Thread: NY: Immigration raid at Mount Kisco apartments nets 20 arres

Immigration raid at Mount Kisco apartments nets 20 arrests
By Sean Gorman and Leah Rae
The Journal News


(Original publication: March 22, 2007)
MOUNT KISCO - An apartment building in the heart of the village has been left nearly empty by an immigration sweep early Monday morning, leaving relatives and the landlord to sort out what happened to the 20 men who were taken away.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials raided 165 Main St. about 4:45 a.m. in search of a fugitive, with assistance from Mount Kisco police.

The building is the last known address of 48-year-old Estanslao Lopez, who has multiple criminal convictions and is in the United States illegally, according to a police report.

They didn't apprehend Lopez, but they did arrest about 20 people and take them to a Manhattan ICE location for processing, police said.

Three women and four men were left behind, the landlord and remaining tenants said yesterday.

A Guatemalan woman, Ana, described awaking to the noise of officers banging on the apartment doors and speaking into radios. She said she waited with two other women in a room for more than two hours with plastic cuffs on her wrists.

When she was released, her 35-year-old husband was gone. A Honduran resident, Marlene, said her 47-year-old father, a construction worker, also was taken. The tenants did not want to give their last names because of their undocumented status.

Attorney George Echevarria was speaking to the remaining occupants yesterday and trying to locate those who were arrested. He called the incident unprecedented.

"It's pretty awful that they were rounded up this way," Echevarria said. "I've heard or seen raids on workplaces, but never at an apartment building. Basically, they emptied the place out."

ICE spokesman Mark Thorn said those taken into custody were arrested for immigration law violations.

"All of those who were arrested were placed in removal (deportation) proceedings, will be given due process, and have an opportunity to have their cases heard before an independent administrative judge," Thorn said.

Those who were allowed to stay either had green cards or other criteria that kept them from being detained, police said.

Ana said she had joined her husband in the United States two months ago to support their five children in Guatemala.

She said officials told her Monday that they would call her later, and she replied that she had no phone.

The building, across from a Borders bookstore, is owned by Datalink Computer Products, which operates on the ground floor. Vickram Bedi, a principal of Datalink, said he had no one named Lopez on the rent rolls. As he walked through the quiet upper floors yesterday, he questioned why his building was singled out. The bedrooms were left unoccupied with piles of clothing and blankets, pairs of work boots and refrigerators stocked with food.

At Main Street Deli on the ground floor, manager Marcia Quezada said she opened Monday morning and wondered why it was unusually quiet. Normally four or five men from the building would buy coffee and wait for their employer to pick them up.

"They were customers," Quezada said. "They would wait here and then they would go."

The managers were unaware of the arrests until later that morning, when a neighbor described seeing people loaded into vans.

"Now many people won't come here, because they're afraid because of the INS," Quezada said.

Village police Lt. Patrick O'Reilly referred questions to immigration officials.

"It was their operation," he said.

Police wouldn't release Lopez's rap sheet. Thorn said the fugitive who was the focus of the raid - he would not say if it was Lopez - has been ordered deported.

"When we're at a target location, we need to know who's on the premises for officer safety," Thorn said. "Everyone on the premises will be interviewed."

Operations like Monday's happen "all the time," he said.

"Our concern is public safety and our interest is ensuring the integrity of the immigration system," Thorn said.

Echevarria said that, to a certain extent, authorities have the right to search for one person.

"But they detained people between the ages of 20 and, I think, into their 40s or 50s," Echevarria said. "So clearly it was just a sweep."

Recent ICE raids at day-labor sites and at residences in Connecticut have sparked "Stop the Raid" rallies. In keeping with the Mount Kisco incident, authorities have arrested multiple people after targeting one person, said Jason McGahan, a member of the Regional Coalition for Immigration Rights.

"It's really quite a terrifying experience for families to have to go through, and that's why the general consensus is it's a program whose intent is to sort of set an example of a few unlucky immigrants and to send a message to all the rest," he said.

Along with large, well-publicized raids like one in New Bedford, Mass., others are taking place with no public announcement, he said. His group knows of 35 arrests in Danbury, Conn., alone.

"They simply 'disappear' them. Their families, all they know is that they don't come home from work," McGahan said.

At Mount Kisco's Neighbors Link Community Center, which provides a hiring site and English classes for immigrants, executive director Carola Bracco was aware of Monday's arrests.

"We're watching what's going on carefully," Bracco said. "We want to make sure people are treated fairly, constitutional rights are upheld."

Another Mount Kisco police report about conditions in the building said the rooms were "nonconducive for healthy occupancy" and that several rooms had three to four occupants.

Village Building Inspector Austin Cassidy said village officials visited the building just days ago, without any knowledge of the immigration case. The sleeping rooms were locked, however, and they couldn't inspect them, Cassidy said.

A follow-up inspection was being scheduled.

Bedi said his building was in full compliance, with one or two beds per bedroom. He said one of his tenants, a pizzeria worker with legal residency, had fled out of fear to live in the Bronx.

"They're scared," he said.

http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs ... 018/NEWS02

Ana said she had joined her husband in the United States two months ago to support their five children in Guatemala.

I can see one parent leaving, but BOTH? Five children orphaned......

"We're watching what's going on carefully," Bracco said. "We want to make sure people are treated fairly, constitutional rights are upheld."

Illegal aliens do not have Constitutional Rights. They are not citizens and are not intitiled to the rights and protections under the Constitution. They are however total criminals.

This should send a message to all of them, to get out, while the getting is good. Oh and take all of your crap with you!

Anna was probably here to pop out an anchor.

Dixie

Originally Posted by jean

Immigration raid at Mount Kisco apartments nets 20 arrests
By Sean Gorman and Leah Rae
The Journal News


(Original publication: March 22, 2007)
MOUNT KISCO - An apartment building in the heart of the village has been left nearly empty by an immigration sweep early Monday morning, leaving relatives and the landlord to sort out what happened to the 20 men who were taken away.

Good Deal!
20 down, 12 million to go....
Keep up the good work guys. The American people support your efforts.

When she was released, her 35-year-old husband was gone. A Honduran resident, Marlene, said her 47-year-old father, a construction worker, also was taken. The tenants did not want to give their last names because of their undocumented status. .....
Those who were allowed to stay either had green cards or other criteria that kept them from being detained, police said.

Hmmmm...I wonder what kind of "criteria" these women had since they were undocumented. Perhaps a stolen social security number?

"It's pretty awful that they were rounded up this way," Echevarria said. "I've heard or seen raids on workplaces, but never at an apartment building. Basically, they emptied the place out."

Well it's actually way past time these kind of raids took plsce

"Now many people won't come here, because they're afraid because of the INS," Quezada said.

It's past time they were afraid of the INS. They should be afraid of the INS (ICE). The problem is they aren't and with good reason. The laws have not been enforced.

"It's really quite a terrifying experience for families to have to go through, and that's why the general consensus is it's a program whose intent is to sort of set an example of a few unlucky immigrants and to send a message to all the rest," he said.

Well let's see, they are here illegally, they know thye are here illegally, and they know that they are breaking the law. It should be no surpirse to them or thier families when the law is enforced. If this is suppose to evoke sympathy it doesn't with the majoirty of Americans who have demanded the law be enforced for years.

"They simply 'disappear' them. Their families, all they know is that they don't come home from work," McGahan said.

Get real! they know what's happend to them They know they are being detained and quiet possibly be deported. They don't "simply disappear" they are arrested and processed. Are these people that stupid or have they been lulled into such a sense of security that they can't beleive that it's finally happening? Once again if this is suppose to evoke sympahty they are barking up the wrong treee.

I love it! We need more of these raids. I can't believe these Activists claiming "Constitutional Rights" for illegals. They have the right to not be harmed, but that's about it. They have the right to be reunited with their families in their home countries, too.

"Now many people won't come here, because they're afraid because of the INS," Quezada said.

Sorry, INS no longer exist.

When she was released, her 35-year-old husband was gone. A Honduran resident, Marlene, said her 47-year-old father, a construction worker, also was taken. The tenants did not want to give their last names because of their undocumented status.

I'm getting a little sick of this selective apprehension stuff. If they're illegal, arrest them, no if's, but's, or and's about it!