Thread: MA-Tewksbury doc frazzled by immigrant raid

Tewksbury doc frazzled by immigrant raid
By Lisa Redmond, lredmond@lowellsun.com
Article Last Updated: 08/16/2008 06:35:46 AM EDT


TEWKSBURY -- In a haze of sleep, Dr. Sothy Pheng heard three loud bangs on the front door of his Tewksbury home.

"I could feel the vibrations transmitted through the entire house," he said, recalling the early morning incident Aug. 6.

Having been on call at Caritas Holy Family Hospital in Methuen the night before, the sleep-deprived doctor ignored the noise.

"I knew that someone would respond to such a loud intrusion," said Pheng, who lives in the 60 Country Club Drive home with his brother and sister-in-law. All three own the home.

The next thing he knew a federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent was in his bedroom, asking him, in what Pheng described as a "loud, threatening tone," if he was a man named "Pisoth Far."

Pheng, who was still in bed, dressed in only a T-shirt and boxer shorts, said the agent asked him several times if he was this other man.

"He interrogated me as if I was already a criminal or an animal of some sort," Pheng said.

Pheng finally gave the agent his name. Clearing his head, Pheng then asked one of the other officers if they had a warrant. The response was the homeowner had permitted them into the house. Pheng would later learn that his sister-in-law let the agents into the house.

"I was shocked that they could do this," said Pheng, a native of Cambodia, who became a naturalized U.S. citizen eight years ago.

While Pheng doesn't question that ICE agents have the law behind them, he

wonders if the use of this power isn't out of control.
ICE spokesperson Paula Grenier acknowledged ICE agents were at the Tewksbury home at 7 a.m. and were given consent by the homeowner to enter.

They were escorted through the house looking for a specific individual and when that person couldn't be found, agents left the house 10 minutes later without incident, Grenier said.

"The officers conducted themselves within the law and in accordance with ICE's policies and procedures," she said.

During a four-day sweep last week, called Operation Community Shield, officials arrested 52 gang members and 28 other criminals throughout the state.

The sweep is part of a comprehensive approach to combat gang violence involving foreign-born individuals, who are arrested and face deportation back to their native lands. All those arrested have criminal histories and many have a history of violent crime, Grenier said.

In response to the abrupt roundup, Deported Diaspora and other community groups sponsored a rally last Friday in Lowell to protest the roundup of 16 immigrants in the city. Those impacted by the raid say they felt victimized by the arrests.

Those arrested will eventually face a judge in the U.S. Justice Department's Immigration Court who will decide whether they will be deported.

Pisoth Far, it turns out, is the brother of Pheng's sister-in-law. But Far has never lived at the 60 Country Club Drive address, Pheng said.

Pheng said he doesn't know why ICE has targeted Far and he didn't question his sister-in-law about her brother.

"My sister-in-law felt bad enough, and it was not her fault," he said.

But he said he finds it ironic that his adopted home criticizes China for its human-rights abuses, when raids like this one occur in this country.


http://www.lowellsun.com/ci_10223227

"I was shocked that they could do this," said Pheng, a native of Cambodia, who became a naturalized U.S. citizen eight years ago.

Shocked at what? Are you shocked that your sister-in-law allowed them in the house or that they asked you a simple question? One that had to be asked repeatedly before obtaining a response.

But he said he finds it ironic that his adopted home criticizes China for its human-rights abuses, when raids like this one occur in this country.

I can't believe this guy is actually claiming what happened is a human-rights abuse. The process was handled exactly as it should have been when looking for a criminal fugitive with a known connection to a family member living at the residence. I'd sure like to hear Mr. Pheng's ideas on how it should have went down. Anything else would have alerted the suspect (had he been hiding there). Personally, I think the Chinese police would have taken Mr. Pheng in for questioning. Furthermore, he would have probably been hooked up to a couple not so painless machines.

I'm convinced the liberal MSM is against practically all law enforcement actions that involve immigrants, legal or illegal.

Originally Posted by MW

I'm convinced the liberal MSM is against practically all law enforcement actions that involve immigrants, legal or illegal.

The MSM is completely bought and paid for by the Left and now similar to the Pravda newspaper of the old Soviet Union.

The US is the new Soviet Union.