Thread: FL: Crackdown stirs furor

Published - February, 24, 2008

Crackdown stirs furor
Santa Rosa going after undocumented workers


Louis Cooper

To Santa Rosa County Sheriff Wendell Hall, the issue is simple: Uphold the law.

In recent weeks, Hall's department has been cracking down on undocumented workers, checking businesses to determine if employees are using fraudulent documentation, such as stolen Social Security numbers.

So far, the so-called Area Improvement Management team has checked 22 businesses and arrested 27 people ? all of them Hispanic.

"I hope we don't have to put any more in jail," Hall said. "Hopefully, they're going to realize they're going to have to do it the right way or they're going to have to move out of Santa Rosa County."

The raids have created a firestorm, with opponents accusing the Sheriff's Office of racism, racial profiling and essentially terrorizing Spanish-speaking immigrants.

Spanish-language Masses at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Milton have seen a dramatic decrease in attendance because immigrants, legal or not, are so fearful, the Rev. Dennis O'Brien said.

"Anybody who doesn't speak English is afraid to walk down the street,'' he said. "Whether they have documents or not, they're afraid they're going to get harassed."

The arrests have provoked outrage among some community residents, prompting a small public protest earlier this month at the Santa Rosa County Courthouse and numerous letters to the editor in the News Journal.

"We think arresting just the Hispanics is discrimination," said O'Brien, who participated in the demonstration. "Is it the jurisdiction of the sheriff to do immigration work? Let Homeland Security take care of it."

But Hall firmly believes he is serving county residents by arresting people who are breaking the law, no matter their race or ethnicity. He said federal authorities who enforce immigration laws have been unresponsive.

"We are starting to get more people calling in who have reason to believe these people are not properly documented," Hall said. "In a lot of cases, they feel they may even be in the country illegally. But we're not going after that. We're going after undocumented workers."

Hall said the flood of undocumented workers began after Hurricane Ivan in 2004.

Northwest Florida law enforcement agencies began discovering people using false documents stolen from U.S. citizens to obtain employment. They included not only people who were in the United States illegally but also U.S. citizens who were trying to avoid arrest on criminal warrants, Hall said.

"I was in contact with sheriffs in other parts of the state, and the problems were not unique to Santa Rosa County," Hall said.

"We requested numerous times to get the federal agencies involved. The more we talked to the feds, we realized they were just overwhelmed with bigger things, like human trafficking and drugs. The problem is just so big nationwide."

Hall acknowledged that the arrests are further burdening the already overcrowded county jail. The jail has an official capacity of 500, but housed 569 inmates Friday.

"Yes, it is adding more people to the jail," he said. "Nevertheless, when someone is committing a felony, we have to do what we have to do."

The 27 workers arrested so far are charged with using false documents ? Social Security numbers ? to obtain employment, a third-degree felony. They remain in the Santa Rosa County Jail on holds from the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. The Public Defender's Office is to represent all the suspects, scheduled for arraignment on March 5.

If Immigration and Customs Enforcement decides to intervene, the undocumented workers could all face deportation.

Tip line for complaints

The task force remains active, according to Marc Ward, public information officer for the Sheriff's Office.

"We are continuing to operate based on complaints that we get," Ward said. "If we're not getting any complaints from anybody, we're not going to be pursuing it."

The Sheriff's Office has a tip line ? 983-1198 ? for citizens to report suspected undocumented workers.

Santa Rosa is not the only Panhandle county making such an effort.

In Okaloosa County, two Chinese and one Mexican restaurant were raided on Feb. 12. Seven employees of the Mexican restaurant were charged with using Social Security numbers not issued to them. An Asian man who is part owner of one of the Chinese restaurants was charged with resisting arrest because he fled the scene when officers arrived.

"I have been looking into those three restaurants for a while based on information I received from other illegals," said George Collins, Okaloosa Sheriff's Office inspector. "We knew they had illegals there, and in some cases they were paying them under the table. When I started checking, I found out they did not have workers' compensation on the books."

The restaurants were temporarily closed, and the state Department of Financial Services is conducting a follow-up investigation on the issue of workers' compensation insurance.

Escambia disagrees

Escambia County Sheriff's Office officials have discussed the issue of undocumented workers but do not anticipate any raids, Chief Deputy Larry Smith said.

"My jail only holds 1,450 people. Right now, I have a population right at 1,800," he said. "I don't need to go out and generate any more crime to overload an overloaded jail on issues where I think you have to step back and look at the big picture."

The scale of the problem makes it impractical for local law enforcement agencies to take on such a task, he said.

"The Congress of the United States cannot figure out what to do with illegals. There are over 20 million illegals in the United States,'' he said. "I have a hard time understanding how putting workers in jail in Santa Rosa County is going to fix the illegal problem."

There was a time, Smith pointed out, that citizens of Northwest Florida were happy to see Hispanics, regardless of their status.

"After (hurricanes) Ivan and Dennis, we were quite proud to have the Hispanic population come to this county. There were houses to be rebuilt and roofs to be fixed," he said. "We were glad to see them."

Undocumented workers may continue to be arrested in Santa Rosa County, regardless of whether Hall is re-elected this fall.

At least two of three announced candidates running against Hall agree with his approach.

"If they are illegal aliens, you've got to arrest them, and get them detained and sent back where they came from," said Chumuckla resident Chris Roper, who recently retired from the Florida Highway Patrol. "If they want to come here legally, we need to take steps to assist them in every way, but they can't be here undocumented."

Said Jeffrey Van Camp, a Gulf Breeze resident and Escambia County deputy: "I think it's a good idea. Something needs to be done, but the sheriff needs to work hand-in-hand with the federal government on this issue.''

Another sheriff candidate, Robert Randle, Gulf Breeze deputy police chief, could not be reached for comment.

Residents split

Santa Rosa County residents are on both sides of the fence.

Milton retiree Jan Shippett thinks the arrests are divisive.

"What did they accomplish?'' she asked. "At best, they just shut down some businesses and nobody is earning any money. I don't like the way we make groups ? them and us. We should be more welcoming."

Shippett isn't bothered by the fact that those arrested may have committed a crime.

"I think it's a crime that we make it so impossible for them to get a job," she said. "I'm for letting them become useful members of society. I don't think we should throw good people out of our nation."

Milton resident Keith Quakenbush supports the crackdown.

"I think it's great. I have two brothers who are unemployed," he said. "I have a friend in the construction industry who's been doing it for years, and he can't compete with their prices, so he had to give up what he loves and drive trucks."

Quakenbush, a salesman in the construction industry, said he sees the impact of undocumented workers in his daily work.

"I hear all of the installers ? whether it's a tile installer, carpet installer, cabinet, roofing, whatever ? all of them are saying they can't compete with the immigrants because they don't follow the same rules," he said.

Shane King, who owns a landscaping business in Milton, said Hall is simply doing his job.

"When we elect someone sheriff, if they don't do their job, we're going to be upset with them," King said. "The sheriff's duty is to arrest or detain all law violators, period."


www.pensacolanewsjournal.com

The Sheriff's Office has a tip line ? 983-1198 ? for citizens to report suspected undocumented workers.

Let's publicize the Santa Rosa's sheriff's tip line number. I'm lovin' it. I'm so happy that more and more Sheriffs and local law enforcement are finally doing their job and enforcing laws....they can't pick and choose which to uphold and which to ignore. If they don't enforce laws against the illegal aliens...I would say that was discriminatory to all law-abiding citizens. In every case in this story, the illegal aliens were committing other felonies like identity theft, fraud, etc. They should no longer get a free pass to steal identities, forge documents etc. just because they are an ILLEGAL ALIEN. It matters not what the purpose of their felonious act is...the law is the law.

God bless the Sheriff of Santa Rosa County for having the backbone to do the right thing and enforce the law.

Thanks Sheriff, go get 'em.

For the benefit of those unfamiliar with local Florida geography, Santa Rosa county is the area inland and to the NE from the Pensacola area (western part of Panhandle)

Enforcement works. Attrition through enforcement too.

From the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Dept. website:



Undocumented Workers Arrested

On February 04, 2008, a special Task Force assembled by Sheriff Wendell Hall launched an operation to investigate undocumented workers in Santa Rosa County. At approximately 1300 hours, the AIM Unit (Area Impact Management), a 7 member multi-lingual task force dealing specifically with citizen complaints of undocumented workers, conducted a business check at Panhandle Growers located at 5975 South Ridge Road in the Allentown community of Santa Rosa County. Complaints had been received involving the presence of undocumented workers that were working at that location. A check of records conducted with the business owner did reveal that numerous suspected undocumented workers had produced fraudulent social security cards in order to gain employment. Those arrested were found to be in the United States illegally and were arrested and for Using False Documents to Obtain Employment (3 rd degree felony). They are all being held at the Santa Rosa County Jail with no bond. The Sheriff's Office will request that a hold be placed on all of these individuals with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office will make every effort to contact the individuals whose social security numbers are being used fraudulently by these undocumented workers. The task force will continue to operate on a daily basis, indefinitely. Sheriff Wendell Hall encourages the public to contact the Sheriff's Office with any complaints involving activity surrounding issues involving possible undocumented workers in Santa Rosa County





Second Undocumented Workers Raid

On February 6th a second operation was carried out by the Santa Rosa Sheriff's office on the two La Hacienda Mexican restaurants in the county, one in Milton and one in Pace. Ten employees were arrested for using false documents to obtain employment. As much as $50.00 to $200.00 was paid for the Social Security cards with some of the documents belonging to children, deceased adults, and US citizens living outside the country. The operation is part of a task force comprised of officers from the Santa Rosa Sheriff's office, Walton County Sheriff's Office, Okaloosa Sheriff's Office and the Escambia County Sheriff's office



Link to SRSO: www.santarosasheriff.org

To contact Sheriff Hall, use the Feedback form found under "Contact Us" or by clicking on the Feedback link on the left hand side of the home page.

Thank you Sheriff!! Stop the lawbreaking!!!