http://www.greeleytrib.com/article/2006 ... /101190063

Latinos Unidos members review ICE-debate issues

Brady McCombs, (Bio) bmccombs@greeleytrib.com
January 19, 2006

An activist group that battled a proposal for an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office says it has many fights left for 2006.

Latinos Unidos -- with about 25 core members -- is meeting twice a month to create bylaws, elect officers and plan the issues they'll tackle this year.

The first issue involves looking back at how the ICE debate began.

Responding to questions from Latinos Unidos spokeswoman Sylvia Martinez, Weld County Commissioner Mike Geile explained that the commission used information from Weld District Attorney Ken Buck when it passed a resolution in support of an ICE office on Oct. 10.

"We had no reason to question what was being told to us by the district attorney, which was information that he received from the jails," Geile said.

He said commissioners stand behind their support of an ICE office because they believe the county needs more resources to deport illegal immigrant criminals. Last week, the commission sent jail data to Martinez that shows on Dec. 5, 2005, 24 of the 31 (77 percent) criminals with ICE holds had been in the jail previously, and that 16 of the 31 (52 percent) had been in the jail two or more times. ICE agents place holds on those whom they have probable cause to believe have violated an immigration law.

Martinez wasn't satisfied with the response. She said that, since the data comes from November, and the commissioner passed the resolution on Oct. 10, it proves that the commissioners didn't have adequate data to make the decision.

This argument, however, will have little bearing on what the group does this year.

The group's first project for 2006 --called Neighbor to Neighbor -- is designed to improve relations across cultures and neighborhoods. Members will break into committees that will cover social injustices, voter registration, gang prevention, public schools and immigration.

Representatives of Latinos Unidos have begun meeting with city, state and federal officials to talk about immigration and Latino issues. On Jan. 9, along with 20 other Colorado human rights representatives, Martinez met with former Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean in Denver to discuss immigration issues. She also met with new police chief Jerry Garner.

"I think people are realizing that we didn't just come out to do public rallies or demonstrations because we are crazy or something," Martinez said, "but because we saw something unjust."