[migrawatch-public] Raids leave immigrants in fear nationwide

Raids leave immigrants in fear nationwide
Published: February 19th, 2007

People look through a fence as federal agents escort workers during a
raid at Swift & Company in Marshalltown, Iowa, on Dec. 12, 2006. Raids
such as this one have gripped immigrant families across the country as
federal agents raid neighborhoods, work sites and jails in a nationwide
crackdown on illegal immigration.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
RICHMOND — Fear has gripped immigrant families across the country as
federal agents raid neighborhoods, work sites and jails in a nationwide
crackdown on illegal immigration.
Tens of thousands of people have been rounded up over the past
several months, and many more are afraid to leave home, answer a knock
on the door or leave their children alone in fear they might be next.
Churches and community groups are stepping in with legal advice and
financial aid for families split up or left without an income because of
the sweeps.
"My kids are asking me, 'Why is this happening, mommy? Why did they
take uncle away?'," said Dinora Sanchez, whose uncle was taken by
immigration officials in January while riding his bike to a construction
job in this low-income city northeast of San Francisco . "I'm afraid.
There are no explanations I can give them."
From California to Connecticut , federal officials have launched a
full-scale offensive to find and deport illegal immigrants. It's part of
a two-pronged approach , said Virginia Kice, spokeswoman for U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement: secure the nation's borders while
stepping up enforcement within.
"We're attacking these issues on multiple fronts," she said. "It's
definitely a priority now."
Documented immigrants like Sanchez, a native of Mexico, have nothing
to fear, said Kice. But her uncle, who had been in the U.S. illegally
for 10 years and did not have work authorization, was an obvious target.
"People who are in this country complying with our immigration laws have
no reason to be concerned," Kice said.
Groups supporting a reduction in immigration have praised the shift
toward more aggressive enforcement . "Enforcement actions like these
play an enormous role in deterrence," said Steven Camarota , of the
conservative think tank Center for Immigration Studies .
But many immigrants and their advocates say it's splitting families
and hurting the legal relatives of immigrants who crossed the border
illegally, as well as their coworkers , employers and the businesses
that serve them.
"We have to stop this reign of terror," said Mark Silverman,
director of immigration policy at San Francisco's Immigrant Legal
Resource Center.
Since launching "Operation Return to Sender" last May, ICE has
rounded up nearly 14,000 immigrants who entered the country illegally or
were ignoring a judge's deportation order.
"They make a mockery of the system," Kice said, "and send the wrong
message to those who follow the orders."
Some 4,400 others were rounded up in large-scale job site
investigations , including immigrants working without proper
authorization and those who hired them. More than 700 of those face
criminal charges, including hiring illegal immigrants.
Searches of state and local jails over the past seven months
identified another 5,500 immigrants who committed crimes, ensuring
they'd go into ICE custody when their finished their sentences.
In one of the biggest sweeps so far, Swift & Co. meatpacking plants
in six states were raided in December, resulting in the arrests of 1,282
immigrant workers. One of those plants was in Marshalltown , Iowa, where
Mexican immigrant Juan Padilla runs a western clothing store. He says he
went from selling $5,000 a month worth of cowboy boots, hats and slimcut
jeans last year, to just $600 in January. His wife, who wasn't
authorized to work, lost her job at the meatpacking plant and is
awaiting a court hearing. Padilla is wondering how they'll be able to
support their five American-born children.
"I want my children to go to school, to have better opportunities ,
so they don't end up cutting meat 14 hours a day," he said. "But what
can we do? Where do we go from here? I just don't know."
The enforcement action hit the growing immigrant community in the
town of about 26,000 hard. More than 30 children were pulled from the
school system, presumably by families who decided to leave the area.
Parents were "frightened that the immigration officials were going to
come to school and take their children," said Thomas Renze , principal
of Woodbury Elementary in Marshalltown.
Sister Christine Feagan, director of Hispanic ministry at St. Mary
Catholic Church, agreed that the raids have been particularly hard on
children, whether they're legal or not.
"You can't explain the difference to a second or third grader," she
said.

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