Fear, financial burdens bear down on families
By EMMA JAMES • September 21, 2008


Editor's note: Although the Hattiesburg American generally does not use anonymous sources in staff-written stories, we made an exception for stories covering the immigration raid at Howard Industries and the events that have followed because many people involved in the raid would not speak for attribution for fear of retribution.

Men and women shuffled into the Imperial Nightclub in Laurel for a meeting of the Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance on Thursday afternoon.

As the meeting was brought to order, stories were told one by one - many with common themes.

Fear. Stress. Isolation.

These are some of the most common emotions being felt by the families of detainees after the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid Aug. 25 on Howard Industries.

The incident rocked Laurel and Jones County and uprooted the foundation of the families of the 595 suspected illegal workers detained in the raid.

"Latinos are family-oriented," said one woman who asked that her name not be published. "We live together with our families. Without our husbands and loved ones here, it is bad."

Sixth-grader Virginia Reynoso sat with her mother, Martha, near the back of the room, holding a baby on her lap. Martha was baby-sitting for a friend who was at work, Virginia said.

"They took my dad to Jena," she said referring to the LaSalle Detention Facility in Louisiana where 432 detainees are being held while awaiting deportation hearings.

"If we don't get his check, we won't be able to pay our rent. My mom doesn't work because she's sick."

The Reynosos are not alone. When asked if they owed money, all 250 adult attendees at Thursday's raised their hands.

On Thursday, Howard Industries refused to release the paychecks of workers detained in the raid to approximately 200 family members - even though the families had power of attorney.

But several organizations have started collecting money to help the families of detainees weather the financial burden that has fallen on them since the raid. Among them are Peniel Christian Church in Laurel, Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Laurel and Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Hattiesburg.

MIRA has collected about $28,000 in contributions gathered to help families of detainees currently in need. The organization dispersed about $11,000 of that amount Thursday.

"These families are under extreme stress because they don't have an income," said Bill Chandler, executive director for MIRA. "They've scrimped and saved to make rent and in some cases doubled up in homes. There are 300 children that are being affected. I'd say that's a serious crisis, a humanitarian crisis."

Between 75 and 80 of those children are U.S. citizens, said Victoria Cintra, MIRA organizing coordinator.

"What happened to their rights?" she said, holding up paperwork documenting the needs of individual families. "Their parents are considered illegal. I wasn't aware that human beings could be illegal. We were all created by God, right?"

One woman, a U.S. citizen who did not want her identity published for fear of retribution, said her family's whole lifestyle has been changed. She and her husband have been together for seven years and have three children. They are in the process of getting her husband citizenship, but she is afraid that he will be taken before the paperwork is processed.

"We used to have a normal life. We would go to the mall on Saturday, take the kids and get out of the house. Now we stay home," she said. "We work; we don't go out. My husband has to work so we can pay the bills. Every day I might get a call that he's been taken and there's nothing I can do."

The isolation of being in the country illegally has worsened, according to several workers who did not want their identities published, including some detained in the raid at Howard Industries.

"People in our situation, we are a secret society," said one woman. "We were once happy. Now we have to fight for what is ours. What else is there to do?"

Now, several people said, they take comfort in the nearness of both the Hispanic community and volunteers from organizations that have come to help.

"We feel sad, but one thing that keeps us all going is that you [organization workers] are here to help us all," said one woman through a translator. "You stimulate us and pump us up. We don't feel so alone and afraid when we're together."
http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps ... /809210308