MN: Federal Officers Conduct Immigration Raids in Watonwan C

Video at the source link.
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Federal Officers Conduct Immigration Raids in Watonwan Co.
Officials from the Department of Homeland Security today conducting a series of home raids in Madelia and St. James.News 12's Betsy Gessell joins in the newsroom with more. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officers with the help of the Watonwan county sheriff's department carried out several raids in both towns today. A spokesman says the raids are part of an ongoing targeted enforcement action, searching for specific individuals in violation of the law. Sylvia Garcia says she was at her elderly mother's home when it was raided.Sylvia Garcia says, '' as soon as we opened the door just a little bit, they went in front of the door and they searched everything in my mom's house it's unfair.''

http://www.keyc.com/node/12413

Unable to copy and paste all of the article from this site. Perhaps we can find another source of info. Until then please click on the source link to read the story.

:lol:

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they went in front of the door and they searched everything in my mom's house it's unfair".

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http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...ley-crying.gif

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Officials from the Department of Homeland Security today conducting a series of home raids in Madelia and St. James.News 12's Betsy Gessell joins in the newsroom with more.Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officers with the help of the Watonwan county sheriff's department carried out several raids in both towns today.A spokesman says the raids are part of an ongoing targeted enforcement action, searching for specific individuals in violation of the law.Sylvia Garcia says she was at her elderly mother's home when it was raided.Sylvia Garcia says, '' as soon as we opened the door just a little bit, they went in front of the door and they searched everything in my mom's house it's unfair.''Through an interpreter Maria Morales of St. James said she was threatened by one of the officers when they came to her home.Sandra Cuellar says, ''He grabbed his gun and said you are gonna die, in Spanish he said you are gonna die.''ICE Spokesman Tim Counts says allegations like these are common after raids, and that ICE agents do not enter a home unless given permission.Tim Counts says, ''I think what people are trying to do is deflect the fact that they are in violation of federal law by attempting to pin absurd allegations and behavior on our officers and it's simply untrue."At this point there aren't any official numbers on how many homes were raided or how many people are in custody.Tim Counts with immigration wouldn't specify if these suspects were sought for crimes other than being in the country illegally.We do know that at this time agents are still in St. James and that two individuals with warrants were arrested and taken into custody.In the Newsroom Betsy Gessell News 12.

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Another source link for the story.

http://www.twincities.com/allheadlines/ci_10793201

Immigration raids conducted in Madelia, St. James
Associated Press

Article Last Updated: 10/23/2008 10:16:37 AM CDT


MADELIA — Several people have been taken into custody in immigration raids in southern Minnesota this week.

Agents from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency have been making sweeps in Madelia and St. James over the past two days with help from local law enforcement.

Officials said they were searching for specific people who broke the law. They have not said how many homes have been raided or how many people are in custody.

Tim Counts, an ICE spokesman in Bloomington, would not give a reason for the arrests. Counts said the people were not arrested during sweeps at businesses.

The agency drew national attention when six Swift & Co. meat-processing plants were raided in December 2006, including a large plant in Worthington. The operation in Watonwan County is "of a much, much smaller scale," Counts said.

"This is nothing random," he said. "We are looking for specific people."

Counts told The Associated Press on today that the operation was still going on. He would not say if other cities were being targeted, but said "it's just a handful of arrests we expect."

No employees of Tony Downs Foods, which manufactures products such as frozen and canned chicken and has plants in St. James and Madelia, are affected by the raids, said president Mike Downs.

St. James Schools Superintendent Nordy Nelson said he was given a "heads-up" about the operation Tuesday afternoon. School officials in Madelia called him and said immigration


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arrests had been made there. That prompted Nelson to put a plan in action to have teachers stay at school after classes were over, so students would have a place to go if their parents had been arrested, he said. More than half of the district's students in eighth grade or below are Hispanic.
"We were just thinking, 'What are we going to do with these kids if they go home and their parents are gone,"' Nelson said. He said there were teachers and students who said they had seen immigration agents in their neighborhoods before school started Wednesday.

Madelia Schools Superintendent Brian Grenell said there has not been an abnormal number of children calling in sick, which could indicate parents were leaving or keeping their children home.

Police officers in St. James were asked to help federal agents Wednesday, said Joe McCabe, St. James city manager. He was told only four arrests were made in the city because word had gotten out about Tuesday's arrests in Madelia.

Since when is violating any law, local, state or federal, not a violation of law? Only when that violation is done by an illegal, the majority of which are from across our southern border.

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Sylvia Garcia says, '' as soon as we opened the door just a little bit, they went in front of the door and they searched everything in my mom's house it's unfair.''

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Well, you better read up on the laws girlie......

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Originally Posted by crazybird

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Sylvia Garcia says, '' as soon as we opened the door just a little bit, they went in front of the door and they searched everything in my mom's house it's unfair.''

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Well, you better read up on the laws girlie......

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Unfair? We leave our National Borders unsecured and the ILLEGALS scurry into our home!