positive light that would point me in the right direction.”

Jesus Reyes, Pacheco’s cousin, also grew up in the same neighborhood. He said Pacheco was a shy kid when they were little, but he was a good sport and let the other kids roughhouse with him anyway. The duo and their friends spent a lot of time outdoors and developed an interest in BMX bikes as they got older, often gathering a group of 10 or more to ride around Park City after school.

“I would always see him on campus with his bike pulling off random tricks,” Montalvo said. “It was so good to see him doing that because I think biking was good for him. It was something that he always carried on, and I think (his girlfriend) Britney made a comment that he built his own bike recently and assembled it on his own. I wouldn’t be surprised given how far back his interest in biking goes.”

Pacheco also loves fashion, a hobby he started experimenting with in 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown. Reyes said Pacheco would often talk to him about designer brands and developed his own creative style by piecing together outfits.

“People would compliment his style all the time,” Reyes said.

Montalvo would join in on neighborhood shenanigans, too, although he joked he wasn’t allowed to ride with “the BMXers,” as Pacheco would call his friends, because he preferred to ride scooters. He said he knew Pacheco when they were little kids, but the two didn’t become close until high school, when they joined Latinos in Action, a program designed to empower and help Latino youth with college and career readiness.

“We would always ask him to hang out outside of class, but he would always prioritize going to class and then having to go to work,” Montalvo said. “He put himself through school, so it’s tough to see this whole situation that’s happening to him.”

Montalvo said Pacheco took his mentorship responsibilities with Latinos in Action seriously and took an interest in leadership, always bringing a bright, energetic light to the classroom.

Pacheco took his motivation and passion for education with him to the University of Utah, which is how he met Xochitl Juarez through the school’s First-Generation Scholars program. Juarez was Pacheco’s mentor, responsible for checking in with him and supporting him.

“My first impression of him was that he was a very humble kid,” Juarez said. “He was very quiet, but he always had a smile on his face. He was always very positive, and he engaged right away and was very respectful.”

Juarez said Pacheco would stay after every class to help her clean the room, and he made an effort to attend every social gathering the group would host despite living in Park City and commuting to school.

“He always spoke from the heart,” Juarez said. “Even when he didn’t know exactly what to say, even when his voice would shake, he knew that by participating, he was going to learn, and he was open to that, so it was really cool to see his growth.”

Pacheco’s friends and family originally thought he would be graduating from the University of Utah this semester with his bachelor’s degree, but they learned after his detainment that Pacheco had run out of money to continue his education. Juarez said Pacheco was in a difficult situation familiar to immigrant families.

“I graduated from high school in 2010, and then I went straight to the U, but as a first-gen, undocumented student, I felt super lost,” Juarez said. “I couldn’t ask my parents for help because they don’t know how to navigate the college education system in the United States, so I ended up dropping out.”

Nine years later, Juarez had received her legal documentation, birthed two kids and was working, which triggered her decision to return to school. She said she often used her own story as an example in the First-Generation Scholars program, including conversations with Pacheco.

“I would always talk to Lisandro and tell him it didn’t matter if he needed to take a break and that there are always people willing to help,” Juarez said. “I know it’s hard, but we’ve got a community. … He’s very dedicated to his family and to school, but it’s hard to navigate both of those responsibilities.”

Reyes said family is still at the forefront of Pacheco’s mind despite his detainment. He said Pacheco seems to be in good spirits whenever he has a chance to call, but he’s been worrying about his family and how they’re doing in his absence.

“Honestly, I feel like a lot of the Latino community is scared to go outside,” Reyes added. “Before, I would see almost every car in our parking lot gone on Sunday because they would be going out to eat, going to church, basic stuff like that, but now it’s almost full every day.”

Montalvo echoed Reyes’ sentiments, saying it was difficult to see someone he’s known since childhood detained by ICE and that it makes other Latino families think about what they would need to do if someone in their family is similarly arrested.

“It’s a horrible experience,” he said. “You pray every night and every day that your family comes home. … It’s something that no one should go through, but it’s the situation we live in now. Thankfully, we live in a community in Park City that is really true to its word, and they are there to back everyone up.”

Pacheco was detained by ICE agents on his way to work in Kimball Junction two weeks ago. His attorney, Adam Crayk, said Pacheco has no criminal history and that his mother brought him from Mexico to the United States when he was only 1 year old, which he argued was a misdemeanor committed by an infant.

Pacheco was briefly held in Evanston, Wyoming, before he was transferred to a second facility in California. Crayk and his family are currently working toward his release.

The post Park City graduate detained by ICE described as artistic, passionate about education appeared first on Park Record.

The Park City Police Department and Summit County Sheriff’s Office are not providing data from license plate readers or any other form of direct assistance to federal immigration authorities, including those employed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The two departments issued a joint press release on Monday to combat rumors swirling through the Summit County community after ICE agents detained a Park City High School graduate last week. The incident sparked concerns that local law enforcement was sharing access to cameras and license plate reader information with the federal authorities to help with their investigations.

“That characterization is not accurate,” the press release said. “At no time did Summit County or Park City personnel conduct a targeted search, real-time tracking or investigative actions using (license plate reader) systems on behalf of federal immigration authorities in this case.”

The press release said both departments use license plate readers as a tool to “support local public safety efforts,” including regional investigations. The software used by the agencies is “deployed by thousands of law enforcement agencies across the state and nation,” with the ability to share collected data with other departments listed as a “key” feature.

“This capability significantly enhances investigative efforts by allowing agencies to collaborate and track suspects across jurisdictions, including violent offenders who flee the state,” the release said. “Our offices maintain that preserving this data-sharing capability is essential to maximize the effectiveness of this technology in protecting public safety.”

All agencies participating in the data-sharing network are required to operate under a memorandum of understanding, “which requires that shared data be used strictly for legitimate law enforcement purposes,” according to the press release.

“The (memorandum) further prohibits the use or dissemination of information for any unethical, illegal, criminal or commercial purposes,” the press release said. “Our offices remain committed to transparency, the lawful use of technology and maintaining public trust while fulfilling our responsibilities to public safety.”

The agencies’ statement followed the detainment of Lisandro Pantaleon Pacheco, a Park City High School graduate who was stopped by ICE agents on his way to work in Kimball Junction last week. 

Adam Crayk, Pacheco’s attorney, held a press conference the next day and told media outlets that Pacheco had no criminal history other than a speeding ticket. He said Pacheco’s mother brought him to the United States when he was only 1 year old, which he argued was a misdemeanor committed by an infant.

Crayk and Pacheco’s family emphasized Pacheco’s involvement in the Park City community, his time in the local school district and Pacheco’s expected graduation from the University of Utah last Friday throughout the press conference.

However, ABC 4 reported over the weekend that Pacheco was not currently enrolled in the University of Utah and did not qualify for graduation. Crayk, in a statement to the Salt Lake media outlet, said Pacheco had run out of funds to pay for his education and hadn’t told his family or friends “because of the pressure.”

Crayk said Pacheco called his parents and girlfriend the night after the press conference to tell them he had been lying and to apologize.

Some Parkites attended the press conference last week to support Pacheco and advocated for his release online, with a fundraiser to cover his legal costs garnering $28,000 in only a few days. Donations have since been paused, even though the fundraiser is less than $2,000 away from reaching its $30,000 goal.

The description of the fundraiser has not been updated to explain the change, and the organizer has not responded to a request for comment as of Tuesday afternoon.

The post Park City Police Department, Summit County Sheriff’s Office say they do not share camera data with ICE appeared first on Park Record.

A Park City High School graduate who was set to receive his bachelor’s degree from the University of Utah on Friday night was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents two days before.

Lisandro Pantaleon Pacheco was pulled over on S.R. 224 around 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday, according to his attorney, Adam Crayk, who held a press conference on Pacheco’s detainment the following morning.

Crayk said Pacheco has no criminal history and that he was on his way to his first day of work at The Bagel Den in Kimball Junction when he was detained. He is currently being held in Evanston, Wyoming.

Enrique Sanchez, whose brother was a classmate of Pacheco’s at Park City High School, said Pacheco and his girlfriend, Britney Xiques, planned to get engaged this week, but she became concerned when she didn’t hear back from him on Wednesday morning.

“She knew he was supposed to be heading to work, so when she saw that he was on his way to Salt Lake City, she thought he was going to surprise her because she had an exam,” Sanchez said. “When she saw that he got off at the Redwood (Road) exit and then made his way to the Immigration Court in West Valley City, she knew something was wrong.”

Crayk said he has no information on the reason for Pacheco’s detainment and questioned whether it was a “profiling situation” during Thursday’s press conference. He said Pacheco’s mother brought him from Mexico to the United States when he was only 1 year old, which he argued was a misdemeanor committed by an infant.

“He didn’t have (a) choice,” Crayk said. “During many administrations, our border laws have been lax. They haven’t been strictly enforced.”

Sanchez said Pacheco planned to take more classes after graduation to apply to medical school, adding that it was difficult to hear negative comments about Pacheco based on his immigration status.

“Someone who grew up in our town, went to our school, is being painted as something he is not by officials,” Sanchez said. “They have promised to get the worst of the worst, and who they got is a working community member who’s about to graduate college.”

Approximately 100 people attended the press conference on Thursday to support Pacheco, according to Sanchez. He said it was a testament to the strength of the Park City community and how it “stands up for its own.”

Parkites are also supporting Pacheco and his family financially, donating more than $28,000 on GoFundMe in one day. The fundraiser described Pacheco as a person who “makes every room a little warmer with his smile” and touted Pacheco’s dedication to his education, including his participation in programs like Dream Big, Bright Futures and Latinos in Action.

“As many of you know, legal representation in immigration cases is expensive,” the description said. “We are in urgent and dire need of contributions to bring Lisandro home, where he deserves to be, getting ready for his graduation. The funds raised here will go directly toward legal fees, bond if applicable, and support his family during what is an unimaginably painful time.”

Sanchez said Pacheco’s detainment and ICE’s recent operations in Park City have created a “real fear” in the ski town’s Hispanic community, even for individuals with a legal status.

“There were also reports of other people who were U.S. citizens, but because they simply came out of a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood, they were pulled over,” he said.

Pacheco had previously attempted to gain legal status in the United States through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, “but the government closed it down before he was able” to obtain the necessary documents, Sanchez said.

Sanchez is familiar with immigration law because of his own status as a DACA recipient, but also because of his work with the American Business Immigration Coalition. He said he had just returned from Washington, D.C., where he was speaking to members of Congress about immigration policy.

“We work on common-sense immigration solutions at the federal level to actually have situations like this not happen, to get work permits for people who have been here long term and citizenship for dreamers like Lisandro,” Sanchez said. “Then to come home and this is happening right outside of the home I grew up in has really been a shock.”

The post ICE agents detain Park City High School alumnus days before University of Utah graduation appeared first on Park Record.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained at least four people in Heber City around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday.

ICE agents pulled over one man on Main Street near the Smith’s Fuel Center. They handcuffed and transported him from the scene.

ICE agents, using three vehicles, also arrested three individuals from one car.

Photographer Michael Ritucci estimated each stop took about five minutes.

“They didn’t search the vehicles or anything. They grabbed them, arrested them, took off, just left the cars there,” he said.

The identities of the four individuals arrested could not be verified. It is unclear how many people were arrested in total or how many ICE agents were involved in the operation. 

The four vehicles used by ICE agents were not marked.

Heber City Police Chief Parker Sever said the Police Department was not involved in the operation and that ICE had not notified him about its presence in Heber City.

Sever became aware of the operation after receiving several phone calls from residents and officers. He then called a contact with ICE, whose phone number he was unwilling to provide to The Park Record.

Sever said he was told that ICE was “targeting a couple of specific individuals that were wanted.”

ICE operations include targeted arrests and raids. Targeted arrests focus on a specific person who has already exhausted appeals, received a judge’s removal order and is subject to an arrest warrant; agents then locate, detain and deport that individual without further court proceedings. A raid is a broader operation, such as checking many employees’ work eligibility, with little notice provided.

Sever said a Heber City police officer offered assistance after coming upon one of the stops and was rejected. The police chief emphasized the importance of local law enforcement agencies knowing when the federal agency is in the area. 

“It’s called de-conflicting cases, to make sure that we don’t respond to something that they’re already at. That could result in some conflict between agencies,” he said.

To Sever’s knowledge, this is the first instance since he became police chief in 2023 that ICE had not notified him of its presence in Heber City.

“They apologized and said they would notify us in the future,” he said. “People are obviously sensitive to it, and it helps make sure that they’re safe and that our officers are safe and the public’s safe.”

The Summit County Sheriff’s Office was not aware of any ICE operations in its jurisdiction as of Tuesday.

The post ICE agents arrest at least four people in Heber City appeared first on Park Record.

Hundreds of people crowded along Heber City’s Main Street for a rally against the Trump administration on Saturday morning, one of 17 “No Kings” demonstrations in Utah and thousands held nationwide.

They held signs reading witticisms like “IKEA makes better cabinets” and chanted, “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Donald Trump has got to go” as supportive honks from passing trucks nearly drowned out their voices.

A ski patrolman could be spotted in the crowd, despite it being a hot morning without a snowflake in sight. He stood near another protester who was wearing a ski jacket and helmet and holding a sign reading, “Skiers against ICE.” The ski patrolman hoisted a single ski pole in the air. Suspended from it like a flag was the Red Cross-emblazoned jacket of the Park City Professional Ski Patrol Association.

Protester and Midway resident Lauri Sibulkin has been a ski patrolman for the association for 25 years. 

“My nature is to help people. It’s not to go stomping around in big boots,” he said. “I want the world to know the people that serve, whether they’re in the military or in emergency services, or our brothers in (police) uniform … we give a damn. We pay attention. We know right from wrong.”

He said the Trump administration has “utterly lost touch” with the notion that those in positions to enact harm must do everything in their power to avoid doing so. 

He expressed frustration that the U.S. and Israel launched surprise airstrikes on Iran in late February in the middle of the U.S. and Iran’s nuclear negotiations, thereby beginning the 2026 Iran war. He added that it was Trump who first withdrew from the United States’ previous nuclear agreement with Iran in 2018.

“Now, I’ve never managed to read The Bible because it’s terribly written. But that doesn’t make me an unbeliever,” he said. “But I’m told, in it, somewhere, it says, ‘Turn the other cheek.’ That doesn’t mean, ‘Be a coward.’ That means if somebody flicks your shoulder, you don’t punch them in the mouth. You find out why they did that, and if there’s a way to meet in the middle, do so.”

Fellow Midway resident Ron Lee also attended the protest to speak out about the Iran war, particularly the fact that it was started without congressional approval.

Lee called Trump an “immoral” and “corrupt” person who has displayed a level of “criminality” unlike any other president. 

President Trump was found guilty of 34 felonies related to falsifying business records in 2024. 

Lee also referenced Trump’s longstanding relationship with child sex offender and trafficker Jeffrey Epstein while holding a sign that read, “GOP: Guardians of Pedophiles.”

The protester added that he considered the Watergate scandal President Richard Nixon was involved in to be “minor stuff compared to what’s going on today.”

“The Republicans in Congress today do nothing to curtail what Trump is doing,” Lee said. “He’s not following the Constitution. He swore to the Constitution, and all he does is lie every day.”

Lee, 83, was involved in his local Republican party when he previously lived in Illinois. He became a Democrat when he moved to Utah 26 years ago because he saw that Democrats were being “overrun by the Republicans” in Congress, which he didn’t consider representative of all constituents in the state. 

“It’s just a smaller microcosm of what’s going on nationally today,” he said, referring to the Republican party’s current control of the state’s Senate and House of Representatives.

Park City resident Kim Hennemen attended the Heber City protest to show support in a majority-red county. 

She wore a sky blue unicorn costume that made her look as if she was riding the animal. She held a sign with red balls taped to it reading, “Balls for congressional members who’ve lost theirs.”

Standing next to Hennemen was her close friend, Ellen Guthrie, who is also from Park City. Guthrie wore a frog costume and a crown, which she had also worn at the previous “No Kings” rally in Heber City in October. Her sign read “No kings, only frog queens.” She was inspired by protesters who had worn frog costumes at anti-ICE protests in Portland last year. 

The pair have been attending protests together since George W. Bush’s administration.

“Right now, I’d vote for Bush,” joked Guthrie, who is a Democrat.

Hennemen and Guthrie weren’t the only longtime protesters at the demonstration. 

Kate Harrod, 71, is the former Government Affairs Committee chair for the American College of Nurse Midwives. She’s done plenty of lobbying in D.C. During Saturday’s protest, she wore a sparkly hat with an American flag pattern on it, one of several in her wardrobe.

She also owns a red-white-and-blue cheesehead hat, which she would have worn in her hometown of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, where she had planned on attending a “No Kings” protest — that plan changed when she and her other daughter, Mikaela, decided to make a trip to Heber City to visit her daughter, Megan. 

“You notice how many grandparents are out here. I was the generation that came after the protesters because I was too young in the ’60s,” Kate said. “But we learned from them, and a lot of those people are out here because the grandparents have to protect the young.”

Her daughter Mikaela lives in Minneapolis. She shared some of her firsthand experiences during U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Operation Metro Surge, which occurred December through February and garnered nationwide attention for ICE agents’ shootings of civilian protesters Renée Good and Alex Pretti.

Mikaela called it a “nightmare” and “like living in a civil war.”

“The craziest thing were the cars that were just abandoned on the road everywhere because they would just rip people out of their cars, and they would be left there,” she said. “One of the cars had a baby in the back that they discovered later.”

Mikaela is a postpartum doula and works with a client whose husband was arrested by ICE at a hospital during a prenatal appointment. He was later deported to Ecuador. 

“She had to deliver all by herself. She doesn’t have anyone else in the country, so I’ve been helping her a bit, just to be able to afford groceries and do her laundry,” Mikaela said. “The baby is a month and two weeks (old) now and still hasn’t met his dad.”

Mikaela said that is just one example of the lasting effects of the operation even after the February withdrawal of most of the ICE agents who had been deployed to Minnesota.

“People are scared to leave their houses and everything, still,” she said.

The biggest thing that stuck out to Mikaela as she participated in protests and barricades during the operation was the sense of community solidarity. 

Giving that community solidarity to Wasatch County residents was the reason why Interlaken resident Terri Goodall organized the protest. It’s the sixth protest she’s organized in Utah since April.

“I still believe in hope. I think we can change things,” she said.

Her husband, Bill, is more pessimistic on that front. He held a sign that said, “Not usually a protester, but geez.”

“How do you enact change when your country is being overtaken by mobilization of armed forces with masks?” he said, referring to ICE agents. “I honestly believe that it’s too late, that Trump has already taken things so far that we may never have another election in the United States.”

He pointed to the recent deployment of ICE agents in airports amid an ongoing government shutdown and the federal agency’s purchasing of a warehouse in Salt Lake City to develop into a detention center as examples of recent news items that have enhanced that feeling of doom and gloom.

Despite his pessimism, Bill could see the positive effect the demonstration his wife had organized had on the protesters.

“Most of the people that are here, you see, they’re pretty peaceful, but they’re also smiling,” he said. “This is a way to relieve some pressure and some tension and to feel good about being around other people that share your sense of the situation. … By organizing something like this, you provide people an outlet.”

The post Heber City ‘No Kings’ protesters rally against war in Iran, ICE tactics appeared first on Park Record.

Heber City residents may have noticed increased traffic stops over the weekend as the Wasatch Back Major Crimes Task Force conducted a criminal interdiction operation on Friday and Saturday. 

The focus of the mass operation was “identifying and disrupting criminal activity, with particular attention to traffic violations, drug offenses and alcohol-related crimes,” according to a Heber City Police Department press release. 

The operation was led by the Heber City Police Department, with assistance from one Park City Police Department drug task force officer, three Summit County Sheriff’s Office K-9 units and their deputies and an officer from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

Heber City Police Chief Parker Sever said focused crackdowns on crime are carried out by the Police Department around once a year. Summit County Sheriff’s Sgt. Skyler Talbot confirmed this, adding that the Sheriff’s Office has assisted with such operations in years past.

The Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office declined to participate in the operation.

“I felt like, given the environment that exists across the country right now in terms of some tactics that some ICE agents are reportedly using, I didn’t want to cause any of our citizens concern by participating,” explained Wasatch County Sheriff Jared Rigby. “We just wanted to be careful with our citizens, to not be hitting any concerns or any raw nerves.”

ICE’s involvement in the operation drew controversy on Saturday when former Wasatch County Sheriff’s deputy Brian Rowser posted on Facebook after hearing about the operation from contacts in local law enforcement and people he said had spoken directly with Heber City Police Chief Parker Sever. Rowser refused to name his contacts or what specific law enforcement agencies they were from. 

Rowser was concerned that an ICE agent riding along with Heber City police officers during the operation could result in the agent initiating traffic stops. ICE agents can only initiate traffic stops when they have reasonable suspicion of an immigration violation.

“This permits ICE … to simply stop what will likely be a person of color in a car, have the officer make a traffic stop presumably looking for a DUI, but then, the person is in contact with ICE,” Rowser wrote.

Police Chief Sever later clarified ICE’s involvement in the operation. 

One ICE agent was included, who has been assigned to the area for the past two and a half years. Sever refused to facilitate an interview with the ICE agent but explained that he works with the Heber City Police Department in criminal situations involving undocumented immigrants. City funds do not pay his wages.

Sever said the Police Department did not invite any additional ICE agents to participate in the weekend operation.

He added that the ICE agent was a passenger in a police vehicle with a supervisor during the operation and did not initiate any traffic stops. He said the agent was included to assist in traffic stops involving undocumented immigrants who did not have any form of identification on them.

“We stopped many people that were not documented. If they had ID, they were just moved on their way. If they had no form of identification, we needed to identify who they were. He assisted us with that,” he said. 

He said the ICE agent verified identities by using a fingerprint reader and checking the fingerprints against an ICE database. Sever was not familiar with exactly what information the database included.

He called verifying identities through an ICE agent “the least intrusive and traumatic way” to do so. He said it made things “more convenient” and “less scary” for those not carrying any form of identification.

“If they have no form of ID, he goes out, identifies them. They’re immediately released. If we aren’t able to do that, we have to arrest them, take them to jail. They get to spend a couple hours there getting identified. Then they get released,” Sever said. “In the meantime, we might have to tow their car. We might have to take care of kids, all those other factors. So, it’s actually less impactful for them to assist us.”

He said undocumented immigrants who were pulled over for traffic citations were not arrested by the Police Department or ICE, even if they were identified as undocumented.

One person who was an undocumented immigrant was arrested during the two-day operation. According to Sever, he fled from police officers on foot after being pulled over for a traffic violation and tried to escape by running through an apartment that was not his and through the back window. He had prior DUIs and an open container in his vehicle, and he later admitted to using cocaine and alcohol. 

The ICE agent involved in the operation placed a detainer on the person during his arrest. 

Sever said that even if the ICE agent had not been there, the person would have likely been transferred into ICE custody after being booked into the Wasatch County Jail, which has a 287(g) Warrant Service Officer agreement with ICE through the Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office. The agreement allows the jail to transfer an undocumented immigrant arrested for a crime unrelated to their citizenship status directly into ICE custody.

There were five total arrests over the Wasatch Back Major Crimes Task Force’s two-day operation. 

Several incidents arose from K-9 alerts. One stop led to the location of methamphetamine and brass knuckles in a vehicle whose passenger was a convicted felon. 

Another stop led to the seizure of fentanyl, Xanax pills, marijuana and two firearms. The individuals involved were booked into the Wasatch County Jail on felony charges, according to the Heber City Police Department’s press release.

Sever said that of the five people arrested, four were white and one was Hispanic. 

Although the two-day operation could be perceived as a response to Thursday’s anti-ICE demonstration organized by middle and high schoolers from the Wasatch County School District, Sever said the operation had been planned for weeks and had nothing to do with the protest.

He said he had never arrested someone solely for their citizenship status in his 30 years in law enforcement, and he had not seen any conduct from the ICE agent assigned to Heber City that concerned him in his two years as police chief. He said all collaborations between the two entities involved ICE supporting the Police Department, not the other way around, and that the ICE agent had never approached the Police Department asking to conduct a raid.

“He cares about this community, and he just wants to do what’s right. And he’s never one time asked us to do something that has ever drawn me any concern as far as that he’s going to go to our schools, or he’s going to go to our churches, or he’s going to just deport people for any reason,” he said.

He encouraged those who are undocumented immigrants to not be afraid to report crime.

“If you’re the victim of a crime, do not be scared to report it to the Police Department. You can come here. We don’t care about your immigration status. What we care about is taking care of you as a victim,” he said. “There’s no scenario that someone comes to the PD and says, ‘Somebody robbed me,’ and then we arrest them and have them deported.”

Rowser had a different perspective. 

“When our immigrant population learns that ICE is occasionally riding with our local officers, it’s going to cause very reasonable distrust,” he said. “A woman that gets assaulted but has questionable immigration status cannot comfortably call the police knowing there is a chance the responding officer may have ICE riding along with them.”

The post Heber City Police chief says weekend operation involving ICE was not immigration enforcement appeared first on Park Record.

The Pizza Yard was plastered with signs modifying its slogan to “We’re all friends here (except ICE).”

The Midway eatery was one of a handful of Wasatch County businesses to participate in Friday’s nationwide economic boycott protesting ICE policies and tactics that resulted in the recent fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

For Pizza Yard owner Matt Reschke, participating in the protest was a no-brainer. His best friends in the pizza industry, Natalie and Ben Taylor, live in Minneapolis and are equally exhausted, overwhelmed and inspired by the ICE demonstrations in the city.

But how could Reschke participate in the boycott’s demands of no work, no school and no spending as a small-business owner? 

Instead of closing up shop for the day, Reschke donated 100% of his proceeds on Friday to the Utah Immigrant Advocacy Coalition and the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota for a total of $4,000.

Another reason Reschke decided to stay open was to start a dialogue.

Elizabeth Budge, a 20-year-old employee, wore a shirt reading “I Stand With Immigrants” that she’d purchased during a protest at the Utah State Capitol over a year ago. She said conversations she’d had with customers were largely positive, with some admitting that they voted for President Trump in the 2024 presidential election but agreed ICE had gone “too far” under his administration.

“The political polarization that we’re seeing right now, I think, is in large part due to differences in information,” Budge said. “We have the algorithmic internet, … but something I’ve been seeing in my own family, in this community, is what’s happening in Minneapolis is hard to ignore, and so people who have been streamlined into these specific political avenues are coming together on this one issue. And that’s one of those things that’s making me feel hopeful.”

Personal tragedy drives Budge’s activism. Her uncle was an undocumented immigrant from Peru who met his wife in Southern California. He was later deported and died by suicide not long after. Budge said her uncle’s separation from his wife and child, on top of underlying mental health issues, contributed to his decision to end his life.

“The whole system is not designed around human need. There’s very little compassion,” Budge said.

Budge is a former member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She said what she hopes to see in a largely religious state like Utah is people becoming more Christlike in their views toward immigrants, regardless of legal status.

“I think that Christ would want us to love our neighbor,” Budge said. “And he wants us to love our neighbor even if our neighbor is someone that we’re being told is different than us, or maybe even less than us, depending on the people in power.”

For her boss, Reschke, protesting ICE was not a religious matter but a moral one.

“It’s really easy to just live by trying to do what’s right rather than trying to figure out what makes sense for the bottom line,” he said. “It’s easy to live in a way that your kids will be proud of you.”

A block away, Folklore Bookshop customer Mary Schindler agreed with Reschke’s sentiment. She brought her kids with her to write elected representatives on postcards provided by the store, which also donated 20% of its proceeds, or over $2,200, to Red Balloon Bookshop — a small business in Minnesota hosting a book drive “to distribute books to kids who are currently staying home due to the actions of ICE.”

Schindler’s 11-year-old daughter, Ans, wrote a postcard to U.S. Sen. John Curtis, former U.S. representative for Utah’s 3rd Congressional District, which includes Wasatch County, Park City and most of Summit County. Curtis voted on Thursday to support a six-bill spending package including funding for the Department of Homeland Security. On Friday, the package was passed with a two-week continuing resolution to deliberate Department of Homeland Security funding.

“You need to stand up and do something to get ICE out. I’m 11 and know everything that happens in the United States from the news,” Ans’ postcard read. “If you don’t try, this country will fall.”

She had penciled a frowny face at the bottom.

Some of what Ans knows about current events comes from watching the news and participating in protests with family members. Much comes from conversations with her mother. 

“Your kids need to know the stresses that we’re feeling and also to know that we care about their future. The biggest thing is I don’t want my kids in 10 years to ask, ‘Why didn’t you do anything?’” Schindler said.

Schindler said many of her conversations with her kids revolve around the rise of fascism in Germany leading up to World War II and why people didn’t speak up. 

Folklore co-owner and author Lindsey Leavitt has been thinking about the same thing.

Leavitt’s oma, or grandmother, grew up in Germany during World War II. Much of Leavitt’s writing has grappled with what she perceived to be political inaction by her oma. As an adult, Leavitt came to understand that her oma was but a child who, just after the war, dealt with the death of her mother and had to take care of her five siblings.

Now that Leavitt believes she is seeing similarities in the United States to what she’s learned about the rise of fascism in Germany, she doesn’t want to stay silent.

She hopes that writing elected representatives can make a difference. The bookstore delivered over 35 postcards to the post office over the course of the day.

“There’s an art form to a letter, and there’s an art form to an email,” she said. “Even if they throw it away, you sitting down and writing something and digesting it and processing what you feel and think empowers you.”

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In this week’s collection of portraits from For The Record, we asked people at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church how they think the community should respond to the Trump administration’s immigration policies. (Tanzi Propst/Park Record)

The post PHOTOS: For The Record | Feb. 23, 2017 appeared first on Park Record.