Thread: Officials criticize report on ICE raids

Officials criticize report on ICE raids
Blame parents for impact on kids, say Weld DA, others
By Fernando Quintero, Rocky Mountain News
November 2, 2007

GREELEY - Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck on Thursday criticized as "disingenuous" a report released a day earlier that documented the impact of immigration enforcement on children.
He joined other top county law enforcement in a news conference to criticize the report, which detailed the economic and emotional impact on illegal immigrants caught up in large work site raids, and to speak about the impact of illegal immigration on local crime.

"I think the key here is that every one of those people arrested was someone who committed identity theft," he said, referring to a raid last year at a Swift & Co. meat-processing plant.

"We arrest drug dealers, murderers and other criminals.

"Many times these folks have children. It's the choice of the parent who has the kids; it's not the government's fault for displacing these families."

The report released Wednesday by the Urban Institute and the National Council of La Raza focused on children in communities that experienced large-scale work site raids within the past year: Greeley; Grand Island, Neb.; and New Bedford, Mass.

It found that Greeley was most deeply affected by the large immigration enforcement sweeps, and concluded that the raids caused children and infants to become separated from their parents, left families without their primary breadwinners, and caused emotional trauma for children of parents who were arrested.

Buck, Sheriff John Cooke and other critics - including federal immigration officials - said those parents are to blame for being in the country illegally and putting their children in jeopardy.

"I found the report to be disingenuous," said Buck, who held a well-publicized forum in September in which he discussed the impacts of illegal immigration on local crime.

Buck and Cooke then turned the discussion to local crime and illegal immigration.

A number of recent statistics were cited, including:

• Out of 885 people booked in Weld County last month, 113 were illegal immigrants.

• In September, 126 out of 828 booked were undocumented.

• The annual cost of housing illegal immigrant inmates is nearly $2 million.

Ricardo Romero, a long-time Greeley activist, was skeptical of the statistics Buck cited.

"There's never been anything factual. What the report laid out (Wednesday) was factual.

"He cares to pick and choose the statistics he wants to highlight."

Romero responded to the criticism that it was the parents who put their children in harm's way. "It's social conditions and poverty that put them in that position."

Although the NCLR report dealt with ICE, a federal agency, Buck said it was reasonable for his office and the county sheriff to weigh in on the study's findings because they worked closely with federal officials before, during and after the raid.

"It's important to give these numbers now so that the community can see what is being done with regards to our illegal alien population," he said.

Recommendations

Here are the four recommendations made by the National Council of La Raza and the Urban Institute on the impact of immigration raids on children:

• ICE should assume that children will be affected whenever adults are arrested in work site enforcement operations and should develop a consistent policy for handling detained parents.

• Congress should provide oversight of immigration enforcement activities to ensure that children are protected and should also consider providing resources to school systems and local agencies that respond to children's needs.

• Schools should develop systems to ensure that children have a safe place to go in the event of a school-hours raid.

• Social services and other public agencies should prepare plans to respond to immigration raids and develop outreach strategies to assure parents and other caregivers that it is safe to seek emergency assistance and support for children under such circumstances.

The response

Here is the response from a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to the first two recommendations:

• "The authors of the report erroneously assume that ICE has not done this. In fact ICE goes to extraordinary lengths to identify and accommodate child-care needs. We have long had thorough procedures in place for dealing with such issues."

• "ICE's procedures for giving those arrested opportunities to ensure their children are cared for go far beyond those of any other law enforcement agencies. We are confident that there are ample safeguards in place."

quinterof@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5250
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/l ... 78,00.html

Romero responded to the criticism that it was the parents who put their children in harm's way. "It's social conditions and poverty that put them in that position."

The why aren't activists like Romero helping to fix the social conditions and poverty in the aliens homelands?

Originally Posted by miguelina

Romero responded to the criticism that it was the parents who put their children in harm's way. "It's social conditions and poverty that put them in that position."

The why aren't activists like Romero helping to fix the social conditions and poverty in the aliens homelands?

Either way Mr. romero, it's not the fault of the government or the American people. And contrary to what you believe, it is the fault of the parents. They knowingly broke the law! Stop spewing your rhetorical nonsense because we don't buy it.
Many American families have been seperated and divided because of our war mongering presidents and politicians, and it has been going on for years.

Good video of DA Buck and Sheriff Cooke's press conference about this. Buck appears to be a very good public speaker, his responses were solid and pointed:

http://www.greeleytribune.com/video.html