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  1. #1
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    N.C. ICE arrests 12 Saturday

    ICE arrests 12 Saturday; local organizations address WNC community with press conference

    by WLOS STAFF
    Saturday, April 14th 2018
    Photo: WLOS staff





    ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — Local activists and organizations held a press conference Saturday in Asheville, to "brief media and the community about the ICE attacks on Latinx community this morning."

    The conference started Saturday at about 4 p.m. outside the Federal Building at 151 Patton Avenue in downtown Asheville.

    On Saturday afternoon, an ICE official told News 13 that two people were arrested Saturday "during a targeted immigration enforcement action today in the Asheville area." The ICE spokesperson further confirmed a total of 12 arrests across Western North Carolina on Saturday.

    "The majority of those arrested have criminal convictions beyond their immigration status or are illegal re-entrants (illegally reentered the United States after previous deportation)," wrote Bryan D. Cox, ICE Southern Region communications director, in an email to News 13.

    A few hundred people gathered to speak their minds about what they are calling unconstitutional roundups of Latinos.
    Some who had their family members arrested Saturday just asked to be reunited with their loved ones.

    In a statement to News 13, an ICE spokesperson confirmed two people were arrested in Asheville and about 10 others were arrested throughout Western North Carolina as part of a "targeted immigration enforcement action," saying the majority of those arrested have criminal convictions beyond their immigration status, or illegally re-entered the United States after prior deportation.


    There were numerous reports on social media Saturday of ICE raids in Asheville, with those reports saying more raids are expected this weekend. ICE officials have confirmed only the information above, of the arrest of two people in Asheville and 12 total in WNC.


    A press release from Compañeros Inmigrantes de las Montañas en Acción (CIMA) and the WNC Sanctuary Movement says that "ICE raided several Asheville area neighborhoods resulting in the detention of at least 7 Latinx community members. Members of our community were detained in their neighborhoods while running simple errands or on their way to work on a Saturday morning.

    Neighborhoods throughout the Emma Elementary neighborhood, in Hendersonville, and in Flat Rock are reeling at the sudden loss of their loved ones. While local organizers are mobilizing support for these families, information about where they have been taken, the reasons for their detention, and the opportunity to bring in legal counsel are still unavailable."


    CIMA and the WNC Sanctuary Movement says that it has "unconfirmed information" that ICE raids may last through the weekend in Buncombe and Henderson counties.

    The full text of the press release is below:

    PRESS ADVISORY: ICE Raids in Asheville and Surrounding Areas Press Conference at 4 pm TODAY Outside the Federal Building
    Saturday, April 14th, 2018
    Asheville, NC - Local Sanctuary activists and organizations will be holding a press conference today at 4 pm outside of the Federal Building (151 Patton Avenue) to brief media and the community about the ICE attacks on Latinx community this morning.

    This morning, ICE raided several Asheville area neighborhoods resulting in the detention of at least 7 Latinx community members. Members of our community were detained in their neighborhoods while running simple errands or on their way to work on a Saturday morning. Neighborhoods throughout the Emma Elementary neighborhood, in Hendersonville, and in Flat Rock are reeling at the sudden loss of their loved ones. While local organizers are mobilizing support for these families, information about where they have been taken, the reasons for their detention, and the opportunity to bring in legal counsel are still unavailable.

    CIMA and the WNC Sanctuary Movement is actively monitoring community members were alerted to the ICE presence and mobilized to document the arrests and support the families who were traumatized by this attack on their families. Information has been gathered and shared with the volunteers on a legal team formed to help locate and track the detainees through the ICE system. We know that some of them have been immediately moved out of the area making it difficult for family members or legal representatives to find and support their family. A family member of one the detainees told us, “I am afraid and I don’t know what is going to happen to my family member and to the community.”

    We have unconfirmed information that it is possible that these ICE raids may last through the weekend in Buncombe and Henderson counties. We appreciate your support and for more information please follow the CIMA Compañeros Inmigrantes de las Montañas en Acción and Nuestro Centro Facebook pages online.

    The full text of ICE communication to News 13 from Bryan D. Cox, Southern Region communications director is below:

    I can confirm for you that ICE arrested two individuals during a targeted immigration enforcement action today in the Asheville area. As we have personnel assigned throughout North Carolina, and an office in the Asheville area, it’s safe to say we’re present there, and make arrests there, routinely.

    As far as how ICE conducts enforcement, ICE continues to focus its limited resources first and foremost on those who pose the greatest threat to public safety and any suggestions as to ICE engaging in random or indiscriminate enforcement are categorically false. ICE only conducts targeted enforcement; ICE does not conduct checkpoints, raids or sweeps that target aliens indiscriminately.

    The agency’s arrest stats clearly reflect this reality.

    Nationally, 92 percent of all persons arrested by ICE in FY17 either had a criminal conviction, a pending criminal charge, or were already subject to a removal order issued by a federal immigration judge.

    Here’s stats to further illustrate ICE enforcement. The Atlanta field office covers Georgia and the Carolinas. I cannot break stats down below the field office level, so this is as detailed as I can provide for North Carolina data. For what it’s worth, if you divide the 13,551 arrests made in FY17 you’ll get that it breaks out to an average of roughly 260 arrests each week for the three-state Atlanta field office.

    Atlanta field office ICE administrative arrest stats:

    FY17: 13,551 arrests, 9,111 convicted criminal – 67 percent

    FY16: 8,886, 7,816 criminal – 88 percent

    FY15: 10,093, 9,088 criminal – 90 percent

    FY14: 14,274, 10,741 criminal – 75 percent

    FY13: 17,600, 12,851 criminal – 73 percent


    http://wlos.com/news/local/watch-live-local-organizations-brief-community-on-alleged-ice-raids-in-wnc-saturday
    NO AMNESTY

    Don't reward the criminal actions of millions of illegal aliens by giving them citizenship.


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  2. #2
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    NO AMNESTY

    Don't reward the criminal actions of millions of illegal aliens by giving them citizenship.


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    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    At least 12 arrested by ICE Saturday in WNC; hundreds rally in protest downtown

    Sam DeGrave, sdegrave@citizen-times.com Published 6:14 p.m. ET April 14, 2018 | Updated 6:36 p.m. ET April 14, 2018


    (Photo: Sam DeGrave)

    ASHEVILLE - Hundreds of people rallied in front of the Veach-Baley Federal Building downtown Saturday in protest of a U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement operation that netted about a dozen arrests across Western North Carolina earlier in the day.

    Immigrant advocate group Compañeros Inmigrantes de las Montañas en Acción, known as CIMA, led the hour-long rally, during which family members of detained immigrants and prominent city and county leaders spoke. The unifying message of the rally — which was planned and organized in a matter of hours — was that the behavior of ICE is unacceptable and will no longer be tolerated.


    "These are unjust moves from a rogue agency," said CIMA coordinator Bruno Hinojosa, describing what he referred to as ICE attacks on the Latino community of Buncombe and Henderson counties. "ICE has been given the power to do anything, and they're terrorizing our community."


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    Bryan Cox, an ICE spokesman based out of Atlanta, confirmed to the Citizen Times Saturday that the federal immigration agency arrested about 12 people in Buncombe and Henderson counties Saturday morning. Two of those people were arrested in Asheville, he said, while others were arrested in Hendersonville and East Flat Rock.


    Cox said his agency has an office in Hendersonville, and therefore "the presence of ICE is nothing out of the norm there." He wouldn't say how many agents are based there, citing security concerns, but he explained that ICE operations are narrow in scope and generally target only "criminal offenders, gang members and other dangerous people."

    Helen, whose husband, Carlos, was arrested by ICE Saturday, wipes tears from her eyes while speaking. On her right, stands Balentin, a friend of Carlos who was present during his arrest. (Photo: Sam DeGrave)


    A woman named Helen — who gave only her first name fearing retaliation from ICE, even as a U.S. citizen — told a different story when she spoke during the rally.

    Helen's husband, Carlos, was arrested by ICE on his way to work laying floors Saturday morning when he was stopped by ICE at the Walgreens off Leicester Highway. It was about 7 a.m. when he and his coworker were pulled over by an unmarked SUV driven by ICE agents, Helen said.


    Balentin — who for the same reason as Helen only gave his first name — was in the car with Carlos when Carlos was arrested. Balentin, a U.S. citizen, said the ICE officers, whose bulletproof vests bore the federal agency's name, told him and Carlos that they were looking for a Mexican named John at the time.


    In most cases, Cox said, ICE agents have a specific list of targets they're going to arrest, people with some sort of criminal background.

    Immigrant advocates such as CIMA's Isle Ramirez say that bar can be fairly low. Some of the people ICE targeted Saturday had only DUIs, she said.


    ICE statistics, furnished by Cox, show that the majority of arrests made under the watch of the Atlanta Field Office, which covers the Carolinas and Georgia, were of convicted criminals. Of the 13,551 arrests ICE agents in that three-state area made in Fiscal Year 2017, 67 percent had a criminal record.


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    The other 33 percent were cases in which ICE agents came across other people who were in the country unlawfully while searching for their target suspects.

    That's what Balentin said happened to Carlos when he was pulled over by ICE.


    "They said, 'Where are you from?' He said, 'Mexico,' and right then they said, 'All right, you're coming with us,'" Balentin told the Citizen Times Saturday.


    He called Helen, who rushed to the scene of the arrest, but by the time she got there, the ICE agents had Carlos in the back of their car and wouldn't let him out.


    "They didn't even let me see him," she said, wiping tears from her eyes during an interview with the Citizen Times. "I wanted to see him because Lord knows when I'll see him again."

    Hundreds (most of which out of frame) gather for a rally against ICE raids downtown. (Photo: Sam DeGrave)


    Though CIMA and other immigrant advocacy groups in Asheville are trying to reach out to all of the families who had a loved one detained by ICE, they've only been able to contact a handful so far, Hinojosa said.

    Stories like Helen's are typical, though, according to Hinojosa and other rally speakers, and they show how devastated the Latino community can be by such raids.

    That was evident on social media Saturday morning, when news of the ICE operations began circulating.


    Several members of the Western North Carolina Latino community took to social media to discuss the ICE arrests, posting pictures and in one case video of an arrest.


    Predominately Spanish-language Facebook groups Pasa la voz Asheville y alrededores, which in English means Spread the Word, and Nuestro Centro, in English Our Center, were rife with activity regarding the ICE operation Saturday morning. Several people, in posts and in comments, mentioned family members they say have been detained.

    The Citizen Times reached out to several such people over Facebook and has yet to hear back.


    Hinojosa said he and the other members of his organization have been frantically working to determine what is going on since he began receiving reports of an ICE raid from frantic community members separated from their loved ones Saturday morning.


    "Since then, we've been on call nonstop, receiving phone calls from people who can't find their family members who they think have been picked up by ICE," he said.


    He said CIMA heard from somebody in the Henderson County Registrar's Office that there are at least seven people being detained in Henderson County. Hinojosa wasn't sure whether those seven people were being detained in the Henderson County Jail or nearby. A Citizen Times call to the Henderson County Registrar was not answered Saturday.


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    Allison Nock, a spokeswoman for the Henderson County Sheriff's Office, which runs the county jail, said Saturday that any questions regarding ICE would need to be directed to the federal agency. Nock did, however, say via email that "nobody has been detained by ICE in our facility."


    Henderson County jail records, which list the primary reason why each inmate is being detained, corroborate that.


    Buncombe County jail records list only one inmate in custody on an ICE hold, and he's been there since August 2017. The Buncombe County Sheriff's Office didn't immediately respond to queries from the Citizen Times Saturday.


    Asheville City Council members Brian Haynes, Vijay Kapoor and Sheneika Smith spoke during the rally at the Federal Building. Buncombe County commissioner Jasmine Beach-Ferrara also spoke out against the ICE arrests.

    https://www.citizen-times.com/story/...own/517394002/

    NO AMNESTY

    Don't reward the criminal actions of millions of illegal aliens by giving them citizenship.


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    Please support our fight against illegal immigration by joining ALIPAC's email alerts here https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

  4. #4
    Moderator Beezer's Avatar
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    BEST TO SELL OUT, PACK UP AND GO HOME BEFORE YOU ARE CAUGHT

    HELEN CAN PACK HER BAGS AND GO WITH HIM!
    ILLEGAL ALIENS HAVE "BROKEN" OUR IMMIGRATION SYSTEM

    DO NOT REWARD THEM - DEPORT THEM ALL

  5. #5
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    4 more were arrested Sunday in N.C.
    NO AMNESTY

    Don't reward the criminal actions of millions of illegal aliens by giving them citizenship.


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    Please support our fight against illegal immigration by joining ALIPAC's email alerts here https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

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