OH: Federal crackdown rattles community

[Jean]

Federal crackdown rattles community
Justin Maynor
JMaynor@News-Herald.com

05/20/2007
Families gather in Painesville, protest door-to-door search for illegal immigrants


Painesville's Hispanic immigrant community was stirring Saturday amidst a crackdown on illegal aliens by federal agents.
The door-to-door raids started early Friday morning, with armed officers of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency targeting individuals who had not complied with deportation orders.
Painesville City Police Sgt. Eric Miller said local officers accompanied the agents, who were looking for 15 to 18 specific individuals who had already been through deportation hearings but had not left the country.
Carl Rusnok, communications director for the central region of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, said the operation was part of a nationwide effort to round up fugitives.
"The operation is called 'Return to Sender,' and it is operated by our Fugitive Operations Team," he said. "The Fugitive Operations Teams are specifically trained and dedicated to target aliens who have received final orders of deportation from a federal immigration judge but have refused to comply with those orders."
Word of the operation spread quickly through Painesville's tight-knit Latino community, and more than a hundred men, women and children packed the steps of city hall Saturday to protest.
While those holding signs bearing phrases like "Stop deportations" and "Don't leave our kids without parents" were confident enough in their legal status to show up in the city square, many of their friends and family were huddled away in area churches and hiding at nearby farms where they work, the protesters said.
"As we speak, the churches are filled with people who are hiding right now," said Veronica Dahlberg, spokeswoman for the Hispañas Organizadas de Lake y Ashtabula. "St. Mary's Church and other churches in the Painesville area are full of women and children."
Dahlberg claimed the scope of the operation was far greater than reported by police, estimating that 100 individuals had been taken into custody.
Among those was Jose Estrada, who according to his sister Amalia was wrongly apprehended, as he has valid legal status in the United States.
Amalia said agents drew their weapons as her mother opened the door to her home, and Jose was apprehended on his way to work. They don't know where he is.
Two Hispanic girls reported being "roughed up" by agents - one a 12-year-old American citizen, and another a 16-year-old mother of a 6-month-old child.
ACLU representative Shakira Diaz said the organization plans to investigate the operation. Also in attendance at Saturday's protest were Cleveland City Councilman Joe Santiago and immigration lawyer David Leopold.
"The raids that we're seeing here in Painesville are similar to the raids that we've seen around the country in other cities such as Baltimore and other places where children are separated from mothers and fathers, people are sent to detention institutions of immigration far away in places like Louisiana and Texas," Leopold said. "We need to protect the border, but let's prioritize. Let's make sure that the bad people don't come into the country. Let's stop wasting our taxpayers' money on hard-working folks like we have here in Painesville."
Dahlberg said Painesville's Hispanic community was unfairly targeted because of race, but officials emphasized that
the operation was not a "sweep" of known Latino neighborhoods.
"Immigration and Customs Enforcement does not engage in such operations," Rusnok said. "All of our operations are based on leads and are targeted."
However, should agents encounter someone in such a targeted operation who is not here legally, it is "standard operating procedure" to take them into custody, he said.
Painesville Police Sgt. Miller said he spoke with agents who were also involved in apprehending illegal Russian and Jamaican immigrants in Cuyahoga County.
But the immigrant community in Lake County clearly feels it is a target.
"The raids have been a problem in the Latino community for 100 years," Dahlberg said. "It's time to stop the raids."

http://www.news-herald.com/site/news.cf ... 1849&rfi=6

[jecg_97030]

What I find absolutely shocking about these stories is that these sweeps are conducted to arrest criminals. Criminals that have broken more than immigration and ID theft laws.

Why do they always act so put out that we want the worst of their group removed from our society?

They protest the arresting of wanted fugitives! What the hell?

Is it my imagination or did the raids stop in the weeks leading up to the Amnesty bill? Now they start again? Does anyone smell a Bush conspiracy? Pretend to enforce so we'll believe they are serious this time! Do you believe it? I don't!

You can comment on the obvious sympathetic to illegal slant this artcle has. Just click on the link in the original posting

[MW]

You can comment on the obvious sympathetic to illegal slant this artcle has. Just click on the link in the original posting

I've yet to read a so-called "raid" article that wasn't biased.

[razor]

Nobody is above the law. If American citizens aren't above the law, then why the hell should foreigners be?

[peppplay99]

Federal crackdown rattles community
Justin Maynor
JMaynor@News-Herald.com

05/20/2007
Families gather in Painesville, protest door-to-door search for illegal immigrants


Painesville's Hispanic immigrant community was stirring Saturday amidst a crackdown on illegal aliens by federal agents.
The door-to-door raids started early Friday morning, with armed officers of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency targeting individuals who had not complied with deportation orders.
Painesville City Police Sgt. Eric Miller said local officers accompanied the agents, who were looking for 15 to 18 specific individuals who had already been through deportation hearings but had not left the country.
Carl Rusnok, communications director for the central region of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, said the operation was part of a nationwide effort to round up fugitives.
"The operation is called 'Return to Sender,' and it is operated by our Fugitive Operations Team," he said. "The Fugitive Operations Teams are specifically trained and dedicated to target aliens who have received final orders of deportation from a federal immigration judge but have refused to comply with those orders."
Word of the operation spread quickly through Painesville's tight-knit Latino community, and more than a hundred men, women and children packed the steps of city hall Saturday to protest.
While those holding signs bearing phrases like "Stop deportations" and "Don't leave our kids without parents" were confident enough in their legal status to show up in the city square, many of their friends and family were huddled away in area churches and hiding at nearby farms where they work, the protesters said.
"As we speak, the churches are filled with people who are hiding right now," said Veronica Dahlberg, spokeswoman for the Hispañas Organizadas de Lake y Ashtabula. "St. Mary's Church and other churches in the Painesville area are full of women and children."
Dahlberg claimed the scope of the operation was far greater than reported by police, estimating that 100 individuals had been taken into custody.
Among those was Jose Estrada, who according to his sister Amalia was wrongly apprehended, as he has valid legal status in the United States.
Amalia said agents drew their weapons as her mother opened the door to her home, and Jose was apprehended on his way to work. They don't know where he is.
Two Hispanic girls reported being "roughed up" by agents - one a 12-year-old American citizen, and another a 16-year-old mother of a 6-month-old child.
ACLU representative Shakira Diaz said the organization plans to investigate the operation. Also in attendance at Saturday's protest were Cleveland City Councilman Joe Santiago and immigration lawyer David Leopold.
"The raids that we're seeing here in Painesville are similar to the raids that we've seen around the country in other cities such as Baltimore and other places where children are separated from mothers and fathers, people are sent to detention institutions of immigration far away in places like Louisiana and Texas," Leopold said. "We need to protect the border, but let's prioritize. Let's make sure that the bad people don't come into the country. Let's stop wasting our taxpayers' money on hard-working folks like we have here in Painesville."
Dahlberg said Painesville's Hispanic community was unfairly targeted because of race, but officials emphasized that
the operation was not a "sweep" of known Latino neighborhoods.
"Immigration and Customs Enforcement does not engage in such operations," Rusnok said. "All of our operations are based on leads and are targeted."
However, should agents encounter someone in such a targeted operation who is not here legally, it is "standard operating procedure" to take them into custody, he said.
Painesville Police Sgt. Miller said he spoke with agents who were also involved in apprehending illegal Russian and Jamaican immigrants in Cuyahoga County.
But the immigrant community in Lake County clearly feels it is a target.
"The raids have been a problem in the Latino community for 100 years," Dahlberg said. "It's time to stop the raids."

http://www.news-herald.com/site/news.cf ... 1849&rfi=6

I SAY RAID, RAID, AND THEN RAID AGAIN!!!!!!!!! GET THESE ILLEGAL ALIENS OUT OF OUR COUNTRY!!!!!! LET THE RAIDS BEGIN!!!!!!

[AngryTX]

"The raids that we're seeing here in Painesville are similar to the raids that we've seen around the country in other cities such as Baltimore and other places where children are separated from mothers and fathers, people are sent to detention institutions of immigration far away in places like Louisiana and Texas," Leopold said. "We need to protect the border, but let's prioritize. Let's make sure that the bad people don't come into the country. Let's stop wasting our taxpayers' money on hard-working folks like we have here in Painesville."

Well, BOO HOO!!! Let the raid continue all where ever and whenever!! If the illegals are so terrified about being seperated, let them macrh their butts back across the border!!!

[workingveryhard]

[/quote]"The raids that we're seeing here in Painesville are similar to the raids that we've seen around the country in other cities such as Baltimore and other places where children are separated from mothers and fathers, people are sent to detention institutions of immigration far away in places like Louisiana and Texas," Leopold said. "We need to protect the border, but let's prioritize. Let's make sure that the bad people don't come into the country. Let's stop wasting our taxpayers' money on hard-working folks like we have here in Painesville." [/quote]
I am speech less what the heck is wrong with this? raiding people that dont belong here and deporting them seems like a jolly idea. god im not shore what will happen it seems everyone is pulling the race card and the "Woe is me" card.

[had_enuf]

Arrests force hundreds of Mexicans to seek refuge in church

Associated Press - May 20, 2007 3:45 PM ET

PAINESVILLE, Ohio (AP) - A federal crackdown on illegal immigrants caused hundreds of Mexicans who work in northeast Ohio to take refuge in a Roman Catholic Church.

About four hundred people huddled inside the basement of Saint Mary Catholic Church in Painesville yesterday after the arrests of illegal immigrants on Friday.

Activists in the Lake County Latino community say about one hundred people were detained.

But a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman says there were 24 arrests.

The arrests were part of a national crackdown.

An estimated eight to ten thousand Mexican immigrants lived in Lake and Ashtabula counties last year.

Most work in local nurseries.

Saint Mary has bonded with the Mexican community with its weekly Latino mass.

Information from: The Plain Dealer, http://www.cleveland.com

http://www.wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=6541976

[Dixie]

Well, I'm sure the toilets in the church are going to back up because they can't handle that load.

I hope they stay in the church for a very long time. The churches that want to do this will start running out of money. They can not feed and house that number of people for a substantial length of time.

This is a bunch of drama and sympathy seeking. Maybe even money seeking. What the churches are failing to realize is that the public sees through that smoke screen. The people know that it is not ungodly to make these people leave.

Dixie

[Redbloodedamerican]

My home town, I grew up as a kid in Painesville. And now, we have these immoral Catholic Churches there giving santurary to these criminals. I will be headed up there in a few months and may have to do a little protesting outside of that church. When I went to High School there in 78-82, there was no illegal immigrant population there at all. How much farther away from the border can you get. These illegal aliens are destroying every nook and cranny of our Country.