A man wearing what appears to be a bullet proof vest and two pistols was filmed in the parking lot of a mall in Memphis, Tennessee, asking a group of immigrants if they were legal residents.
Jose Salazar, of Latino Memphis, showed up to the parking lot after being alerted of the activity and suspecting that the so-called officer was not from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). “He charged $150 each if they did not show that they had a residence,” Salazar said.
https://www.facebook.com/jose.u.salazar.1/videos/885039364994235/?permPage=1
The woman in the video is attorney Casey Bryan, Legal Director at Latino Memphis. She first asks the “bounty hunter” what he is doing and demands that he explain why he is charging money to undocumented people. After clearing up that he is not an ICE agent, the man claims to be from a company called United States Bail Bonding.
It’s important to point out that due to the passage of the Real ID Act in Congress in April 2005, bounty hunters were given unprecedented authority to persecute and arrest immigrants subject to deportation.
Bryan keeps on questioning him and explains that he is not authorized by the Department of Justice to detain people. The man insists that he works for the United States Bail Bonding company and says that his boss had told him “we are going to (stop) immigrants” that morning.
Salazar pointed out: “One person called us to tell us that this man’s dad is a bounty hunter, that the guy in the video is someone pretending to get money from the people and threatening to hand them over to the authorities if they do not pay him”.
“If they would say no he would basically hold them hostage until they paid $150 or he would call ICE on them,” Salazar said.
Later, the Memphis Police Department declared that he also pretended to be a bounty hunter with U.S. Immigration and Customs Office (ICE) in order to rob a group of men is at large.
Police identified him as 24-year-old Daquawn Simmons. He is facing charges of aggravated assault, attempted robbery, and using a firearm to commit a felony.
ICE representatives said Simmons is not with them, and he’s not with MPD either. Memphis police said Simmons was falsely impersonating a bounty hunter assigned by ICE.
Officers said they’ve received recent reports that Simmons showed up with two guns strapped to his chest, pointing a gun at a group of men while saying they would be deported if they didn’t pay up. They gave him money believing he was an ICE agent, according to police.
Meanwhile, MPD Director Mike Rallings, said they are diligently working to find the man still on the run: “We will continue to look for him until we place him in custody.”