Thread: ‘The hurricane is about to hit’: Trump’s deportation action in Las Vegas

‘The hurricane is about to hit’: Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration sparking fear, action in Las Vegas


Charles Reed/U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement / AP
In this photo taken Feb. 7, 2017, released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an arrest
is made during a targeted enforcement operation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) aimed at immigration fugitives, re-entrants and at-large criminal aliens in Los Angeles.

Monday, Feb. 27, 2017 | 2 a.m.

An unmarked white van pulled up to Astrid Silva’s home last week. The driver approached with a box and asked for her by name. She asked what the box contained. “Flowers,” he said.

“Show me,” she demanded through her closed front door.

The man seemed confused, but he opened the lid to reveal a Valentine’s Day bouquet. He was not an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer there to round up Silva and her neighbors.

“I freaked out at the flower guy,” said Silva, whose struggle for citizenship has played out on the national political stage and made her one of the strongest voices in the movement for immigration reform. “We are back to the fear I had when I was a little kid.”

Las Vegans like Silva had felt somewhat optimistic about their chances of gaining legal status. Former President Barack Obama’s proposed DREAM Act (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) and follow-up DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) promised a pathway to citizenship for those brought to the United States illegally as children. And immigration policy overall seemed focused on using the government’s limited resources to deport those who’d committed serious crimes.

In a 2014 speech, Obama said: "Even as we are a nation of immigrants, we’re also a nation of laws. Undocumented workers broke our immigration laws, and I believe that they must be held accountable, especially those who may be dangerous. That’s why over the past six years deportations of criminals are up 80 percent, and that’s why we’re going to keep focusing enforcement resources on actual threats to our security. Felons, not families. Criminals, not children. Gang members, not a mom who’s working hard to provide for her kids. We’ll prioritize, just like law enforcement does every day."


That era is over. Memos released last Tuesday by the Department of Homeland Security indicate that DHS “no longer will exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement,” though officials have said that protections for Dreamers will hold. In cracking down on illegal immigration, President Donald Trump's administration plans to hire 15,000 new enforcement agents, expand the role of local police partnering with ICE and depart from Obama's “catch-and-release” policies. Trump's Jan. 25 executive order intensifying security and enforcement efforts made it clear that anyone in the country illegally would be viewed as a "significant threat to national security and public safety."

"For those here illegally today who are seeking legal status, they will have one route and one route only: To return home and apply for re-entry," Trump said during a campaign speech in September, a hardline stance that was championed by his Hispanic supporters.

As he follows through on such promises, with ICE raids ramping up over recent weeks, reactions are reverberating through Southern Nevada. According to the Pew Research Center 8 percent of people in Las Vegas, Paradise and Henderson are unauthorized.

One such immigrant from Mexico, who asked that her name be withheld, said she has been avoiding leaving her home. She is afraid of winding up on a deportation list before she can file legal paperwork. So she mostly goes straight to and from work, though she recently attended a “Know Your Rights” workshop organized by the Nevada Hispanic Legislative Caucus.

“I still go to church,” she added. “I pray for my family and the country.”

Laura Martin, associate director of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, said stories like this have become commonplace since Trump was elected.

“I knew people who were thinking of purchasing a home, people who were going to take a vacation but aren’t now,” she said. “They are saving that money just in case — for legal fees, should deportation happen.”

Geoconda Arguello Kline is secretary-treasurer for Culinary Workers Union Local 226, which represents 57,000 workers on the Strip and is the state’s largest immigrant organization, with a membership that is 56 percent Latino and represents 167 countries. Members must have proper documentation, but Arguello Kline said they are concerned about their families, friends, neighbors and others in their communities. The Center for Migration Studies of New York reports that in 2014, there were 3.3 million mixed-status households in the U.S.

“Everybody knows somebody who is in this country and has been trying to get documentation,” she says. “There are families worried about being separated. That’s wrong.”

Not helping matters are the swirls of misinformation, especially via social media. Well-meaning residents are posting or sharing statuses claiming that immigration checkpoints have been set up at certain intersections, something ICE categorically says it does not do.

One such rumor — that an ICE checkpoint went up near a church in a predominantly Hispanic community in East Las Vegas — reached Bishop Dan Edwards of the Episcopal Diocese of Nevada, prompting him and other church leadership to ponder their role in the immigration debate.

“We are scrambling to find the best ways to act in a Christian manner when our government undertakes a course that is indisputably heartless and bureaucratic, and smacks of xenophobia and racism,” Edwards said.

But according to the Rev. Christie Leavitt of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church on South Nellis Boulevard, nothing happened. “We held our congregation, ate our chocolate chips and went home.” (An ICE representative confirmed that the agency had been inundated with inquiries from media outlets seeking to confirm rumors of enforcement activities that don’t fall under their current policies.)

“People think they are being helpful,” Martin said, “but we’ll go and check and there’s nothing there. It’s not helpful. It plays into the fear. It might also become the boy who cried wolf.
When it does really happen, maybe people won’t believe it.”

Concerned residents are using words like “when” over “if” because extreme enforcement measures seem inevitable under the Trump administration.

“Everyone we talk to is feeling far more anxiety and apprehension,” said Michael Kagan, director of the Immigration Clinic at UNLV’s Boyd School of Law. “It feels like the hurricane is about to hit.”

While details such as a timeline and budget for Trump's full vision of ending illegal immigration haven't been offered, ICE already is casting a wider net. Sweeps and raids in other cities have resulted in the detainment of people whose only crime was being here illegally.

“(That) means 11 million people are a priority," Kagan said, "and it returns to simply whoever is the easiest person to find.”

That could be problematic for everyone, as wavering trust in police could create public safety issues.

“We cannot have a segment of the population not trust us and not call us when they see something, or if they become a victim of crime themselves,” said Metro Officer Jacinto Rivera.

Yet activists say this already is a reality — that the majority of undocumented immigrants feel they should avoid all interactions with law enforcement and the court system. Despite assurances that targeting violators of immigration law is federal territory, stories about nonviolent offenders being turned in to ICE simply for asking local police for help are common in immigrant circles.

“We’d never say you shouldn’t turn in anybody,” said Francisco Morales, Nevada director of the Center for Community Change Action. “If someone is picked up for something violent or severe, yes. What we’re saying is, let’s not use resources — jail time, space, officers’ time — processing a jaywalker to be removed from the country.”

But many of the undocumented aren’t willing to take the risk, especially after seeing national stories like one from El Paso, Texas earlier this month, in which a woman reportedly was picked up by ICE after leaving the courthouse where she was obtaining a protective order against an abuser.

And fears aren’t limited to ICE. “People are afraid to bring their kids to school. It’s a real, real thing. People are worried, like, what if the parent gets picked up at work and the children become unattended and unprotected?” Morales said.

Criminals sometimes target undocumented immigrants because they know they are more likely to have reservations about calling police. The undocumented also are overwhelming reputable legal resources, opening the door for swindlers promising immigration assistance.

“There aren’t enough lawyers,” Silva said. “Call someone now and you get a three-, four-month wait. If you’re scared now, you are not going to wait that long. You are going to the guy down the street who says, ‘Give me $350 today and I’ll have something for you tomorrow morning.’ It’s the perfect crime: Victims won’t call the cops because they don’t want to call attention to themselves.”

All of this has an impact that Southern Nevada is just beginning to see.

“There is a terrible level of anxiety,” Kagan said. “It has an economic impact. It leads people to shut down. That’s not good for our community. ... We don’t need 8 percent of our population living in fear.” –April Corbin

https://lasvegassun.com/news/2017/fe...igration-plan/

Trumptrina is on your butts!! LETS GO!! LETS GET THIS DONE!! SO we can move on with Making American Great Again!!

How are all these illegal aliens getting hired to work in real jobs?

Trump needs to immediately sign an Executive Order making employers who hire illegals
accountable both criminally and severe civil penalty fines.

But real penalty fines, high enough to make them never again to turn a blind eye to
hire illegal aliens.

That's already the law, lorrie! These companies that get caught pay huge fines, millions and millions.

“Everybody knows somebody who is in this country and has been trying to get documentation,” she says. “There are families worried about being separated. That’s wrong.” No, what's wrong is playing on OUR sympathies! The parents KNOWINGLY and WILLINGLY assumed these risks for themselves, then had children in hopes they would be the anchor to keep Mommy and Daddy from being deported. They ARE NOT the victims and playing the victim card is morally reprehensible!

And fears aren’t limited to ICE. “People are afraid to bring their kids to school. It’s a real, real thing. People are worried, like, what if the parent gets picked up at work and the children become unattended and unprotected?” Morales said. Their children should be sent home with Mommy and Daddy. PERIOD. WE aren't the bad guys here although the blame is always placed on us. The bad guys are Mommy and Daddy, now everyone gets to learn that actions have consequences!

“There is a terrible level of anxiety,” Kagan said. “It has an economic impact. It leads people to shut down. That’s not good for our community. ... We don’t need 8 percent of our population living in fear.” But it's totally acceptable for the OTHER 92% of LEGAL citizens to live in fear? What about the economic impact on US? I am sick to death of this crap, they made their bed but don't want to lie in it!

Originally Posted by lorrie

How are all these illegal aliens getting hired to work in real jobs?

Trump needs to immediately sign an Executive Order making employers who hire illegals
accountable both criminally and severe civil penalty fines.

But real penalty fines, high enough to make them never again to turn a blind eye to
hire illegal aliens.

What we need to do, IMO, is set some examples by sending some of these employers off to prison for 12 months. Additionally, we need an immediate national E-verify program.

I don't support making our employers the lone villains. If the federal government and states had done their jobs there wouldn't be any illegal aliens in the country to begin with. I would support jail time for anyone involved in the trafficking before the illegal aliens are in the country, but only fines for those who hire them. To them, it's like feeding stray cats in a community with leash laws. I also support jailing politicians and officials who enable, aid, abet, harbor and protect illegal aliens in the US. Oh boy, I would totally 100% support that jail time.

Originally Posted by Judy

That's already the law, lorrie! These companies that get caught pays huge fines, millions and millions.

Trump needs to enforce the law

Originally Posted by MW

What we need to do, IMO, is set some examples by sending some of these employers off to prison for 12 months. Additionally, we need an immediate national E-verify program.

Totally agree!

And lets see if the illegal aliens and there activist come to the aid of the employer in jail.

Again, how is it that all these illegal aliens are able to get jobs when 90 million Americans are unemployed?