Thread: Critics lash out at effects of immigration enforcement

http://journalstar.com/articles/2006/12 ... 230267.prt

Critics lash out at effects of immigration enforcement
BY ART HOVEY / Lincoln Journal Star
Thursday, Dec 21, 2006 - 11:57:38 pm CST
OMAHA — Hotline calls to Grand Island’s largest Hispanic church suggest that as many as 180 of the approximately 260 workers detained in an immigration raid at the Swift meatpacking plant there last week have been deported.

Jorge Canelas, a deacon at the Cathedral of St. Mary’s, said 80 mothers were taken back to Grand Island from a holding area near Des Moines, Iowa, to be reunited with children.

Speaking at a Thursday news conference organized by critics of the raids, Canelas said many of the town’s Hispanic residents who were not detained are living in fear.

“People are still hiding in the closet,” he said. “People are still hiding in the house, because they are so afraid to go out.”

Thursday’s news conference at the Our Lady of Guadalupe Church Hall in south Omaha was called by a coalition of religious and civic leaders.

Father Andrew Alexander, vice president of University Ministry at Creighton University, was among many speakers who stepped forward to lament the disruptive effects of workplace enforcement on Hispanic families and to call for immigration reform.

Alexander referred to “a foolish, cynical, unjust raid” and used a series of questions to make a case for what he sees as more enlightened treatment of undocumented workers.

“What do we do when the laws are unjust? What do we do when they are blind? What do we do when they can’t be enforced proudly? What do we do when we see laws in competition with our values?”

The origins for the outpouring of indignation in Omaha were raids on six Swift plants in six states in the early morning hours of Dec. 12. They resulted in almost 1,300 workers being loaded on buses and taken away by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Mass round-ups of employees at Nebraska meatpacking plants, where Hispanics are typically a big portion of the work force, had been largely out of the enforcement picture since the early 1990s.

ICE officials said the more recent enforcement action was the culmination of an investigation that began in February and aimed at identity theft and fraudulent use of Social Security cards and other documents commonly used to show proof of legal status in the United States.

According to those same officials, Swift was targeted only because a number of people suspected of involvement in identity theft worked in its plants. They denied meatpacking plants were being singled out.

In updating matters later Thursday, Tim Counts, a regional immigration enforcement spokesman in Minneapolis, said the Grand Island church’s attempts to account for the whereabouts of those detained are not based on any information from immigration agents.

“All these numbers are being coordinated by our Washington office,” Counts said, “and at this point we are not releasing any numbers yet.”

He hotly disputed the church’s count on female detainees released from Iowa, saying it was “absolutely nothing like 80.” It was “a handful of additional people who (earlier) lied about the presence of childcare issues,” Counts said.

He said immigration officials did release 27 people at the Swift plant on the day of the raid who were either pregnant or said they had childcare responsibilities.

“I do know that some people have been deported, removed. I do want to make it clear that they were deported only after having full access to due process.”

Back in Omaha, leaders from Catholic, Episcopalian and Methodist ranks also cited the negative impacts of the Grand Island raid. They urged action by federal lawmakers who have so far been unable to agree on what to do about an estimated 12 million undocumented workers in the United States.

The Right Rev. Joe Burnett, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska, said the federal intent appears to be “to punish those whose only crime is to try to escape the curse of grinding poverty.”

Speaking on behalf of Catholic Archbishop Elden Curtiss of the Omaha Archdiocese, the Rev. Carl Zoucha said such a punitive stance is “morally unacceptable.” He said there should be a moratorium on raids “until Congress has acted to correct this unjust reality.”

Pastor Maria Liz Conner of Omaha’s Iglesia Luterana Cristo Rey, which is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, unloaded more criticism as she climbed into her vehicle after the news conference.

“God does not make illegal people,” she said. “God makes humans.”

At one point during the press conference, Marty Ramirez, a Latino activist from Lincoln, was asked for an update on efforts to enlist the support of Gov. Dave Heineman in calming immigration unrest.

Ramirez rose in the audience to say those efforts were “in the works.”

Sought out later, a spokesman for the governor said there was no outcome to report.

“I know the governor is going to be reaching out a little bit to talk to some of these folks in the near future,” said Aaron Sanderford. “But, at this point, there’s not much to talk about yet.”

Canelas, the church deacon, predicted a sad Christmas for many families in Grand Island.

Immigration enforcement spokesman Counts, although unable to offer any numbers on deportations, did report that the number of detainees now accused of breaking laws beyond unlawful presence in the United States had surpassed 200 from the six plants.

“Many of those charges are identity theft crimes,” he said.

Some of them are directed at people who have been making counterfeit documents.

“Yes, they are making them,” Counts said. “And they are sometimes selling genuine documents belonging to U.S. citizens or legal residents.”

Reach Art Hovey at (402) 523-4949 or ahovey@alltel.net.

People are still hiding in the closet,” he said. “People are still hiding in the house, because they are so afraid to go out.”

Yes, they should be afraid...very afraid.....it is time that they are afraid instead of proudly flaunting their illegal status and their ability to sustain a life in a country that they are invading.

God does not make illegal people,” she said. “God makes humans.”

Once again trying to use God to justify illegal behavior.

Alexander referred to “a foolish, cynical, unjust raid” and used a series of questions to make a case for what he sees as more enlightened treatment of undocumented workers.

“What do we do when the laws are unjust? What do we do when they are blind? What do we do when they can’t be enforced proudly? What do we do when we see laws in competition with our values?”

I would say what he needs to do is go back to the place that accepts his standards and values or lack there of......Mexico.

How dare the catholic church give these illegals a platform from which to spout tirades of stupidity.

Just had to answer this one:

Mr. Hovey,



I read your article, “Critics Lash Out At Immigration Enforcement”. Now, in the interest of fairness, why don’t write one about what happens to the victims of the identity theft perpetrated on innocent legal Americans by illegal aliens? Why don’t you include some stats on how hospitals are closing under the weight of their healthcare needs, how many tax payers dollars are being spent on social services for illegal squatters in our country, and if the influx is allowed to continue, coupled with anchor babies, how our resources are going to be drained beyond our country’s ability to sustain itself. Then, throw in a healthy expose on the ease with which terrorists are able to walk across our borders. I guess you don’t have any children and grandchildren’s future to worry about when the US becomes a third world country…



Sincerely,

Good Job!

If they are scared then they should go back home where they belong. The church has repeated history once again by standing up for criminals. Do they really think us taxpaying legal people are going to go to church and put in a nice amount in the collection basket? These immigrants may go to church but how much do they give compared to legals who go? Is this the reason they are defending them?

The origins for the outpouring of indignation in Omaha were raids on six Swift plants in six states

It's just about time the invaders got a little taste of the indignation that Americans felt seeing millions of arrogant, demanding, thankless, socialists revolutionaries in our streets. There was laughing and gloating and mexican flag waving and nobody's illegal so Europeans go home. Now be afraid, be very afraid that you poked the giant in the eye. Go home!

swatchickwrote:

If they are scared then they should go back home where they belong. The church has repeated history once again by standing up for criminals. Do they really think us taxpaying legal people are going to go to church and put in a nice amount in the collection basket? These immigrants may go to church but how much do they give compared to legals who go? Is this the reason they are defending them?

My opinion is that they are very into the numbers aspect of this.....and believe me they are getting illegals in droves......the catholic church definitely has an agenda in reference to illegals that has nothing to do with God , justice or welfare of American citizens.

After what I have read and seen of the catholic church, I want no part of it. I would never attend a catholic church nor would ever make any kind of contribution to the catholic chuch or any church that harbors criminals or condones breaking the law.

Originally Posted by sawdust

After what I have read and seen of the catholic church, I want no part of it. I would never attend a catholic church nor would ever make any kind of contribution to the catholic chuch or any church that harbors criminals or condones breaking the law.

Agreed...

I also agree with you Sawdust. How can people go to any church that practices do what we say and not as we do.