Thread: Fear of identity checks keeps illegal immigrants on islands

Fear of identity checks keeps illegal immigrants on islands
By MANUEL VALDES
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

EASTSOUND -- Pedro Perez has not left Orcas Island in more than four months. Not for weekend trips with his family, not for cheaper groceries on the mainland, not for medical care -- not for anything.

He is afraid that border agents will stop him and send him back to Mexico, wrecking the quiet life he has built on the island in the San Juans.

"I had my eyes on this place for my kids to grow up in," Perez, who is married with two young children, said in Spanish. "There's no gangs here, no crime. It's the kids who suffer."

Perez -- who does odd jobs, mostly landscaping -- is one of perhaps dozens of illegal immigrants on the islands who have been essentially trapped since February, when the U.S. Border Patrol began checking IDs on ferry runs from the islands to the mainland.

Others have taken the risk and paid the price: As of late May, 49 people had been arrested by the Border Patrol and face deportation. All but one were Latin American.

The spot checks have alarmed island locals and leaders. And the Hispanic "community is paranoid, not wanting to go out on the street," said Kevin Ranker, a San Juan County Council member.

Under the new rules for the San Juans, drivers arriving on the mainland at Anacortes are sometimes stopped and asked for identification.

The Border Patrol said the ferry checks are a vital part of securing a porous border.

"We have to consider terrorist types may at least be taking a look at the established smuggling enterprise in the Northwest," said Joe Giuliano, deputy chief patrol agent.

In 1999, Algerian Ahmed Ressam was caught by customs agents in Port Angeles with explosives in the trunk of his rental car when he drove off a ferry from British Columbia.

He was sentenced to 22 years in prison in 2005 for plotting to blow up the Los Angeles airport during the millennium celebration.

So far, the ferry ID checks have not led to the arrest of anyone suspected of being a terrorist.

County and city politicians have sent a letter protesting the spot checks to their congressional delegation, and organizations outside the islands have also taken notice.

One whole family was arrested, prompting a local Roman Catholic church to raise $30,000 in bail money.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/366 ... ped07.html

I don't get it. I thought that Mexico's economy is booming.


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County and city politicians have sent a letter protesting the spot checks to their congressional delegation

And I wonder why that is?? Maybe because they have so many supporters who employ cheap labor!!!

The spot checks have alarmed island locals and leaders. And the Hispanic "community is paranoid, not wanting to go out on the street," said Kevin Ranker, a San Juan County Council member.

Why? Because you are breaking the law and KNOW it and are afraid of being caught?

Sure he works under the table and has enough money to buy a house, is this bring tears to my eyes? And he speaks no english.

2 kids in school on taxpayers dime

Originally Posted by jimpasz

Sure he works under the table and has enough money to buy a house, is this bring tears to my eyes? And he speaks no english.

2 kids in school on taxpayers dime

Further illustration of the failure of our banking system...extending credit AND ALLOWING MORTGAGES to illegal aliens!!!