CA: Rumors of immigration agents near schools generate fear

Rumors of immigration agents near schools generate fear

By JULIANA BARBASSA05/06/08 18:29:32

Immigration officials on Tuesday said rumors that federal agents were seen near Berkeley and Oakland schools were unfounded. District officials said the rumors had led some parents to stay away from the schools, apparently too scared to pick up their children.
"There's no truth to it," said Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "We are very mindful of the sensitivity of conducting enforcement actions near schools."

Kice said federal agents did conduct routine enforcement actions in Berkeley, arresting four undocumented immigrants there, and in Oakland, where they detained one immigrant. The detentions were part of their Northern California fugitive operations program, which has made more than 800 arrests this year.

"In most cases, enforcement actions are conducted in residences, or in the place of employment," she said.

The Berkeley schools superintendent, aware of ICE sweeps within the city, had sent out a recorded message to all households in the district around noon Tuesday letting them know that immigration agents would not be allowed on campus, and would not be allowed to pick up any children.

"The message was pretty clear," said Mark Copelan, spokesman for the Berkeley Unified School District. But it may have been misinterpreted, he said, because parents soon started to call schools.

At Berkeley High School, students waited after the end of classes to get rides home from teachers, said Ashwin Ravikumar, a school district tutor.

"Students are pretty scared," Ravikumar said. "A lot of them are really, really worried about their families."

In Oakland, the reports left many parents too scared to pick up their children from school, said Angie Gonzalez, the attendance clerk at Fred T. Korematsu Discovery Academy.

The reports also prompted Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums to stop by Korematsu Academy when classes ended to make sure the students were safe. He told parents and advocates who gathered there that schools should be respected as places of learning and not subjected to immigration raids.

http://www.fresnobee.com/384/story/580981.html

Immigration Arrests Spread Fear of Crackdown at Local Schools
By Riya Bhattacharjee
Tuesday, May 06

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents picked up a Berkeley family around 9:30 a.m. today (Tuesday), during what immigration authorities called routine targeted enforcement action, and took all four family members to the Office of Detention and Removal Operations in San Francisco for questioning.

The incident sparked protest among local immigrant groups and advocates and prompted the Berkeley Unified School District to send out a telephone message advising parents not to panic, after rumors started circulating that ICE agents were rounding up students in Berkeley and Oakland schools.

“It has come to our attention that the Immigration Department has picked up at least one Latino family," the recorded telephone message from district Superintendent Bill Huyett said. "As a result several parents have called concerned about their children being picked up by the immigration department. I can assure you that the school district will not allow any child to be taken away from the school. If you are concerned about your child walking home from school, please call the school and notify staff that either you or someone else is going to pick them up. If your child takes the bus home you may wish to meet them at their regular bus stop. The Berkeley school district will work with you to keep your children as safe as possible.â€

The only ones who will be impacted are IA's and they don't belong here. Their anchor kids should not be used to allow IA parents to remain in this country. They belong with the parents, after all, we don't break up families.

So Berkeley treats our Marines like criminals but welcomes and protects illegal immigrants. :oops:

If you are not in violation of immigration law then you have nothing to worry about, why do they assuage the fears of these criminals in complete violation of our laws??? And their kids don't belong in our schools even if they are anchor babies. Deport them already, imagine the money we'd save.

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Immigration officials on Tuesday said rumors that federal agents were seen near Berkeley and Oakland schools were unfounded. District officials said the rumors had led some parents to stay away from the schools, apparently too scared to pick up their children.

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Parents more concerned about themselves than their children.

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The Berkeley schools superintendent, aware of ICE sweeps within the city, had sent out a recorded message to all households in the district around noon Tuesday letting them know that immigration agents would not be allowed on campus, and would not be allowed to pick up any children.

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If ICE agents had warrents the superintendent CANNOT refuse ICE agents on the campus nor obstruct the arrest of anyone the officers have an arrest warrent for.

Some of these 'school children' may be cold-blooded, cold-hearted illegal alien gang members.

[i]“The pacifist is as surely a traitor to his country and to humanity as is the most brutal wrongdoerâ€

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Originally Posted by MyAmerica

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Immigration officials on Tuesday said rumors that federal agents were seen near Berkeley and Oakland schools were unfounded. District officials said the rumors had led some parents to stay away from the schools, apparently too scared to pick up their children.

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Parents more concerned about themselves than their children.

[quote:2zum0yet]The Berkeley schools superintendent, aware of ICE sweeps within the city, had sent out a recorded message to all households in the district around noon Tuesday letting them know that immigration agents would not be allowed on campus, and would not be allowed to pick up any children.

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[/quote:2zum0yet]

If ICE agents had warrents the superintendent CANNOT refuse ICE agents on the campus nor obstruct the arrest of anyone the officers have an arrest warrent for.

Some of these 'school children' may be cold-blooded, cold-hearted illegal alien gang members.

[i]“The pacifist is as surely a traitor to his country and to humanity as is the most brutal wrongdoerâ€

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“ICE is putting fear into the whole Latino community.

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From this I would conclude that the whole latino community there is illegal aliens or a child of an illegal alien. Otherwise why would they all be scared?

I certainly wish ICE would come to the school I teach at and conduct a raid. We could cut down on about 1200 students, 1/2 of our discipline problems and our TAKS scores would go up dramatically.

"The Berkeley schools superintendent, aware of ICE sweeps within the city, had sent out a recorded message to all households in the district around noon Tuesday letting them know that immigration agents would not be allowed on campus, and would not be allowed to pick up any children."

The arrogance of this Elitist school superintendent, he should be allowed to select the laws he wants to follow!

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Originally Posted by lccat

"The Berkeley schools superintendent, aware of ICE sweeps within the city, had sent out a recorded message to all households in the district around noon Tuesday letting them know that immigration agents would not be allowed on campus, and would not be allowed to pick up any children."

The arrogance of this Elitist school superintendent, he should be allowed to select the laws he wants to follow!

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I would like to see him stop ICE from entering the schools.