Thread: Traces of an immigration raid

http://www.atlantalatino.com/detail.php?id=5672&vo=150

Traces of an immigration raid
By Mario Guevara
mguevara@atlantalatino.com


04/27/2006

Manuel Guzman, 41, from El Salvador, describes one morning as “unforgettable,” when immigration authorities surrounded his workplace with the intent of arresting however many undocumented immigrants were found.

Guzman says he will never forget how the officer in charge of the operation shouted in Spanish, “No one move because we’ve got you completely surrounded.”

“When that happened, almost everyone followed orders, but I decided to run and so did a friend who was next to me. A police officer with immigration agents tackled him and then aimed his gun at him. I kept running and climbed a fence that divided the building and the street until I could save myself,” he said.

Guzman continued to describe how while crossing a fence, he was injured and some of his work clothes were snagged, and he could see his co-workers being handcuffed and officials demanding documents.

Still in pain, Guzman made it several miles and then dropped to the grass, where he hid about five hours. He decided not to go home because he feared they would probably look for him there. Immediately, he called the baby sitter who cared for his youngest daughter, warning her to leave the house.

“It was a miracle I made it out of there. God heard my plea because he knows my family’s sustenance depends on me. I was so scared I thought I heard helicopter propellers. I thought they were looking for me but then I realized they were only noises that existed in my head.”

Although Guzman is currently unemployed, he said he realizes that unlike his colleagues, he is fortunate to be with his loved ones, and that by his hard work he continues to give them those things necessary to live and be able to make the American dream come true.

A normal day at work at IFCO Systems North America Inc., the largest pallet services company in the United States, close to the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, was disrupted Wednesday, April 19, by a number of vans full of agents from the U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
At 11 a.m., when employees should have been working, the factory seemed vacant. Some tools were thrown to the side of the floor and part of the machinery was left running without anyone to operate it.

As part of a campaign by the Department of Homeland Security against employers hiring illegal immigrants, around 44 people were arrested for being undocumented.

ICE operations were not limited only to Georgia but were enforced in 26 other states, in cities like Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, Cincinnati, Albany, N.Y.; Indianapolis, Biglerville, Pa; Charlotte, N.C.; and Richmond, Va. According to one of the detainees, the majority of individuals arrested in Atlanta’s raid decided to leave voluntarily and are now in their countries of origin.

According to the ICE, the total number of arrests exceeds 1,187 people, with seven company executives. The ICE and DHS initiated these raids as part of a strategy that began last week to better secure U.S. borders and reduce illegal immigration.

Cristina Mendez, 23, is still unsure how to explain to her two girls, ages 1 and 5, why their dad hasn’t been home in about a week. Her husband, Armando Hernandez, was working the day shift when immigration agents raided the factory.

Hernandez has been a woodcutter at IFCO since 2003 when he moved from Houston to Georgia.

“Ever since that bitter morning I can only remember my husband calling, telling me that ‘La Migra’ (immigration) was at the factory. The call didn’t even last a full minute; it dropped, like someone snatched the phone from him,” said Mendez, who misses the husband and father of her children, is unemployed and considering moving back to Mexico.

A few blocks from her home in Conley City, about four miles south of the airport, Marcela Perllini, a 29-year-old from Argentina, is in a similar situation. Her husband, a young Mexican, was also arrested.

“My husband started working for IFCO about one year ago and we never thought anything like this could separate us,” said Perllini, who has a 3-month-old girl.

“The first thing I did was cancel some of the less important services, like the telephone, because I can’t pay off the debt since he took care of house expenses,” she said.

The migratory raid also had an effect on the church. Sunday service was a little different because Jorge Luis Rodriguez wasn’t there.

Rodriguez, a youth group leader at an evangelical church in the area, recently turned 19, is now in Mexico, and told Atlanta Latino over the phone how he doesn’t plan on coming back to the United States.

“The truth is that I just can’t believe that a so-called dream could turn into a complete nightmare. I went through a lot just to come to this country. Human traffickers kidnapped me; they extorted money from my family; I couldn’t sleep or eat sometimes; and the worst of it all is that just when I started helping my parents they arrest me like some kind of criminal and deport me back to my country in a way that was so humiliating,” Rodriguez said.

Socorro Rodriguez, one of Jorge’s aunts, lives in Conley. She said she realices that although carrying out the law is the authorities’ job, it isn’t right for them to arrest people that are contributing to the country’s economy.

“They should be more conscious. We’re not delinquents. We are hard-working people that are here to get ahead,” she said. “It’s time they pass some type of program that gives us benefits. We don’t want to be citizens here; we just want them to give us the opportunity to work and drive our cars legally.”

Manuel Guzman name has been change to respect the identity of the source.

THE RUMOR

ICE officials don’t wear a specific uniform, according to Temple Black, the agency’s spokesman.

Black said that he had received more than a few calls concerning the community’s fear of the raids and clarified in a press release that ICE agents carry out their operations daily all over the country in an effort to protect and shield the nation’s security.

The press release read, “These operations are not random sweeps, but carefully-planned enforcement actions that result from investigative leads and intelligence.”

Originally Posted by Brian503a

http://www.atlantalatino.com/detail.php?id=5672&vo=150

Traces of an immigration raid
By Mario Guevara
mguevara@atlantalatino.com


04/27/2006

Manuel Guzman, 41, from El Salvador, describes one morning as “unforgettable,” when immigration authorities surrounded his workplace with the intent of arresting however many undocumented immigrants were found.

Guzman says he will never forget how the officer in charge of the operation shouted in Spanish, “No one move because we’ve got you completely surrounded.”

“When that happened, almost everyone followed orders, but I decided to run and so did a friend who was next to me. A police officer with immigration agents tackled him and then aimed his gun at him. I kept running and climbed a fence that divided the building and the street until I could save myself,” he said.

Guzman continued to describe how while crossing a fence, he was injured and some of his work clothes were snagged, and he could see his co-workers being handcuffed and officials demanding documents.

Still in pain, Guzman made it several miles and then dropped to the grass, where he hid about five hours. He decided not to go home because he feared they would probably look for him there. Immediately, he called the baby sitter who cared for his youngest daughter, warning her to leave the house.

“It was a miracle I made it out of there. God heard my plea because he knows my family’s sustenance depends on me. I was so scared I thought I heard helicopter propellers. I thought they were looking for me but then I realized they were only noises that existed in my head.”

Although Guzman is currently unemployed, he said he realizes that unlike his colleagues, he is fortunate to be with his loved ones, and that by his hard work he continues to give them those things necessary to live and be able to make the American dream come true.

A normal day at work at IFCO Systems North America Inc., the largest pallet services company in the United States, close to the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, was disrupted Wednesday, April 19, by a number of vans full of agents from the U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
At 11 a.m., when employees should have been working, the factory seemed vacant. Some tools were thrown to the side of the floor and part of the machinery was left running without anyone to operate it.

As part of a campaign by the Department of Homeland Security against employers hiring illegal immigrants, around 44 people were arrested for being undocumented.

ICE operations were not limited only to Georgia but were enforced in 26 other states, in cities like Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, Cincinnati, Albany, N.Y.; Indianapolis, Biglerville, Pa; Charlotte, N.C.; and Richmond, Va. According to one of the detainees, the majority of individuals arrested in Atlanta’s raid decided to leave voluntarily and are now in their countries of origin.

According to the ICE, the total number of arrests exceeds 1,187 people, with seven company executives. The ICE and DHS initiated these raids as part of a strategy that began last week to better secure U.S. borders and reduce illegal immigration.

Cristina Mendez, 23, is still unsure how to explain to her two girls, ages 1 and 5, why their dad hasn’t been home in about a week. Her husband, Armando Hernandez, was working the day shift when immigration agents raided the factory.

Hernandez has been a woodcutter at IFCO since 2003 when he moved from Houston to Georgia.

“Ever since that bitter morning I can only remember my husband calling, telling me that ‘La Migra’ (immigration) was at the factory. The call didn’t even last a full minute; it dropped, like someone snatched the phone from him,” said Mendez, who misses the husband and father of her children, is unemployed and considering moving back to Mexico.

A few blocks from her home in Conley City, about four miles south of the airport, Marcela Perllini, a 29-year-old from Argentina, is in a similar situation. Her husband, a young Mexican, was also arrested.

“My husband started working for IFCO about one year ago and we never thought anything like this could separate us,” said Perllini, who has a 3-month-old girl.

“The first thing I did was cancel some of the less important services, like the telephone, because I can’t pay off the debt since he took care of house expenses,” she said.

The migratory raid also had an effect on the church. Sunday service was a little different because Jorge Luis Rodriguez wasn’t there.

Rodriguez, a youth group leader at an evangelical church in the area, recently turned 19, is now in Mexico, and told Atlanta Latino over the phone how he doesn’t plan on coming back to the United States.

“The truth is that I just can’t believe that a so-called dream could turn into a complete nightmare. I went through a lot just to come to this country. Human traffickers kidnapped me; they extorted money from my family; I couldn’t sleep or eat sometimes; and the worst of it all is that just when I started helping my parents they arrest me like some kind of criminal and deport me back to my country in a way that was so humiliating,” Rodriguez said.

Socorro Rodriguez, one of Jorge’s aunts, lives in Conley. She said she realices that although carrying out the law is the authorities’ job, it isn’t right for them to arrest people that are contributing to the country’s economy.

“They should be more conscious. We’re not delinquents. We are hard-working people that are here to get ahead,” she said. “It’s time they pass some type of program that gives us benefits. We don’t want to be citizens here; we just want them to give us the opportunity to work and drive our cars legally.”

Manuel Guzman name has been change to respect the identity of the source.

THE RUMOR

ICE officials don’t wear a specific uniform, according to Temple Black, the agency’s spokesman.

Black said that he had received more than a few calls concerning the community’s fear of the raids and clarified in a press release that ICE agents carry out their operations daily all over the country in an effort to protect and shield the nation’s security.

The press release read, “These operations are not random sweeps, but carefully-planned enforcement actions that result from investigative leads and intelligence.”

That`s such a sad story boo hoo.these Illegals say "all they want is to work and have that American Dream..Yeah! At who`s expence? Do these criminals ever say
Thank You America" NO! All they do is "Take & Make" Demands and they care nothing about the Americans they take from as long as they have the American Dream. This so called "American Dream" no longer exist.
These people run from their own country like scared cats.They come here and ack like they are some king of Mighty People.These Illegals don`t have the guts to do anything on their own,They have to hire "Anti- American Americans" to do their dirty work.
The only thing these Illegals have going for them is the American Government and that ain`t going to last much longer they way it is now.What will these people do when we have "True Americans" in Office?
The may as well create a "Mexican Dream".and take "Bush" and all of his Anti-American friends with him.That way "Bush" can hob-nob with old friends and "IN-LAWS" and maybe "Clear some Brush"

“They should be more conscious. We’re not delinquents. We are hard-working people that are here to get ahead,” she said. “It’s time they pass some type of program that gives us benefits. We don’t want to be citizens here; we just want them to give us the opportunity to work and drive our cars legally.”

They're only here for the "benefits". They have no desire to become Americans, just take our money. Drive their cars "legally", the obvious implication being that they're driving them illegally now. Are you listening President Bush, Congress?

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