post 9/11 illegal families
By Leslie Berestein
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
February 23, 2005
An immigrant rights organization has released a report criticizing post-9/11 immigration law enforcement as having become more intrusive.
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The San Diego area office of the American Friends Service Committee, a human rights group affiliated with the Quakers, based its report on primary and secondary sources, including interviews with immigrants and local and federal officials.
The 17-page report claims that "migrant communities are under siege by a series of indiscriminate sting operations," some of which infringe on civil and human rights.
Operations criticized in the report include Border Patrol "trans-checks," in which people riding trolleys and buses have been questioned by agents, and ongoing interior enforcement operations conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, some of which involve arresting undocumented immigrants at home.
"This country is limiting the rights of its most vulnerable communities," said Christian Ramirez, director of the committee's U.S.-Mexico Border Program "This should concern the citizens of this country."
But there are valid reasons why interior enforcement has been strengthened in recent years, said Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San Diego, responding to the report.
"It is directly a result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks," Mack said. "The hijackers exploited the immigration system to gain entry here. Our mandate has been to restore that integrity. We need to close the loopholes in both the legal and illegal immigration systems."
One loophole-closing operation, criticized in the report because it involves home arrests, is Operation Endgame, which seeks to remove the almost 400,000 "absconders" in the country, undocumented immigrants who have been ordered deported but haven't left. They include about 80,000 with criminal records.
The operations often result in the apprehension of additional undocumented immigrants, often relatives who were in the house.
Families have been separated, Mack said, but "there are also thousands and thousands of people waiting outside the country to join family members . . . because they are waiting to immigrate legally."
Ramirez said several copies of the report have been distributed to legislators here and in Washington, D.C.
"It's not an academic paper . . . the idea is to create a dialogue," he said.
Leslie Berestein: (619) 542-4579; leslie.berestein@uniontrib.com
post 9/11 illegal families
By Leslie Berestein
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
February 23, 2005
An immigrant rights organization has released a report criticizing post-9/11 immigration law enforcement as having become more intrusive.
Advertisement
The San Diego area office of the American Friends Service Committee, a human rights group affiliated with the Quakers, based its report on primary and secondary sources, including interviews with immigrants and local and federal officials.
The 17-page report claims that "migrant communities are under siege by a series of indiscriminate sting operations," some of which infringe on civil and human rights.
Operations criticized in the report include Border Patrol "trans-checks," in which people riding trolleys and buses have been questioned by agents, and ongoing interior enforcement operations conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, some of which involve arresting undocumented immigrants at home.
"This country is limiting the rights of its most vulnerable communities," said Christian Ramirez, director of the committee's U.S.-Mexico Border Program "This should concern the citizens of this country."
But there are valid reasons why interior enforcement has been strengthened in recent years, said Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San Diego, responding to the report.
"It is directly a result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks," Mack said. "The hijackers exploited the immigration system to gain entry here. Our mandate has been to restore that integrity. We need to close the loopholes in both the legal and illegal immigration systems."
One loophole-closing operation, criticized in the report because it involves home arrests, is Operation Endgame, which seeks to remove the almost 400,000 "absconders" in the country, undocumented immigrants who have been ordered deported but haven't left. They include about 80,000 with criminal records.
The operations often result in the apprehension of additional undocumented immigrants, often relatives who were in the house.
Families have been separated, Mack said, but "there are also thousands and thousands of people waiting outside the country to join family members . . . because they are waiting to immigrate legally."
Ramirez said several copies of the report have been distributed to legislators here and in Washington, D.C.
"It's not an academic paper . . . the idea is to create a dialogue," he said.
Leslie Berestein: (619) 542-4579; leslie.berestein@uniontrib.com
