Thread: Greeley: Guatemalans meet in church, on Swift raids

Families gather at church for word on detainees, but so far details scarce
Matt McClain © News

Two people stand in a doorway of Greeley's Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church. More than 300 people affected by Tuesday's raid by immigration agents on the Swift & Co. plant gathered Thursday evening to get information on missing family members.By Hector Gutierrez, Rocky Mountain News December 15, 2006


GREELEY - Scores of Guatemalans were told Thursday that their loved ones caught up in an immigration dragnet have been sent to Texas. They got the information from a Guatemalan consulate representative from Denver during a community meeting at Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church, which has become a place of hope and comfort for many waiting for word of family members.

Several Guatemalan workers arrested in Tuesday's raid at Swift & Co. have been transferred to detention facilities in El Paso and Houston, they were told.

Guatemalan consulate representatives provided the families with phone numbers in Texas that might help them contact their relatives.

Since they left for work at the meat processing plant on Tuesday morning, they haven't had any contact with their spouses or relatives who were arrested by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Some were taken into custody for identity theft and others had no authorization to be in the United States.

The meeting, which took place in the church's basement, drew a capacity audience of about 375 families and government officials from several Latin American countries. There were also representatives from the Hispanic Ministries of the Archdiocese of Denver and the United Way, and immigration lawyers.
The meeting was closed to the public, and several community activists were turned away.

"I wanted to know why we haven't received a phone call from him," said Jessica Perez, 26, whose husband is from Guatemala. She said she was told he is likely in El Paso. The couple have a daughter, who turned 7 on Thursday.

"I was looking for him on my own," Perez said. "I had to get my own information. It's going to be hard. It's very stressful.

"It hasn't been a good birthday for my daughter."

Yolanda Bustillo, a native from Panama, went to the meeting to help find her friend, a native of Guatemala, who also was arrested.

Bustillo's immediate concern was how she was going to deal with her friend's 14-year-old son who was left behind in Greeley. Her friend is a single mother. Another friend, Marcos Ixcoy, said he was the child's guardian.

"We're going to have to call the Guatemalan consul in Texas as soon as possible," Bustillo said.

A 28-year-old Guatemalan, who requested anonymity, said her husband also was arrested. The couple have two small children, and she was provided with phone numbers so she could contact her husband.

"I hope it doesn't raise a false hope," she said as she stood next to her sister-in-law outside the church. "We haven't had any information. I haven't even talked to him.

"My daughter is asking where is he, because he hasn't returned home, and she knows when he returns home from work." HUH????

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/l ... 22,00.html

DEPORT ALL OF THEM, INCLUDING THE "PRO PROFIT" ANCHOR DAUGHTERS AND SONS