Thread: MN & SD: Officials arrest 36 for immigration violations

Officials arrest 36 for immigration violations in Minnesota and S.D.
Last update: March 3, 2008 - 7:41 PM

Guatemalans accounted for 31 of the 36 people apprehended in Worthington and Pipestone, Minn., and across the border in Sioux Falls, S.D. Two are from Mexico, two are from El Salvador and one is from Honduras.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials said fugitive aliens are illegal immigrants who fail to appear for their immigration hearings or become fugitives after a federal judge orders them to leave the country.

Among the 36, six had criminal convictions along with their immigration violations. In a news release, ICE highlighted two of the people arrested:

• Merido Mazariegos, 32, of Guatemala, convicted of fifth-degree assault in Minnesota's Nobles County.

• Jose Inocente Garcia-Huix, 38, of Guatemala, convicted in Nobles County last year for forging two state identification cards under aliases.

PAUL WALSH
http://www.startribune.com:80/local/16187982.html

two are from El Salvador

One of the original "Mexican tiendas" started in the area is an El Salvadoran and spouse is a Mexican. Both came to Sioux Falls via meat-packing jobs they once held in Iowa.

The number of "Mexican/Latino tiendas in the city have sprouted up in 6 years time. Just this past Sunday, there was an article in the Argus Leader about another "Mexican Restaurant" opening up because all the other ones in the area didn't have they same flavor of Mexican food that comes from their area of Mexico.

At least two of the existing restaurants have been busted within the past 2 years. One was discussed on ALIPAC:
http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... ic&t=58314

Somehow the other one didn't get the advertisement about the raid that this one did but it hit him hard. For what reason it has been kept quiet, I do not know but I'd sure like to because I know it's been done for a fact. This restaurant's home base is WA State.

Go ICE.

36 Arrested in Immigration Raid

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (AP) - Agents with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement say they arrested 36 illegal immigrants classified as fugitives for failing to appear at immigration hearings or absconding after a judge ordered them to leave the country.

The arrests took place in Worthington and Pipestone, Minnesota, and Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The three-day sweep took place last week.

The ICE says six of the 36 apprehended had criminal convictions in addition to their immigration violations.

The director of the ICE office in Bloomington says it's important to send a strong message to anyone who ignores deportation orders.

Of those arrested, 31 are from Guatamela. Two are from Mexico, two from El Salvador and one from Honduras. Twenty-eight of those arrested are men and eight are women.


http://kaaltv.com/article/stories/S3667 ... ?cat=10151

ICE Targets Individuals In Worthington Operation
Feb 28, 2008


WORTHINGTON, Minn. (AP) ― Immigration agents are conducting an enforcement action in Worthington, but officials said it's targeted to individuals and not like the roundup more than a year ago of workers at the Swift & Co. meatpacking plant.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "does not conduct random sweeps ... we are targeting specific individuals," spokeswoman Gail Montenegro told the Daily Globe newspaper.

Montenegro told the newspaper more information would be available after the operation is concluded, but did not say when that would be.

ICE arrested 225 individuals during a four-day, six-state operation that ended Monday. States involved were Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, New York, Wisconsin, Indiana and Missouri.

In December 2006, ICE arrested 230 workers at the Swift plant in Worthington, as part of a much larger multi-state raid of the company's plants. The agency's presence back in the city was making some in the local Hispanic community nervous, said Sister Mary Thein of St. Mary's Catholic Church, who works with the Hispanic population.

"There was a lot of fear," Thein said. "They were afraid."

Worthington Mayor Allan Oberloh, an outspoken proponent of reforming the country's immigration laws, said he wasn't notified that agents would be in the city.

"The people against ICE being here will still be against them, the people for immigration reform will say 'yes, it's about time,"' he said. "I don't think anybody's minds have changed."

http://wcco.com/local/worthington.immig ... 64782.html

Worthington Mayor Allan Oberloh, an outspoken proponent of reforming the country's immigration laws, said he wasn't notified that agents would be in the city.

How dare ICE inform City Officials when they are doing ENFORCEMENT WORK! The nerve of this mayor - he needs to be EDUCATED!

Alan E. Oberloh

Mayor
Term Expires: December 2010
Contact Mayor Oberloh CouncilMembers@mail.ci.worthington.mn.us

ICE pays Worthington another visit
Justine Wettschreck Worthington Daily Globe
Published Thursday, February 28, 2008

WORTHINGTON — Immigration officials were closed-mouthed Wednesday about what they were doing in Worthington, but did say they were conducting an enforcement operation targeting specific individuals in the area — a very different operation than the roundup that took place at the Swift & Co. plant more than a year ago.

What wasn’t different was the reaction from the Latino community.

“There was a lot of fear,â€