Thread: Immigration agents arrest 15 people in Greenfield

Immigration agents arrest 15 people in Greenfield

By SUNITA VIJAYAN and SILVIA SANCÉN • The Salinas Californian • September 13, 2008

An immigration sweep in a south Monterey County city Thursday led to the arrest of 15 people, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official said Friday.

Tips from a number of sources led the department to raid homes across the Greenfield area, said ICE spokeswoman Lori Haley.

All 15 - 10 men and five women - were Mexican citizens, Haley said. Six of the people taken into custody were identified as fugitives, foreign nationals who have failed to comply with orders for deportation by U.S. immigration courts. She said one of the people arrested had a criminal record.

"The rest were identified as being in the country illegally," Haley said.

All but one of the 15 people arrested have been transported back to Mexico.

In the past 11 months, ICE fugitive operations teams have arrested more than 30,000 people nationwide. They include 2,600 people arrested in Northern California. Of those, 560 had a prior criminal conviction.

"It's a priority for the agency to ensure these individuals who have been ordered to leave by the courts comply with orders," Haley said. "It's essential for ICE to restore the integrity of this country's immigration system."

But Greenfield police Chief Joe Grebmeier said he is frustrated ICE officials essentially kept his staff "in the dark" about the raid.

Grebmeier said he received only a vague dispatch call Thursday about a team conducting surveillance in several locations throughout the city.

Citing a previous record of an "excellent" relationship between federal and local agencies, he said he doesn't know why ICE has failed to provide any information on the raid. Grebmeier said his officers spent significant time consoling some women who reported their husbands missing, fearing the worst.

Contact Sunita Vijayan at svijayan@thecalifornian.com or Silvia Sancén at ssancen@thecalifornian.com.

http://www.thecalifornian.com/apps/pbcs ... GECAROUSEL

Tips from a number of sources led the department to raid homes across the Greenfield area, said ICE spokeswoman Lori Haley.

Why haven't I-9s and green cards been verified since 1986 by the local, state, and federal governments? The government has not been doing anything with I-9s.

Related post of I-9s abuse and no verifying:
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-131673.html

Duplicate Post Original on the Alipac Home Page at


http://www.alipac.us/article3533.html