Thread: Illegal immigrants freed, still face uncertain futures

April 21, 2006


Illegal immigrants freed, still face uncertain futures
By Tania E. Lopez
tania.e.lopez@indystar.com
April 21, 2006


With no prospects for work in Mexico, Arturo Cuagtle figured he had two choices: turn to robbery or leave his family and emigrate north.
So, seven years ago, he left Mexico for Indiana. He was working at IFCO Systems on Wednesday, assembling wooden pallets for 30 cents apiece, he said, when federal agents arrived and began arresting people.
A 27-year-old illegal immigrant, he was one of 38 men arrested at the Southside plant as part of a nationwide crackdown. On Thursday, all but one of the men had been released, Cuagtle among them.
The men were processed and scheduled for court appearances. One man found to have a criminal background was kept in custody. The raid netted 24 people from Mexico and 14 from Guatemala.
Cuagtle did not expect to go back to working at IFCO but hoped to find another job as a janitor.
At IFCO, he said, he averaged $600 to $700 a week if he made about 600 pallets a day. He said he pays taxes, and the money he earns supports his family -- a wife and three children, ages 6, 5 and 4, who live in Mexico.
"It was a necessity to leave them," Cuagtle said after his release Thursday afternoon. "It's hard in our country, and there's nothing else to do unless you rob someone, and it's more shameful to rob people than it is to be an immigrant."
A spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said agents arrested the workers as part of a nationwide investigation into IFCO, a Netherlands-based company that describes itself as the leading pallet and packaging company in America.
The IFCO plant on West Troy Avenue remained open Thursday, but officials there didn't release a promised statement on the arrests.
More than half of the company's roughly 5,800 U.S. employees had invalid or mismatched Social Security numbers during 2005, the government says. More than 1,100 people were arrested at more than 40 IFCO sites nationwide Wednesday.
The case began after officials got a tip that IFCO workers in Guilderland, N.Y., were seen ripping up their W-2 forms because they did not intend to file tax returns.
Seven current and former IFCO managers charged with felony conspiracy to harbor illegal immigrants were released on bond and are to appear May 4 in Albany, N.Y., where the criminal complaint was filed.
The managers could face up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each illegal immigrant involved, as well as forfeitures.
"Just a small fine or a slap on the wrist is not a deterrent," Julie Myers, assistant secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said.
As for the workers, immigration officials said they did not have the facilities to hold them indefinitely.
With 20,000 detention beds nationwide, Immigration and Customs spokeswoman Gail Montenegro said the agency has to prioritize. It focuses on holding illegal immigrants with criminal backgrounds. She said the system is not set up to detain every immigrant found to be in the country illegally.
"We need to conserve our detention space for illegal aliens that are dangerous criminals or who have been previously deported," Montenegro said.
If the arrested men don't show up at their hearings at a Chicago immigration court, a judge will order them deported in absentia, she said, and they will be classified as fugitives.
But at least one key congressional leader criticized the decision to release the Indianapolis workers.
U.S. Rep. John Hostettler, R-Ind., chairman of the immigration and border security panel on the House Judiciary Committee, blasted federal agents for not doing a better job of enforcing immigration laws after widespread protest marches April 10.
In an e-mail Thursday, he expressed disappointment at the release of the detainees.
"While I was initially encouraged by this apparent change in the administration's policy regarding the enforcement of our immigration laws," the e-mail said, "the return to the failed policy of catch and release leaves me less than optimistic that lessons have been learned."
When authorities arrived at Cuagtle's job, he thought of only one thing.
"I thought all my hard work was going down the toilet."
Call Star reporter Tania E. Lopez at (317) 444-2804.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dl...WS01/604210468

If they're going to release them, then it's a total waste of time and money. They know that 90% will not show up for their court dates. I sent ICE an email yesterday with my protest of catch and release. I knew they weren't serious about enforcing our laws. What a joke.

At IFCO, he said, he averaged $600 to $700 a week if he made about 600 pallets a day.

At $.30 per pallet, to make that kind of money every week, he would have had to make 631 pallets a day for 6 days a week. That's about 63 pallets an hour @ 10 hours a day. Never the less, the execs that were arrested were stupid because they could have even got me to do the job, $650 a week isn't shabby pay!

The MSM needs to broadcast the release. I'm going to write to MSNBC about this and see what kind of reaction I get.

Well, I hope this gives the senate more reason not to grant amnesty!