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15 immigrants arrested in raid

BY BART JONES
STAFF WRITER

November 1, 2005, 8:21 PM EST

Federal immigration authorities have raided a house in Farmingville and arrested 15 Latino immigrants, who are being held in a New Jersey county jail before facing deportation hearings.

The 5 a.m. raid on Friday at 6 Spurwoods Lane targeted the owner of the house, Adolfo Vera, 53 an Ecuadorean immigrant who was a "fugitive" because he had an outstanding deportation order, said Mark Thorne, a spokesman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Manhattan.

But ICE agents also arrested 14 other Latino immigrants in the house, determining they were in the country illegally, Thorne said. Advocates said the men are Ecuadorean and Mexican day laborers and were led away in handcuffs.

The federal raid comes on the heels of a town crackdown on overcrowded houses. Since late June, the town has shut down seven houses in Farmingville with at least 100 tenants.

Yesterday, some residents cheered the raid by federal officials.

"I'm glad to see the federal government is doing their job," said Gail Dandrea, who lives near the house and had complained to local authorities about it. "They know all these illegals are here. There's a written invitation -- come and get us."

Citing the housing crackdown, Irma Solis, a community organizer for the nonprofit Workplace Project who works with day laborers, said the raid "is one other way to create more fear within the community."

Authorities said Vera had an outstanding deportation order in part because he was convicted of possession of a forged instrument and driving while impaired. He was arrested by ICE's Fugitive Operations Unit in what Thorne called a "routine" operation that does not herald any specific crackdown on undocumented immigrants in Farmingville.

In the last fiscal year, the fugitive unit has tracked down and detained 1,133 immigrants including fugitives and those arrested as "collateral" like the 14 immigrants also swept up in Friday's raid in Farmingdale..

The arrested men are being held in Elizabeth, N.J., and will go before a federal immigration judge who will decide whether they should be deported. Thorne said it is difficult to say how long the process might last.

Solis questioned why the men were led in handcuffs and whether local authorities played a role in tipping off ICE officials to the house. Thorne said suspects are routinely handcuffed to protect agents, while town Councilman James Tullo said, "The Town of Brookhaven was not involved in this in any way, shape or form."