Thread: County's illegal immigrants told they have rights

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September 14, 2006


More raids likely: County's illegal immigrants told they have rights
by Tom Ragan
Sentinel Staff Writer
WATSONVILLE - Immigration rights advocates are warning undocumented residents in Santa Cruz County to be careful who they allow into their homes. They suggest residents look out their windows or ask who is a the door before opening it. Legally, residents do not need to allow anyone inside their home unless they have a warrant. The suggestions come after last week's immigration raid in the county. Doug Keegan, program director for the Santa Cruz County Immigration Project in Watsonville, said

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are saying "'This is the police!' and that's misleading because they're not the local police." Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Lori Haley said immigration officers, as policy, identify themselves as police because that's a word people with limited English are likely to understand.

"Anybody can ask for identification and credentials before they start talking to our officers," Haley said. "But certainly they're going to identify themselves. That's the protocol."

Haley said more immigration sweeps are likely in the area as part of continued efforts to shore up the country's borders. In an operation dubbed "Return to Sender," 107 undocumented residents from Santa Cruz, Watsonville and Hollister were arrested Thursday and Friday. They were among a group of criminal aliens and foreign nationals who had been served deportation orders but failed to follow them, federal officials said.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents said as many as 87 of those arrested have been deported to Mexico and other countries in Mexico and Central and South America, and that more than 19 had criminal records. The crimes included convictions for robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, receiving stolen property, drug violations and sex offenses against minors, authorities said. Jesus Diaz-Arevallo, a 38-yearold Salvadoran living in Salinas, was among those arrested. He had programs, full-scale social change is needed for healthful eating and physical activity to become the norm, added panelist Toni Yancey of the University of California, Los Angeles.

Some 17 percent of U.S. youngsters already are obese, and millions more are overweight. Obesity can lead to diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol, sleep problems and other disorders. Wednesday's report shows "what the country is doing is like putting a Band-Aid on a brain tumor," said Margo Wootan of the consumer advocacy Center for Science in the Public Interest.

been convicted of being an accessory to murder. But Leticia Shoemaker, a citizenship program coordinator with the Immigration Project, said the deportations seemed "kind of random."

"They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time," she said, "so we're telling residents to make sure they know who's knocking on their door before they open it up because once they open up, they're subjecting themselves to problems if they don't have papers."

Watsonville City Councilman Ramon Gomez said, "It would be nice to know about (the sweeps) before we read about it in the papers."

At Tuesday night's council meeting, Police Chief Terry Medina told the council local officers were not involved in the raids but were aware of them.

In Live Oak, the deportation of a man who made a living cooking meals for the residents of a residential care home there has shaken members of the staff, including his wife, a caregiver at the center.

The woman and her husband were separated after a 5:30 a.m. immigration sweep at the care home Friday. He was deported to Mexico; his wife said she doesn't know when she will see him again.

"They took him and didn't say why," the man's wife in Spanish on Wednesday. "They showed up abruptly, and said if he tried to come back, he'd go to jail for 20 years." The couple has three children.

The care-center owner said immigration officials waited for the man to arrive to work Friday, and asked employees if they recognized him from a photo.

The owner joined about 50 members of the community who share her sentiments Wednesday afternoon at Resurrection Catholic Community in Aptos, where religious leaders called for immigration policy change.

"Questionable laws are being enforced in an inhumane way," said Patrick Conway of Resurrection Catholic Community. "While we call for legislators to reform immigration laws, we cannot stand by silently while this is being done to our families."

What's happened on the Central Coast in the past week, said the Rev. David Grishaw- Jones, First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, has devastated families who work hard and play by the rules.

Haley, of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, had a different view: "A lot of these people are not good members of our community."

Staff writer Soraya Gutierrez contributed to this report.

Contact Tom Ragan at tragan@santacruzsentinel.com.

So I wonder what was done to the employer of the illegal that was deported as he showed up for work. Let’s not just send them home, let’s punish the business owners who employ them.

They are going after the criminals......so I guess they are against them being deported too. These people are sickening!!

ceferron,

Welcome to Alipac!

The lack of enforcement at the busness end of things is a major problem.

Business and individuals that hire illegal aliens should meet some tough punishment.

Dixie