Thread: {SOB} Immigration raid breaks up local family

Immigration raid breaks up local family
'Here to work,' not cause 'trouble'


Omar Ornelas, The Desert Sun
Rosa cries in desperation as she talks about not knowing where her husband is after he was detained by federal immigration agents in Palm Springs on Tuesday. Rosa has four children, including 2-year-old Maria Jose, who is a U.S. citizen.

Nicole C. Brambila
The Desert Sun
May 11, 2007
The early morning knock on the door Tuesday changed everything.

Rosa is a stay-at-home mom to her four young children.

She and her husband of 13 years, Berto, recently paid the rent. The couple had $200 to hold them over until his next check. He had slipped it in his pocket before leaving for work Tuesday, promising to stop by the grocery store on his way home.

But Berto never returned.

A phone call confirmed her worst fears: He was among 24 people U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials arrested Tuesday as part of a week-long desert sweep of undocumented immigrants.

"People are really scared right now," Rosa told The Desert Sun in Spanish, pulling her shirt to her face to wipe tears away. "We're only here to work. We're not causing any trouble."

Her three oldest children attend school in the Coachella Valley. Her youngest is a U.S. citizen.

The Desert Sun withheld Rosa's last name because she is undocumented.

Rosa and her family represent the passionate debate unfolding in this corner of the country as Congress again considers reforming immigration laws.

On one side, the government asserts it is protecting U.S. borders and enforcing federal law. People in this country illegally are subject to deportation, it says.

On the other side, immigrants contend they come to work to carve out a better life for their children. Current immigration policy, they say, rips apart families.

Neither side appears willing to budge while lawmakers in Washington, D.C., decide how to amend immigration law.

"Fugitive operations are targeted arrests of immigration fugitives based on leads and intelligence - individuals who have received final orders of deportation by an immigration judge but have failed to comply," Lori Haley, an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman, said in an e-mail statement Thursday.

"The public needs to remember that those who are in this country in violation of our immigration laws are subject to arrest at any time," Haley said. "We are a nation of immigrants, but we are also a nation of laws."

But that position is stirring opposition from immigrants and their supporters, who take issue with the tactics being used in the nationwide arrests that started a year ago and the sweep that began in the valley on Tuesday.

They decry Berto's arrest as part of a growing trend in which immigration agents randomly ask for proof of residency.

"Anything has to be based on reasonable suspicion. If they're just approaching people at a market, on the street or at a gas station, that's racial profiling," said Nora Preciado, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union in Los Angeles.

The Immigration and Nationality Act permits any officer, without a warrant, "to interrogate any alien or person believed to be an alien as to his right to be or to remain in the United States."

"ICE officers do not enter a residence without consent," Haley wrote. "Once in the house, officers may check government issued identification documents and conduct interviews to determine status."

Witnesses have reported seeing plain-clothed agents posing as salesmen to get people to open their doors, randomly stopping vehicles in Palm Desert and arresting customers at Cathedral City businesses.

Immigration officials have repeatedly declined to comment on their operations. Protocol, however, requires agents to identify themselves.

On Thursday, witnesses reported seeing agents in Indio and La Quinta.

The local roundup is part of a national program, "Return to Sender," that has resulted in nearly 24,000 arrests since May 2006. About 1,500 of those came from the Los Angeles area, including the valley, officials said.

Locally, about 600 protesters marched May 1, just a week before the valley raids began, for immigration reform that would not tear families like Rosa's apart.

"How do you tell a lady that she has to go back with her child?" said Karan Kler, executive director of Coachella Valley Immigration Service Assistance.

The nonprofit counseling agency offers citizenship and immigration defense.

"This is why immigration reform is such an important thing."

Response from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials
In a Thursday e-mail to The Desert Sun, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials responded to claims of racial profiling and defended their recent operations in the valley. Here’s the entire e-mail:

“As Jim Hayes and I explained yesterday, fugitive operations are targeted arrests of immigration fugitives based on leads and intelligence — individuals who have received final orders of deportation by an immigration judge but have failed to comply.

“The Department of Homeland Security has an ambitious, multi-year national plan to shore up our borders and reduce illegal immigration. A key element of that plan is stepped up interior enforcement, including expanded efforts to identify and arrest immigration fugitives — that is aliens who are ordered deported and willfully ignore those orders. The strategy also includes streamlining the deportation process to maximize our resources. Under this initiative, ICE is dedicating unprecedented resources to identifying and arresting criminal aliens and immigration fugitives.

There are currently 52 fugitive operations teams deployed nationwide. By the end of this year, that number is expected to reach 75.

“With regard to our enforcement mission, ICE’s fugitive operations teams nationwide prioritize cases involving criminal aliens and immigration fugitives, but our officers also periodically encounter other immigration violators while carrying out their duties. In those instances, ICE officers take appropriate enforcement action.

“ICE officers do not enter a residence without consent. Once consent is granted to enter the residence, officers seek to identify persons in the home to see if the target is there. Once in the house, officers may check government issued identification documents and conduct interviews to determine status.

“ICE is committed to restoring integrity to our nation’s immigration system. People who are arrested for being in the United States illegally have a right to due process. They have an opportunity to go into immigration court and fight their deportation. But if they lose, they should accept the court’s ruling and comply with the removal order.

“And finally, the public needs to remember that those who are this country in violation of our immigration laws are subject to arrest at any time. We are a nation of immigrants, but we are also a nation of laws.â€

Poor Rosa...I wish I could have sympathy but I don't! How about you go to your local church and claim sanctuary. That way, you and elvira can email each other and send all your kids out to do your dirty work.

"How do you tell a lady that she has to go back with her child?" said Karan Kler, executive director of Coachella Valley Immigration Service Assistance.

You say "lady breaking into the United States of America was a big mistake which you now have to pay for" "bye bye"

On one side, the government asserts it is protecting U.S. borders and enforcing federal law. People in this country illegally are subject to deportation, it says.

well, actually.........it {gov} doesn't say anything except COME ON IN ILLEGALS

but

The LAW SAYS People in this country illegally are subject to deportation

We really need to get this little issue straight once and for all

wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

tell it to someone who CARES

So Rosa, Berto and 3 kids all broke the law and illegally entered the USA.
Then Rosa droped an anchor,lets not mention the bennies, kids schooling,
medical chirdbirth expenses, wic, food stamps,section 8 housing or that Berto took a job from a legal immigrant or an American Taxpayer.

No way, lets cry for the poor Mexican family all they wanted was to step in front of everyone else who wanted to immigrate to the USAthe right way.

You cry alone, Bento awaits take your babies to him Anchors Away

Tough cookies Rosa and Berto

Rosa and other illegals ARE causing trouble just by being here. So often the children are in the limelight now with their crying mothers to 'soften the hearts' of the Gringos. Sorry; you broke the law; reunite your family in Mexico (your home) and leave MY country!

Is something wrong with me? These SOB stories are not having the desired effect on me. Everytime I see one of these stories I become more pissed, not more sympathetic.

I guess the media hopes to influence those among us that are still clueless to what's really going on.

And what kind of pay must this guy be getting that his wife can sit on her can at home and take care of the kids? I know lots of American moms who would love to be able to stay home and raise their kids, but are financially unable to do that. I thought they only wanted the jobs we don't want?....