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26 arrested in immigration sweep back home after posting bail

July 8, 2007, 5:03 PM EDT

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) - Twenty-six of the 32 people arrested in controversial raids on illegal immigrants in the city last month are back home after their families and the community raised enough money to post their bails.

The immigrants said they lost their jobs, left behind their families and suffered humiliation while they were detained, the New Haven Register reported Sunday.

One of those arrested, a 32-year-old woman identified only as Teresa in the newspaper report, said she wants to stay in New Haven because she needs to take care of her mother and ill father, and she has a 14-year-old daughter. She lost two restaurant jobs after her arrest, but has gotten a job at another eatery.

"When I got detained, my world fell apart, because I thought I wouldn't be able to support them any more," she said. "They treated us like criminals, and we aren't criminals."

New Haven officials and lawyers for the immigrants have criticized federal Immigration and Custom Enforcement authorities for the raids on June 6 and 11, saying constitutional rights and government policies were violated. They also said the raids appeared to be in retaliation for the city's new identification card program for illegal immigrants.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials responded that the raids were planned weeks in advance and had nothing to do with the ID program, and all agents were allowed into homes by the people who were there.

Lawyers for the immigrants are challenging their arrests. If they lose, they can appeal first to the Board of Immigration Appeals, a federal administrative court, and then to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.

All 32 people were arrested as ICE authorities tried to serve illegal immigrants with deportation orders. Such orders were served to five people, and the remaining immigrant is expected to be released from detention on Monday or Tuesday. Authorities said all the people arrested were here illegally.

The five people served deportation orders are not eligible for bail unless their cases are reopened. One of them has already been deported, and lawyers are seeking to reopen the other four cases.

The raids were welcomed by supporters of immigration law enforcement, but advocates of immigrants said the detainees were victims of federal lawmakers' refusal to deal with a complicated issue.

Most of those arrested last month could not afford the original bails, which totaled $425,000, set by ICE officials. Three judges later reduced the total bails to $185,000.

Most of the bail money was put up by relatives. But they also got help. St. Rose of Lima Church helped collect money, Junta for Progressive Action oversaw the distribution of food and other goods and the Grand Avenue Village Association recruited help from local businesses. Several downtown restaurants also gave up a percentage of their sales one night to help the immigrants.

Some families reportedly sold cars and other items, or took out loans. Efforts to raise money are continuing to help the arrestees with rent, food and other bills.

"It is remarkable," Yale law professor Michael Wishnie said about the fundraising. "It is a story of a community surviving."

Wishnie is leading a volunteer team of lawyers and Yale students that is representing the illegal immigrants for free.

"This cataclysmic, traumatic event occurred and almost everyone is either back home with their families or has a judge's orders saying they can't be removed," Wishnie said. "People are picking up the pieces, they are rejoining their families and their church and their community."
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