Asheville protesters denounce immigration raid

Asheville protesters denounce immigration raid

citizen-times.com
Written by
Staff report
5:27 PM, Dec. 18, 2011

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Jose Antolin Castillo, left, marches alongside immigrant workers and families in response to the recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid at Shogun Buffet in Asheville. Castillo was one of the twelve workers arrested in the raid. (John Fletcher 12-18-11) / John Fletcher / jfletcher@citizen-times.com

ASHEVILLE — Protesters took to downtown streets today to voice opposition to a recent immigration raid in Asheville that led to the arrests of 12 Shogun Buffet restaurant workers.

About 100 people, including some of the workers who were arrested, took part in a march this afternoon that started and ended at the Vance Monument, with stops at Pritchard Park and the Buncombe Courthouse.

Loida Ginocchio-Silva, an activist with local immigrants rights group Defensa Comunitaria, said the Dec. 1 raid at the Brevard Road restaurant by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers runs counter to a recent Obama administration policy change focusing immigration enforcement on criminal activities and threats to the public. The group is calling for an end to deportation proceedings against the 12 and for humane immigration reform.

http://www.citizen-times.com/article...0074/1001/NEWS

They break the law then protest for their rights? Let ICE do their jobs like they are supposed to. We have laws for a reason.

The only immigration reform needed is enforcing our existing laws!

Asheville marchers decry immigration raid

citizen-times.com
Written by
Sabian Warren
10:01 PM, Dec. 18, 2011

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Audencio Diaz, center, marches alongside immigrant workers and families in response to the recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid at Shogun Buffet in Asheville. Diaz was one of the 12 workers arrested in the raid. For a photo gallery, visit CITIZEN-TIMES.com. / John Fletcher/jfletcher@citizen-times.com

ASHEVILLE — Protesters took to downtown streets Sunday to voice opposition to a recent immigration raid in Asheville that led to the arrests of 12 Shogun Buffet restaurant workers.

About 100 people, including some of the workers who were arrested, took part in a march that started and ended at the Vance Monument, with stops at Pritchard Park and the Buncombe County Courthouse.

Sharing the crowded sidewalks with holiday shoppers and chanting “No more raids” and other slogans, many carried signs such as “Justice for the Shogun 12” and “ICE out of our communities.”

Audencio Diaz, of Asheville, one of the Shogun workers arrested, marched with his wife and 1-year-old daughter. The 23-year-old immigrant from Guatemala, who was a cook at Shogun, hasn’t worked since his arrest and is worried about how he will provide for his family.

“I’m afraid to go back to work,” Diaz, who’s been in the U.S. seven years, said through an interpreter. “I don’t know what to do. That’s all I can think about day and night.”

Jailed in Henderson for four days before his release, Diaz faces a deportation hearing in Charlotte, but no date has been set.

Loida Ginocchio-Silva, an activist with local immigrants rights group Defensa Comunitaria, said the Dec. 1 raid at the Brevard Road restaurant by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers runs counter to a recent Obama administration policy change focusing immigration enforcement on criminal activities and threats to the public. The group is calling for an end to deportation proceedings against the 12 and for humane immigration reform.

Nine of the workers have each posted a $2,000 bond and been released from the Henderson County Jail, the area’s ICE holding center.

But three are still being detained at a regional ICE facility in Georgia.

“Our immigration system is broken and repressive,” Ginocchio-Silva said. “These people were arrested at their workplace. If they don’t release them, those three will spend the holidays in jail instead of with their families.”

Among the marchers was Asheville City Council member Cecil Bothwell, who said he was supporting the effort because of the need for immigration reform.

“Our immigration policy is extremely misguided,” said Bothwell, who’s running for Congress.

“We need to streamline the path to citizenship for people who are here to work. Any sanctions should be against employers, not workers.”

Henderson County’s recent tougher policies against immigrants has quickly created an economic problem in that county, he said.

“We need these workers. We literally had apples rotting in the trees in Henderson County because workers were afraid to go there,” Bothwell said.

The march took place on International Migrants Day, which marked the 21st anniversary of the passage of the United Nations’ International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.

No criminal charges have been announced against any of the Shogun workers arrested in the raid, and handling of the operation has shifted from ICE to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Charlotte.

Neither the investigations division of ICE nor the U.S. Attorney’s Office has said what led to the raid.

“Our immigration policy needs drastic changes, and ICE raids are not the way to do it,” said marcher Larry Wilson, of Asheville, who was attending the event with his wife, Jane. “It doesn’t help the conversation to take such a hard line.

“It’s so disrespectful to the families and the people involved. These are people like us. They aren’t terrorists. They are folks who are trying to feed their families.”

http://www.citizen-times.com/article...0008/1001/NEWS

Quote:

Among the marchers was Asheville City Council member Cecil Bothwell, who said he was supporting the effort because of the need for immigration reform.

“Our immigration policy is extremely misguided,” said Bothwell, who’s running for Congress.

That statement alone should render this jackass unelectable!