Thread: 29 illegals arrested

29 illegal workers arrested

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20 ... 017845.asp
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Mexicans, who worked at Springville nursery farm, are expected to be flown back to own country today

By DAN HERBECK
News Staff Reporter
5/20/2006

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Dennis C. Enser/Buffalo News
Two handcuffed Mexican nationals wait to be put in a van for the trip to Buffalo for processing after Friday's raid in Springville. None of the workers arrested gave agents any trouble.

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Dennis C. Enser/Buffalo News
An unidentified woman emerges from the office of the motel on Route 219 as agents escort a Mexican national to a waiting van.

Federal agents took the battle against illegal immigration to the farm community of Springville on Friday, arresting 29 Mexican nationals who had been working for a large nursery business there.
The Mexicans were arrested early in the morning, shortly after they boarded vans that were supposed to take them to tree farms operated by Schichtel Nursery in the Springville area. Police called it one of the biggest roundups of illegal aliens in Western New York in the past five years.

Most of those arrested are expected to be sent back to Mexico on an airliner later today. "We'll be flying them out of [Buffalo Niagara International] Airport, right to the Mexico border, and then releasing them into Mexico after that," said Peter J. Smith, a supervising agent for U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement. "This is right in line with the president's plans to have illegals sent back immediately."

Smith led a team of 50 federal agents and state troopers who stopped vans carrying the farm workers between 5:45 and 7:30 a.m. The workers had been been picked up at their living quarters - a small, nondescript motel on Route 219 in Springville and three houses in nearby West Valley.

"Vamos! Vamos!" agents told the workers, instructing them in Spanish to get moving.

Each worker was searched at least twice for weapons, handcuffed and put into a white Homeland Security Department bus with steel bars over the windows. Each worker was taken back to the place where he had been staying and then allowed to put his belongings in one white plastic bag, supplied by federal agents.

"If it doesn't fit in that bag, they unfortunately can't take it back with them to Mexico," Smith said.

The vans and the living quarters were all owned by Schichtel Nursery, based in Orchard Park, authorities said.

According to Smith, agents have not yet determined whether the nursery owners or a Rochester-based migrant worker contractor knowingly hired illegal aliens.

"Who knew what about these workers? Why were they hired? Were all the appropriate documents in order? Those are the questions we'll ask before we would file any criminal charges in this case," Smith said.

George Schichtel, owner of the nursery business, and Cliff DeMay, his labor contractor, both insisted they never knowingly hire illegal aliens.

"[DeMay] hires all the migrant workers for us, and he checks all the documentation," Schichtel said. "We hire people based on the documentation that he gives. As far as we know, he's very reliable."

All of the men who were arrested were excellent workers and never caused any problems, Schichtel said.

DeMay said he has been contracting farm laborers for 20 years. He said he finds workers for about 300 farms all over the state, including many in Western New York.

He said the federal government should be held to blame for the estimated 12 million undocumented aliens living in the United States.

Most of the workers arrested Friday entered this country through its southern border, moving from state to state, depending on weather and harvest seasons.

"It's a shame they're taking these good people away when they all might be offered amnesty in a few weeks," DeMay said, referring to the Mexicans who were arrested. "This will all change when lawmakers go out to their golf courses and find the grass is up to their knees . . . or the price of food goes way up because we don't have these workers."
DeMay said he does his best to verify that workers are legal aliens, based on interviews with workers and identification documents they provide. He said the government could solve the problem by supplying each immigrant farm worker "a simple ID card that everyone could use."

"Us employers are being sacrificed because the government can't do its job at the border and keep illegal aliens out of the country," DeMay said.

Smith declined to comment on the statements, saying he will wait to see what unfolds in the criminal investigation.

In a national address Monday, President Bush announced his intention to expedite the removal of illegal aliens caught in the United States. The president said most illegals caught in this country are Mexicans and said most will be escorted back to Mexico within 24 hours of their capture.

Those arrested Friday will be asked whether they are willing to be deported immediately or prefer to fight deportation through legal proceedings, Smith said. He added that the workers were arrested administratively, not criminally, so any proceedings would be held before immigration judges.

"If they want to oppose it, they'll be kept in detention facilities while they do that," Smith said. "If they don't fight it, we will be sending them back [today]."

None of the workers arrested Friday gave agents any trouble. Agents wore holstered guns and bulletproof vests during the arrests but never drew their weapons, Smith said.

"Their instructions are not to draw the guns unless something happens that would cause them to draw them," Smith said.

Some of those arrested Friday looked confused and fearful. Others smiled, acting as though they had been through the same routine before. At times, there were communications difficulties, even though many of the agents involved in the arrests were bilingual.

"Familia? What is your last name?" an agent asked one of the workers.

"Julio," the worker said.

"Julio what?" the agent asked.

"Si," the worker said.

"Julio Garcia, Julio Fernandez, or what?" the agent asked.

"Julio Fernandez," the worker said.

Five other workers from the same group were arrested Wednesday night by the Erie County Sheriff's Department and also will face deportation proceedings, Smith said.



Well if we have illegals here just because of golf greens for lawyers, then the lawyers can foot their bills!

It's a shame they're taking these good people away when they all might be offered amnesty in a few weeks," DeMay said, referring to the Mexicans who were arrested. "This will all change when lawmakers go out to their golf courses and find the grass is up to their knees . . . or the price of food goes way up because we don't have these workers."

DeMay should be in the Senate. He also is an idiot. There is a program where you can check the validity of the SSN number if you are intelligent enough to try.

Evidently you are not.

First the illegals threaten to destroy us with the Boycott, and now their crimminal employers are threatening us with higher prices and poor service.

Abide by the law and YOU won't have this problem.

Released at the border? What a joke. I am sure all 29 are back in the US at this time.

"It's a shame they're taking these good people away when they all might be offered amnesty in a few weeks," DeMay said, referring to the Mexicans who were arrested. "This will all change when lawmakers go out to their golf courses and find the grass is up to their knees . . . or the price of food goes way up because we don't have these workers."

Oh boo hoo!!! I'm crying! Poor babies! We cut our own grass, clean our own house and wash our own cars! Hey, I'll pay more money for food if I know that illegals didn't pick it.

If this nursery paid a decent wage, they could have all the workers they want.

He said the federal government should be held to blame for the estimated 12 million undocumented aliens living in the United States.

Sure, it has nothing to do with a sleezeball employer such as yourself.[/quote]

29 is a drop in the ocean.