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Saturday, 04/22/06
Midstate workers face deportation
Arrests alarm Hispanics in area
By SHEILA BURKE
Staff Writer

Dozens of undocumented workers arrested in Middle Tennessee as part of a nationwide raid this week likely will be deported within weeks, federal officials said yesterday.

Some could be leaving the U.S. in the coming days if they waive their right to deportation proceedings, the officials said.

The news this week of arrests of more than 1,100 workers at plants in 26 states at the largest pallet manufacturing company in the U.S., about 100 of them in Tennessee, sent shock waves through the local Hispanic community.

"It's scared people," said Terry Horgan, a Latino services coordinator for Catholic Charities at the Woodbine Community Organization. "It's rekindled fear."

People are calling and asking if immigration officials are targeting everyone, he said.

"I don't think they're doing it yet. I don't know what they're doing. That's what I tell them."

Federal authorities refused to identify the workers who were arrested, citing privacy rules.

Many of those who are to be deported will be forced to leave behind families, including children born in this country who are U.S. citizens, experts in immigration say.

"It's a very sad situation," said Linda Rose, an immigration lawyer in Nashville. Many people with long-standing ties to the community and children are still considered deportable under U.S. law, she said.

Some supporters of a tough line against illegal immigrants had little sympathy for those being sent back to their countries.

"We all have to live by the choices we make, and if I make a choice to rob a bank, I can't whine because my children aren't going to be with their mother when I get caught and put in jail," said Theresa Harmon, co-founder of Tennesseans for Responsible Immigration Policies.

Harmon worries that Middle Tennessee has not seen the last of some of the deportees.

"They'll be back," she said. "It's catch and release. It's the same thing they've been doing for years now."

The arrests of workers at more than 40 IFCO Systems North America locations across the nation also targeted nine current and former managers, a move signaling a new crackdown on employers who hire illegal immigrants.

Yesterday, IFCO officials issued a statement saying they were complying with the federal investigation:

"As it is IFCO's policy to comply with all federal and state employment provisions, we take the allegations made by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) very seriously and are committed to resolving this matter as soon as possible. We are very disturbed by these allegations and have immediately begun a thorough investigation of the facts.

"The activities and attitudes outlined in the allegations are counter to everything we stand for at IFCO. We have the highest respect for our nation's employment and citizenship laws and are committed to complying with them."

In Tennessee, 96 undocumented workers were arrested at four IFCO sites in Nashville, Memphis and Knoxville, ICE officials said.

The arrests come in the midst of Congressional debate over the nation's immigration policy, with some calling for amnesty for illegal immigrants and others calling for a crackdown.

On Wednesday, 34 people at the Foster Street office in Nashville were arrested and taken to the Williamson County Jail, which is often used to house undocumented immigrants. Two of them have since been released and the others are being held in lieu of $15,000 bond, an ICE official said.

Unlike some bonds, immigration bonds require that the entire amount be posted before an individual is released.

Those who choose to fight deportation will be moved to Memphis because Nashville doesn't have an immigration judge.

"They are going to be subject to a deportation hearing in front of the immigration judge," said Rose, the lawyer. "When someone is deported, they are not allowed to come back to the United States for 10 years," she said.

Anyone who enters the U.S. illegally after being deported can be charged with a felony and face criminal charges, she said.

Some critics of the action suspect the raids will cause undocumented workers to lower their profiles.

"We've said we're going to look at this problem now and we're going to debate the issue, and then we have these raids," said Rick Casares, public awareness coordinator for the Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition. "I think this might have the effect of further driving these people underground. They may be mistrustful of the debate. They might choose to stay in the shadows."