Thread: IMMIGRATION: Activists criticize Forest Service

IMMIGRATION: Activists criticize Forest Service
.pe.com/localnews/immigration
BY DAVID OLSON
STAFF WRITER
09:10 AM PDT on Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Immigration-rights activists are accusing San Bernardino National Forest law-enforcement officers of repeatedly demanding immigration papers from recreational area visitors.

Four people who said they were put in deportation proceedings following their Sept. 3 arrests near Lytle Creek in the San Bernardino Mountains appeared at a news conference Monday afternoon in front of the national forest's headquarters in San Bernardino.

The incident was at least the fourth in the past two months in which Forest Service agents called Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the Border Patrol after asking visitors about their immigration status, said Emilio Amaya, executive director of the San Bernardino Community Service Center, an immigrant-assistance organization.

In the other three incidents, in July, two people were deported and another put in deportation proceedings, Amaya said.

National forest spokesman John Miller said forest officials did not receive a formal complaint until after the news conference.

"Once we have a chance to look at that, we can better understand their concerns," Miller said.

He said Forest Service officials could not comment on details of the case until after an internal review is complete.

"We certainly plan on having an open dialogue with the group on their concerns," Miller said. "We really want people to have a positive experience on their public lands."

The four who were detained last week said they were in a van with about a dozen others when they were stopped and three forest service cars appeared. Family members acknowledge the van did not have functioning rear lights, the driver did not have insurance and some of the children were not fully restrained by a child seat or seatbelt. Citations were issued for those offenses, they said.

The van was temporarily overloaded, they said, because parking had filled up near the picnic area where they had spent the day, and the van was ferrying people three or four miles to their cars.

José Garcia, 37, the brother of two of the detainees, said Forest Service officers had a right to issue citations to the driver, a legal U.S. resident.


Mara Galindo, of San Bernardino, joined others in criticizing U.S. Forest Service agents for allegedly demanding immigration papers from some forest visitors.

"But why did they begin to question the rest of the occupants?" he asked. "Why not give the citation to the person driving the van? It's not her job to ask for the IDs of everybody in the van."

Detainee, Gustavo GarcÃ*a, 38, of San Bernardino, said in Spanish that the agents were rude.

"She was very despotic," he said of one. "She wouldn't allow us to talk. She said, 'Shut up.' "

Vivian GarcÃ*a, 13, the daughter of Gustavo Garcia and his wife Josefina Quintero, who was also detained, said she repeatedly asked an agent if her younger cousins could leave the van to urinate but was repeatedly told they couldn't. Some urinated in their pants while waiting for ICE agents to arrive, she said.

Another one of the children in the van, Steven Garcia, 11, said he told the agent, " 'I'm about to lose my whole family, because my dad already died,' and she said, 'I don't care.' "

Blanca GarcÃ*a, 40, of Fontana, said the four spent about two hours in ICE custody before being released. She said none of them have criminal records. She worries what will happen to her four U.S.-citizen children.

"I need to fight this," she said in Spanish. "I raised them on my own. They need to stay with me. I've spent 24 years here, more than half my life."

Family members spoke in front of a sign that said, "Office Closed for Business. We'll Reopen Tuesday, 9/13."

Miller said Fernando Romero, coordinator of the Justice for Immigrants Coalition of Inland Southern California, on Friday told forest service officials "that it would be a good idea to have the office closed." Miller said he didn't know why.

Romero denied he requested that the office be closed. There would be no reason to do so and it was "ridiculous" to suggest that he would, he said.

ICE officials have repeatedly said their focus is on deporting criminals, but Romero questioned that vow.

"This shows that at the ground level, at the field level, that's not the case," he said.

http://www.pe.com/localnews/immigration ... a0fbf.html

I guess they didn't get the memo. The US forest has not yet been declared a sanctuary zone for illegal invaders. Stay in Los Angeles (better yet, stay in mexico) if you do not want to be asked for your papers, especially if you don't have any

The driver should have been arrested for transporting illegal immigrants. The parents should have been arrested for child endangerment. But no, they are above the law. This is California and the illegal aliens and their activist groups dictate the rule of law.

"She was very despotic," he said of one. "She wouldn't allow us to talk. She said, 'Shut up.' "

Well they were probably all yapping away in spanish. So she told them all to shut the hell up already!!!! Damn whiners.