Thread: Delaware Illegal Aliens AFRAID - Look out VA & NC....

http://delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll ... 80308/1006

Note the use of the "I" word in the story title! This is a FIRST for this far left leaning paper.


Illegal immigrants fear staying in Delaware
Recent raid in Georgetown has many leaving state, some say
By RHINA GUIDOS / The News Journal
06/18/2005GEORGETOWN -- Gil Escalante says blood rushes to his head and his heart pounds when the doorbell rings at his family's Georgetown apartment.

"I look slowly through the curtain," says the father of four, an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala. "And I feel this fear. I feel they are going to come."

Two months ago, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials conducted a raid in this southern Delaware town. Immigrants here say they woke up in the early morning hours of April 12 to agents pulling blankets off their children and family members who were still in bed.

The agents demanded paperwork proving the residents were in the country legally. Those who couldn't provide proper documentation were taken away, and most were later deported.

Barbara Gonzalez, spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security in Miami, the office that oversees Delaware, said 55 men were arrested in Georgetown that morning.

"All the individuals were illegally in the country," she said.

Of the 55 who were arrested, 12 had criminal backgrounds, she said, which included endangering the welfare of a child, offensive touching and driving under the influence. Immigration officials have said the goal of their work is to protect the public and to uphold the country's immigration laws.

Critics of the raid argue that the majority of those who were arrested were not committing additional crimes.

Since the raid, fear has surged in some of Delaware's immigrant communities.

In northern Delaware, immigrant Latinos also feel targeted, said Claymont resident Rosa Pineda.

Since May, when Elsmere town officials considered fining residents who couldn't prove their legal immigration status, she has watched acquaintances and friends from Elsmere leave town.

Proposed fines raised fears

Many of those who left were single men working menial jobs and supporting family members abroad. They couldn't afford the fines that Elsmere Councilman John Jaremchuk was proposing: $100 for those who couldn't prove their legal status within 72 hours and $1,000 for those who housed or employed undocumented immigrants.

"The young men left," Pineda said. "They didn't hesitate. They were scared."

Many of them had heard about the raids in Georgetown. That, combined with the proposed ordinance in Elsmere and other rumors of raids at workplaces, prompted them to flee.

"I heard comments from people who said they couldn't even go out anymore," Pineda said. "They said, 'Tomorrow I'm leaving.' And they did. You watch something like that happen and you don't think it's possible."

Families, too, picked up their belongings, took their children out of school and left, said Pineda, a teacher's aide in northern Delaware. Those who have left have gone to states such as Virginia and North Carolina, where, they said, they wouldn't feel as persecuted, she said.

No one knows just how many people have left. Federal and state statistics estimating the exact number of undocumented immigrants in the state are dubious -- and not all undocumented immigrants are Latinos. The Pew Hispanic Center, in a report released this week, put Delaware's undocumented immigrant population at 20,000 to 35,000. U.S. Census Bureau estimates, though, place the number between 13,500 and 17,500.

These head-counters need a serious reality check!

"It is a real fear"

Maria Marliot, a Carmelite nun who works with Latino immigrants in Georgetown, said those numbers have most likely dropped over the past two months.

"It is a real fear," said Marliot. "Right after the raids, this looked like a ghost town."

Men like Escalante are no longer sleeping in their homes. They bounce around from one friend's house to another so they can't be tracked. They don't play with their children outside anymore.

Stories about of the men being taken away from their homes and families are still the hot topic at churches and on Spanish-language radio.

But at least in Georgetown, they don't seem to be leaving altogether, said Marliot. Many are moving to different dwellings across town.

"A lot has changed"

Escalante says he's thinking of sending his children, all born in the United States, and his wife back to Guatemala because he's afraid of what will happen to them if he gets picked up by immigration police.

"A lot has changed," he said. "I don't trust anything."

When Escalante arrived in Delaware almost 12 years ago, he was an 18-year-old with a dream of earning enough money to support a family. But he knew he couldn't afford to have one in his native Guatemala.

"I was making the equivalent of about three dollars" a day, he remembers. "I was a farmer who hadn't studied, hadn't gone to school much, only three years. That wasn't enough to have a family. I was desperate to leave."

He has fond memories of his country. If there had been a way to make a living there, he would have stayed, he said.

That's the reality that Phillip Bannowsky and members of the Phoenix Community group want Delawareans to think about. The group is sponsoring lectures in the northern part of the state to debate immigration policies.

Last month, the group sponsored a panel discussion about Elsmere's proposed fines. This Sunday, the group will host the lecture "Why Immigrants Come: A View from Mexico."

If people understood the conditions that lead to immigration, those who criticize illegal immigrants would be less likely to view them as a problem, said Bannowsky.

Delawareans and others need to learn about the global policies that affect the flow of citizens from other countries to the United States, said Bannowsky.

"They're deciding for various reasons to take the risk, to pursue the American dream as as other generations [of North Americans] have done," he said.

The group also wants to send the message that undocumented Latinos are not the only ones worried about what's happening in the state.

"As a faith community, we're much concerned," said the Rev. Robert W. Andrews, founder of the Phoenix Community. "Those people who are here are here out of economic desperation. We have memories of our grandparents or great-grandparents who came here under the same circumstances."

Though Escalante said he appreciates the effort that those like Andrews and Bannowsky are making, it's of little comfort to a family like his, which is constantly worried that they'll be separated.

"Maybe we will go to another state, because this is always on my mind," Escalante said. "I'm always worried, thinking 'They will see me.' Wherever I go I hope that they won't come to get me."

Contact Rhina Guidos at 324-2819 or rguidos@delawareonline.com

BB has just posted this earlier this morning:
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-5150.html

Whoops! I couldn't believe it was on my papers front page and posted without checking first. Can I delete this post.

WILLIAM....if you see this, axe it!

greyparrot
his is getting close to the end and it is a good article. Lets leave it.

Critics of the raid argue that the majority of those who were arrested were not committing additional crimes.

Here is the notice next to the article:

IF YOU GO
What: "Why Immigrants Come: A View from Mexico," a lecture sponsored by the Phoenix Community in Delaware Inc.


When: 7 p.m. Sunday


Where: Wells Hall, New Ark United Church of Christ, 300 E. Main Street, Newark


Cost: $5 donation requested

AARRRGGGGGGHHHH!!!!

Cost: $5 donation requested
Does the $5 go into a fund to buy bus tickets back to Mexico?

If people understood the conditions that lead to immigration, those who criticize illegal immigrants would be less likely to view them as a problem, said Bannowsky.

The ARE a problem and will remain a problem. We are not responsible for foreign countries.

"As a faith community, we're much concerned," said the Rev. Robert W. Andrews, founder of the Phoenix Community. "Those people who are here are here out of economic desperation. We have memories of our grandparents or great-grandparents who came here under the same circumstances."

Our grandparents or great-grandparents did not violate any laws to come here. There is a BIG difference.

Hey, I like those words, 'persecution'...'fear'....'leaving'...sending wife and kids back to Guatemala....makes me feel warm and fuzzy ALL over!!

"They" say we can't get rid of the ones that are already here. Poppycock...of course we can. Tell 'em that if they're not gone in 30 days they face a $100,000 fine for every family member....wheeee..what fun. The sound of their leaving would be deafening...hope the earth wouldn't tilt.

RR