Thread: MI:Inside the hunt for illegal immigrants

Inside the hunt for illegal immigrants
by Theresa D. McClellan | The Grand Rapids Press
Wednesday January 23, 2008, 6:07 AM


Press Photos/Emily Zoladz
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent Michael Lentz, of Rockford, is part of a team that apprehends illegal immigrants who have been ordered to leave the country but remain. GRAND RAPIDS -- It starts with the drive-bys.

Officers and agents from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement team gather in unmarked SUVs, drive past their targeted dwellings and look for evidence of someone home.

The goal is to "identify, locate, apprehend, process and remove fugitive aliens from the United States with the highest priority on criminally convicted fugitives," said spokesman Gregory Palmore.

This is the Detroit team, one of 75 in nation. Its members have the highest success rate, Palmore said.

Members arrived for an operation here Friday and spent the first night in outlying areas such as Allendale, Sturgis and Ionia. They wrapped up late Monday night.

On Saturday, they allowed The Press to join them as they went to homes and apartments in Grand Rapids and surrounding communities looking for 31 criminals and noncriminal undocumented immigrants.

Don't call them raids, Palmore said. Agents don't stand outside of churches or businesses, swoop up everyone and ask questions later.

"Raids are random. These are all targeted enforcement actions for criminal aliens, fugitive aliens and immigration status violators when we encounter them," he said.

Since the roundups started in 2003, 254 men and women in West Michigan have been arrested. Those targeted are men and women who have been before an immigration judge and ordered removed by a certain time. When they don't comply, they are considered fugitives.

"There are ways to get into this country legally, and we're not after those here legally," Palmore said. "But for those who are here illegally, we're looking for them. They are taking jobs, they are committing crimes. This is a priority."

The work of the agents is slow and methodical, with hours of waiting, watching and gathering information.

When it's time to approach targets, agents' weapons are visibly strapped to their legs or hips. They have rules: If children are present and both adults are undocumented, they take the man and give the woman notice to appear within a certain date.

And as the sun goes down, they surround all exits and make the knocks that will change the world for those here illegally.

"I was in the wrong place at the wrong time," said 25-year-old Marco Zavala, his hands clasped before him in handcuffs while being processed at a downtown federal office.

He knows he is headed back to Mexico, a place he says is not his home. "I have not lived there in more than six years. I live here, have a good job and a girlfriend who is pregnant."

Zavala has been through this at least three times. Each time he was sent back to the border, he made his way back to this country. He says he hasn't tried to become a legal citizen because he has speeding tickets; Palmore said those violations would not preclude him from becoming legal.

In this case, Zavala was not the target. Agents got lucky when a series of tips led them to the York Creek Apartments in Alpine Township.


ICE Agent Steven Anderson of Detroit was part of the team that arrested Alberto Hernandez-Contrarez at York Creek Apartments in Alpine Township on Saturday. The 30-year-old Mexican national was convicted on weapons charges, as well as possession of fraudulent identification and operating a vehicle while intoxicated.After several stops at the sprawling complex, they are led to a party where they found 11 suspected illegal immigrants.

Using a portable fingerprint taker, officers determine that one of their men is Alberto Hernandez-Contrarez, a 30-year-old Mexican national convicted on weapons charges, as well as possession of fraudulent identification and operating a vehicle while intoxicated.

Hernandez-Contrarez glares at the agents as he is escorted out in handcuffs.

Zavala is what they call a bonus. As the officers take him away, a young woman runs to the doors of apartment building, presses her face and hands against the windows and wails.

Zavala grimaces. It is his girlfriend. He was just in the neighboring apartment looking for someone to help fix his car when agents descended.

Zavala said he has paid the nearly $4,000 fee to smugglers to get back into the United States. He said he walked from the California border and wandered through the desert for four weeks, past dead bodies and bandits, on his way here.

On the Arizona border, "(border patrol officers) were mean and nasty and angry that I understood what they were saying," he says.

There was a marked difference, Zavala said, when he encountered the ICE team. "They were really nice, I mean, they were doing their job, but they weren't mean or bad to me," he said.

He understands ICE has a job to do. But Zavala says he wants to do his job, too.

He has a driver's license and was working three jobs, including one at a large retailer's warehouse. Next year, he said, he was going to be a team leader.

Across his neck is the tattooed name of his 3-year-old daughter, "Selena." The vein near her name pulses faster as he discusses his plight and his worries about his girlfriend.

He gave the girlfriend his last $100 in cash but worries for her future. She is also undocumented and received notice that she had to leave the country.

"I am not a criminal. I'm just trying to make a living like everyone else," Zavala said. "I know they say they are cracking down since 911, but we are not those people."

Palmore said he understands Zavala's need to make money for his baby.

"But he's been here three times and never did what it takes to be legal. You can't be in the country illegally," Palmore said, noting Zavala could now be charged with a felony.

http://www.mlive.com/news/index.ssf/200 ... al_im.html

Get rid of 'em all. Good job, ICE!

I live here, have a good job and a girlfriend who is pregnant."

A pregnant girlfriend now there's a shocker.....NOT! If this story was supposed to make me feel pity it certainly had the opposite effect!

Get the pregnant GF outta here before she gives birth! Shes illegal too!

Wish they could go after the employers of these people too after they arrest them.

He gave the girlfriend his last $100 in cash but worries for her future. She is also undocumented and received notice that she had to leave the country





Oh really? Well then, ICE needs to go back and get her. She is a fugitive alien. Pregnancy is not her free pass to stay.

"Don't call them raids, Palmore said. Agents don't stand outside of churches or businesses, swoop up everyone and ask questions later. "

"Raids are random. These are all targeted enforcement actions for criminal aliens, fugitive aliens and immigration status violators when we encounter them," he said. '

Sir you are on the right track and doing a good job. However, you do not have to apologize , rationalize and or defend the enforcement of immigration law in this country. Who cares if the open border lobby calls them raids and tries to intimidate you. American Citizens want to see more of this aggressive enforcement.

Quite frankley, I have no problems with raids on churches, schools, business ( in front of Home Depot) or any other area that illegals may tend to assemble. It would seem quite easy for you to prove your in this country legally if you happen to get caught up in such a raid. I as an American Citizen would have absolutely no problems whatsoever in showing my identification to an ICE officer in order to prove my legal status in this country.

It's not that hard. Really...

I live here, have a good job and a girlfriend who is pregnant."

This has to be the quote of the decade. Of course he didn't say anything about his mamacita in old Mexico. This quote needs to get out to the OBL morons.
"Yo vivo a'qui y tengo un buen trabajo y una novia embarazada!"