Thread: Midstate workers face deportation;arrests alarm area Hispani

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll ... /1017/NEWS

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."

If they were so "underground" our cities wouldn't be under seige.

They're "scared," because they're in this Country Illegally?? What's wrong with this picture??

I hope they're sweating in their boots!!! Now to just enforce the rest.

"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.

Oh, how sad! I'm crying....not! Of course they're still considered deportable!!! They are still breaking the law! When did it change that they are suddenly NOT breaking the law? People get all sentimental--that doesn't change facts. Illegal means illegal.

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.

I'm so tired of hearing how upholding the law in this country is separating families -- families of FOREIGNERS. The children born in this country to those that are here illegally are not forced to be left behind, they are free to leave with their parents, they are not prisoners here ...

right now we have thousands of men and women separated from their families because they're defending the borders of Iraq -- many of these families will never see their loved ones alive again -- their bodies are being returned in caskets draped with the American flag, they're not being 'deported' for violating the laws -- they are dying to uphold the law and keep us free -- where is the compassion for them?



Governor fights Army on rebuff of Guard kin

Dennis Wagner
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 20, 2006 12:00 AM

Military commanders are reviewing a decision that reneged on promises to members of an Arizona National Guard unit who were told that families could join them during training in Texas before unit members were sent to Afghanistan, an Army spokesman said.

The Guard confirmed that many of the families already had planned to move to Fort Hood but got word last week that they no longer would be entitled to those privileges.

"I'm furious," said Lisa Hoover, wife of an Apache Longbow pilot. "I don't know how they can pull them away, not pay what they said they were going to pay and not let them see their families (for 20 months). . . . How is this supposed to keep their morale up?"

Gov. Janet Napolitano said she plans to call the secretary of the Army today, seeking to overturn the decision by Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, commander of the 1st Army.

"As far as the governor's concerned, this is outrageous," said Jeanine L'Ecuyer, a spokeswoman for Napolitano. Rick Thomas, a spokesman for the 1st Army, said the decision remains in place but the Army is discussing the matter with the National Guard.

"We want to take care of our soldiers and their families," he said, adding that part of that effort is making sure unit members are properly trained and prepared for their mission in Afghanistan."


The deployment of 447 troops in the 1st /285th Attack Battalion, based at Marana, will be the largest National Guard mobilization overseas from Arizona since the Iraq war began. Most troops are scheduled to ship out to Texas during the first week of May, along with 15 helicopters. The outfit is the nation's only Guard unit to fly Apache Longbows, also known as the AH-64Ds.

Maj. Paul Aguirre, a spokesman for the Arizona National Guard, said Adjutant Gen. David P. Rataczak "does not agree with Honore's opinion on this matter but will salute and march off sharply and do the mission."

Military units typically are not allowed to bring families for short-term training operations at U.S. bases, lasting a few months or less. However, sometimes when training goes for six months or more, family privileges and other benefits are allowed.

The Arizona soldiers will spend an unusually long time in Texas because, in addition to pre-deployment training, the unit must be certified as combat-ready with the Apaches. Aguirre confirmed that troops were assured repeatedly during the past year that their families could accompany them to Fort Hood. They were told they could live off base in Texas and would receive monthly stipends.

However, Aguirre said, Honore canceled those privileges last week, saying that the 1st /285th is in mobilization mode and therefore will be isolated at Fort Hood, living in barracks with base restrictions. The Arizona Guard surveyed soldiers to obtain a partial inventory of the impact found, among other things, that at least 124 families planned to make the move, and 57 already had spent money seeking off-base housing in Texas.

Hoover is in Texas, where she has bought a house and moved with two children, 12 and 5, to await her husband's arrival. The couple sold their Tucson home before leaving.

"We're here. I don't have a job yet. Honestly, I don't know how we're going to make it," Hoover said in a telephone interview.

Regina Gonia, also a pilot's wife and former coordinator of the 1st /285th family support group, said many Arizona Guard families invested in a move to Texas and now face financial woes because of the Army's decision.

No soldiers in the unit would comment because of concerns about the effect on their careers.

Gonia said Arizona Guard families believe they are being given second-class treatment by the Army and have asked members of the Arizona congressional delegation to help.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepubli ... d0420.html

i liken it to not doing what my mom said when i was a kid, then hearing the phone ring and mom say "your dad will be home in a few minutes" suddenly Im trying to clean my room, wash teh dishes and beg her not to tell dad I was being stubborn.

It's simple really, you enforce the rules people obey them. Not because they are nice, most people obey rules based on a fear of consequnce.

I would hope that ICE keeps this up, if so we could see some serious change on the border flow in a few weeks.