Man pretends to be a "bounty hunter" and extorts undocumented immigrants
A man wearing some sort of bulletproof vest and two high-caliber pistols was filmed in the parking lot of a mall in Memphis, Tennessee, asking a group of immigrants if they were legal residents.
The man, who is black and appears to be in his mid-30s, was confronted by a lawyer and activist, who asked him why he was threatening to call immigration authorities if the immigrants did not pay.
"This is the thing, we've been doing immigrant busts for the last month," the man says.
"You guys aren't ICE agents, though?" a woman responds.
"No," the man responds.
Joseph 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.
"We're looking for immigrants"
The woman whose voice is heard 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 clarifying that he is not an ICE agent, the man claims to be from a company called United States Bail Bonding.
Bryan asks the man if he is looking for immigrants with pending bail bonds, to which the man repeatedly replies "no."
Following the passage of the Real ID Act in Congress in April 2005, bounty hunters were given unpredented authority to persecute and arrest immigrants subject to deportation.
The procedure
Bryan continues to question the man, asking if he is acting as a "vigilante trying to round up immigrants."
The attorney tells him that he is not authoritized to do so by the Department of Justice. The man insists again that he works for the United States Bail Bonding company and said his boss had told him in the morning "we are going to (stop) immigrants."
In another part of the video Bryan asks the man to tell her if he is a bounty hunter and if he had found someone who had not yet paid bail.
The individual says yes, and that the alleged offender was Mexican.
Fear in Memphis
"This situation has been very scary in Memphis," Salazar told Univision.
Salazar said the bounty hunter's father is also a bounty hunter.
"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."
Univision reached out to United Bail Bonding, which refused to comment. They assured that they do not seek out undocumented immigrants.