Thread: Raid rumors leave lawbreaking hordes on edge

Yeah Jorge, enforcement will never work, blah

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... ba39a.html

On edge over raid rumors

Feds say employers targeted, but employees skip out

08:00 AM CDT on Friday, April 28, 2006

By FRANK TREJO and TIM WYATT / The Dallas Morning News and PATRICIA ESTRADA / Al Día

Rumors that immigration agents are rounding up illegal immigrants, perhaps in retaliation for recent protests, have spread fear from construction sites to supermarkets to ice cream pushcarts across North Texas this week.

Although immigration officials said Thursday that no major detention sweeps had occurred in the Dallas area since last week's action against a pallet-making company, officials with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said they intend to continue to crack down on employers who are more egregious violators of immigration law.

The fear of raids is having an immediate effect.

Ice cream vendor Floriano Maldonado, 48, believes that the raids are real and that they are directly related to the April 9 march when hundreds of thousands of people marched through Dallas advocating immigrants' rights.

"We told them, 'We're here!' and now they're coming after us," Mr. Maldonado said.

John Chakwin, the region's top investigation official for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Dallas, said the biggest targets of the Secure Border Initiative will be employers who profit from hiring illegal workers, but added that work site visits by immigration agents are going to lead to more people being bused back to Mexico.

"We can't possibly chase every illegal alien in North Texas, but we've got to go after the companies who hire them," Agent Chakwin said Thursday. "But if someone is doing something illegal – or here illegally – they should be looking over their shoulders."

Mr. Chakwin said his office is working at least five active investigations in this region – which includes North Texas and Oklahoma – and gathering information from more than a dozen local, state and federal agencies for more.

"I think there is more to come," he said. "We're going to be targeting the most egregious violators first, and we're going to charge them criminally and go after their assets."

An example of that effort occurred last week when coordinated raids on one national company, IFCO Systems, resulted in apprehension of more than 1,100 illegal workers and a few employers.

Dallas-area raids at three IFCO facilities netted 93 workers, and all but three were from Mexico, according to ICE spokesman Carl Rusnok. By the end of the day, 90 had agreed to "voluntary removal," had been loaded on buses and were headed back to the border, he said.

Mr. Chakwin said the IFCO raids went off without incident or complaint.

But the impact of the raids lingers.

• At one construction site Tuesday, just two of 35 workers showed up after word spread of an impending raid.

• Workers in a sandwich shop first sent in a scout to check for signs of a raid before the rest of their shift colleagues would show up for the lunch rush.

• Shoppers who usually go to Fiesta or Carnival stores said they are now buying groceries at places such as Tom Thumb.
Afraid to show up

The protests have been fueled by a bill passed in the U.S. House in December that would make it a felony to be in the country illegally. The bill also would make it a crime to help illegal immigrants. The U.S. Senate is working on its own version of the legislation.

Mr. Maldonado said Thursday was his first day back at work in almost two weeks because he has been afraid to appear in public. He said the seven other men he lives with in an apartment have also stayed away from work.

"I'm sure they are not rumors. The immigration is doing raids. They are picking people up," he said.

Mr. Maldonado, who said he has lived in Dallas for two years, said he needs to work because he still owes about $700 to the man who smuggled him into the country.

The manager of the Oak Cliff ice cream company where he works said that out of 130 employees, only four showed up for work Wednesday and 17 Thursday.

"We've always been afraid of being robbed when we go out to work; now we're afraid of Immigration, too," Mr. Maldonado said.

Vanna Slaughter, head of immigration counseling services at Catholic Charities in Dallas, said the concerns go beyond the workers.

"Our phones have been ringing off the hook. Employers have been calling us trying to find out what's happening, and our clients have been calling wanting to discuss their cases over the phone because they're afraid to come to our office," she said.
'It's all false'

Dallas lawyer Domingo Garcia, one of the organizers of the massive march, said that he and other Hispanic activists have heard the reports of new raids but that so far, all have turned out to be unfounded rumors.

"We've talked to the people at ICE and to immigration judges, and it's all false," said Mr. Garcia, who is civil rights chairman for the League of United Latin American Citizens.

He mentioned that he has heard of some immigrants not sending their children to school or missing doctors' appointments because they fear raids.

"I would hope that President Bush, and I would hope that ICE and their local representatives, would not engage in that type of conduct. And if they do, we're prepared to take action against them," Mr. Garcia said.

That message could be reinforced Monday when many workers are expected to take the day off as part of an economic boycott, a follow-up protest for the rights of illegal immigrants.

Many who support the cause of illegal immigrants are doing what they can to help those afraid to venture out.

Francisco "Pancho" Jaime, a Dallas-area contractor, said he has had to go buy groceries for some of his workers.

"They are afraid to go buy food, but I told them I would go buy food for them," Mr. Jaime said.

Francisco "Pancho" Jaime, a Dallas-area contractor, said he has had to go buy groceries for some of his workers.

"They are afraid to go buy food, but I told them I would go buy food for them," Mr. Jaime said.

I think that admission should net this guy an investigation by ICE and/or IRS.

The manager of the Oak Cliff ice cream company where he works said that out of 130 employees, only four showed up for work Wednesday and 17 Thursday.

Another business for WeHireAliens.com. ICE, IRS, here's an admission that they hired at least 126 illegal aliens. That should be worth your time.