Thread: Commission hears testimony on US immigration raids

I did a search and didn't see this posted.

immigration raids
Email|Print|Single Page| Text size – + By Maria Sacchetti
Globe Staff / April 8, 2008
Immigrants and their advocates testified before a union-led commission at the State House yesterday that federal agents violated illegal immigrants' constitutional rights and treated them inhumanely during recent raids, prompting swift denials from the federal government.

more stories like thisThe commission held its second national meeting in Boston to hear testimony about the fallout from raids in New England, from little-noticed house raids in Springfield to a massive crackdown just over a year ago at a New Bedford leather goods factory that drew national attention for separating children from their parents.

The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union launched the commission - made up of civil rights workers, academics, and such leaders as former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack - in February to call attention to the alleged violations. The union has criticized the immigration raids and is suing US Immigration and Customs Enforcement for raiding the Swift meatpacking plants in 2006. A report is expected by the end of the summer.

US Senator John F. Kerry and Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray also appeared before the commission yesterday to support its work.

"We all understand that ICE does important work," Kerry said during a noontime address to a crowd of more than 200 people. "But the way that they conduct workplace raids and detain people does not meet the standards of the United States of America."

ICE has refused to testify before the commission. In a telephone interview yesterday, agency spokesman Tim Counts said agents did not mistreat detainees and followed longstanding guidelines that provide for detainees' care. He said the commission is biased, pointing out that the panel's name is the National Commission on ICE Misconduct and Violations of Fourth Amendment Rights.

"The title of the commission speaks for itself," said Counts, who is based in Minnesota. "The foregone conclusion of this group even before any testimony was heard is that misconduct occurred."

Advocates and city officials from New Haven, Chelsea, and other cities said the raids have hurt their communities.

Roy Avellaneda, a city councilor in Chelsea, testified that raids last summer so terrified residents that many refused to leave their homes.

In New Bedford, advocates said, children suffer nightmares and anxiety more than a year after federal agents raided the Michael Bianco leather goods factory on March 6, 2007, and detained 361 workers. Many parents were separated from their children for days after the raid.

Juana Garcia, a Guatemalan immigrant who was detained in the New Bedford factory raid, testified that she was taken to a Texas detention center, separating her from her 2-year-old son, who has asthma, for nine days. She said she was also shackled and denied access to food and the lavatory for hours.

Kerry has filed legislation mandating that detained immigrants have adequate medical care and legal counsel, as well as child care. After the Bianco raid, ICE issued new guidelines to ensure that federal agents quickly identify detainees who should be released because they are ill, pregnant, or need to care for their children.

After the hearing yesterday, Massachusetts Republican Party spokesman Barney Keller criticized Kerry for being out of touch with Massachusetts constituents who are concerned about losing their jobs to illegal immigrants.

"Middle-class Americans are consistently squeezed out of good-paying jobs by the type of policies that John Kerry advocates," Keller said.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articl ... ion_raids/

"We all understand that ICE does important work," Kerry said during a noontime address to a crowd of more than 200 people. "But the way that they conduct workplace raids and detain people does not meet the standards of the United States of America."

Don't get so upset Sen. Kerry, alot of senators do not meet the standards of the United States of America either senator, do you know what I mean senator? Or who I mean?

In New Bedford, advocates said, children suffer nightmares and anxiety more than a year after federal agents raided the Michael Bianco leather goods factory on March 6, 2007, and detained 361 workers. Many parents were separated from their children for days after the raid.

No remorse for the crime, only for the detained time.

The criminal is the one who victimizes the child and uses the child as an excuse.

"The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism - ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or any controlling private power."
Franklin D. Roosevelt

[quote="CindyB"]I did a search and didn't see this posted.




fro

ICE has refused to testify before the commission. In a telephone interview yesterday, agency spokesman Tim Counts said agents did not mistreat detainees and followed longstanding guidelines that provide for detainees' care. He said the commission is biased, pointing out that the panel's name is the National Commission on ICE Misconduct and Violations of Fourth Amendment Rights.

"The title of the commission speaks for itself," said Counts, who is based in Minnesota. "The foregone conclusion of this group even before any testimony was heard is that misconduct occurred."




Good for ICE for refusing to play this game !!!!!

This is not a commission, it's nothing more than a kangaroo court that was set up in the hopes of forcing ICE on the defensive and agree to "compromises"....a process that would be endless until ICE was finally doing nothing at all except providing day care facilities for anchor babies and transportation for illegals to and from work if the pro-illegals had their way.




Juana Garcia, a Guatemalan immigrant who was detained in the New Bedford factory raid, testified that she was taken to a Texas detention center, separating her from her 2-year-old son, who has asthma, for nine days. She said she was also shackled and denied access to food and the lavatory for hours.

What does this woman think happens to Americans and legal immigrants who break laws? They are shackled, transported to detention facilities, and denied access to their children, even ones with health issues, for as long as they are in custody. What makes these people think they should be treated any differently? They are not "special cases", they are common criminals.




After the hearing yesterday, Massachusetts Republican Party spokesman Barney Keller criticized Kerry for being out of touch with Massachusetts constituents who are concerned about losing their jobs to illegal immigrants.

"Middle-class Americans are consistently squeezed out of good-paying jobs by the type of policies that John Kerry advocates," Keller said.



He's right. And I hope that those Americans squeeze Kerry, Kennedy, and every other traitor out of office. Not a one of them is fit to serve as dog catchers let alone public officials.
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