Thread: Immigration Releases Workers Arrested In Bellingham Raid

Immigration Releases Workers Arrested In Bellingham Raid
Posted: 11:09 am PDT March 31, 2009

SEATTLE -- Many of the workers arrested by immigration agents last month in a Bellingham work site raid have been released and given permission to work.

In February, U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested 28 people at a Yamato Engine Specialists plant. They were suspected of being in the country illegally.

The raid was the first mass arrest of immigrants since President Barack Obama took office and appeared to contradict his policy that federal agents focus more on employers who hire undocumented workers than on the workers themselves. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano ordered a review of the raid.

The Bellingham Herald reports ICE gave the immigrants work permits or the option of returning to their native country. ICE spokeswoman Lorie Dankers says the workers were released pending further investigation of the engine company.

Rosalinda Guillen, a community organizer in Bellingham, says most of the workers are remaining in the area with their families, and that two were deported.


http://www.kirotv.com/news/19055833/detail.html

So, Sanctuary by US Government directive.

The Bellingham Herald reports ICE gave the immigrants work permits or the option of returning to their native country.

Oh Lord, please tell me this isn't so!

This is outrageous and can't be allowed to become policy!

If there was any doubt as to Secretary Janet Napolitano's allegiance, this should erase it. I'm seeing nothing but red at this very moment.

This is an outrage!! I am so mad blood is shooting out of my eyes..

Who the hell do we contact about this!

I wonder if Obama gave this directive to release these illegal invaders!

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/102/story/851694.html

Yamato workers freed as immigration probe continues into Bellingham company
JOHN STARK - THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

BELLINGHAM - Many if not all workers detained in the Feb. 24 immigration raid at Yamato Engine Specialists have been released from the federal detention center in Tacoma.

The unexpected move appears to be related to an ongoing federal investigation of Yamato.

"I can confirm that many of the individuals ... have indeed been released pending the further investigation of Yamato Engine," said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Lorie Dankers.

Besides their freedom, the workers also have permission to look for work.

The workers have been given a document advising them "that per the Assistant United States Attorney assigned to this case, all persons involved with the Yamato Engine Specialists ... should be afforded the benefit of Deferred Action and an Employment Authorization Document, valid for the duration of this case."

The workers also have the option of declining the release and work permit offer and returning to their home country.

Dankers said the document would have to speak for itself, and she could not comment further on an ongoing investigation. Emily Langlie, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Seattle, said the same.

Shirin Dhanani Makalai, Yamato's administrative manager, said her attorney had advised her not to comment.

President Barack Obama and his Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, have indicated they want to shift immigration enforcement policy away from workplace raids that target workers, cracking down instead on the employers who hire those workers.

Rosalinda Guillen, executive director of the immigrant rights group Community to Community Development, said it was her understanding that all of the remaining Yamato workers detained in the raid had been freed late Thursday, March 26, and they have come back to Bellingham to be reunited with their families.

ICE officers arrested 28 workers in last month's raid. Three were women who were released later in the day to care for their children, pending a hearing on their immigration status. Guillen said two others have already been deported, but all of the rest have now been released.

Dankers said she could not confirm or deny that all the remaining workers are now free, and could not comment on any individuals' cases.

Guillen said the freeing of workers was surprising, because those detained in immigration raids can expect to be jailed for months to await a hearing, unless they can post large amounts of bail or are willing to accept immediate return to their homelands.

While the release of the workers is a welcome development, Guillen also expressed concern that the workers are being confronted with complex legal decisions about the consequences of cooperating in a federal investigation, without having lawyers to represent them. She said the workers have been told to expect further questioning from Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

"It's basically offering them a work permit, but they don't have any legal representation," Guillen said. "How can they (prosecutors) be negotiating with these workers if they don't have legal representation? We don't know how long that work permit is going to be for, or what they have to do to keep it."

Reach JOHN STARK at john.stark@bellinghamherald.com or call 715-2274.

MAIN
Seattle Office
Tel: (206) 553-7970
Toll Free: (800) 797-6722
Fax: (206) 553-0882

BRANCH
Tacoma Office
Tel: (253) 428-3800
Fax: (253) 428-3826

Originally Posted by NoBueno

I wonder if Obama gave this directive to release these illegal invaders!

Obama cant do that, can he? This is outrageous!

Originally Posted by butterbean

Originally Posted by NoBueno

I wonder if Obama gave this directive to release these illegal invaders!

Obama cant do that, can he? This is outrageous!

There are many things happening in this country that I didn't think would be possible! For one, Obama's illegal invader aunt, who skipped town on an order of deportation is still here! She even got to go to his inauguration without being deported.

For another, didn't President Bush put a moratorium on all immigration raids( or deportations) right before he left office?

Obama cannot deport those caught up in high profile raids while his illegal invader aunt gets a forth bite at the citizenship apple. People might start to call Obama a hypocrite!

So who knows!

okay here is what i got from Emily Langlie.

they are given authorization to look for work based on being potential witnesses against the company, in case the company was the ones who know they were illegal and hired them anyways. when the case goes to court, the work permits will expire and they will be DEPORTED once the case is heard in court