Thread: Rev. Marc Fallon: ICE tactics in New Bedford were inhmane

Monday, April 7, 2008


YOUR VIEW: ICE tactics were inhumane


By REV. MARC FALLON


The Rev. Fallon works with Catholic Social Services in New Bedford.


April 02, 2008 6:00 AM


The recent popularity of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, along with the enduring presence of books by Lewis Carroll and C.S. Lewis, reminds us that fantasy is a healthy and normative literary genre for our young people. Sadly, when some use this mode to defend an atrocious act perpetrated by an organization or, worse yet, a government, adults of sound mind must object to this misappropriation of a literary technique.


**On behalf of the Central American community of New Bedford, in particular those families affected by the egregious acts against and systematic mistreatments of detainees by the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on March 6, 2007, and during the past year, let me list below some examples to show that this raid had nothing to do with humanitarian principles or concepts.


1. The government buzzed the Michael Bianco factory with a helicopter. This served as an emotional trigger reawakening trauma incurred by these Central Americans workers, who grew up during the civil wars and genocide of the 1980s. Local service providers consider many to be post-traumatic.


2. Although through the intermediary of the New Bedford Police Department ICE assured community advocates that bilingual Department of Social Services caseworkers were on site to preclude the separation of children from their parent(s) or caregiver(s), this proved to be patently false. Further, the government refused to allow a K'iche' speaker, Anibal Lucas, to address the Mayan women so as to plead that they mention children who were under their care. Thus did the government traumatically separate 112 children from their parent(s) or guardian(s).


3. ICE committed to holding the detainees indoors — it was below 20 degrees Fahrenheit with 20-30 mph winds all day long — and not expose them to photographers as they entered the buses. Yet they did their "perp walk" vehicularly, as each motor coach was preceded and followed by sheriffs' vehicles of various counties of the commonwealth.


4. While Guatemala Consul General Carlos Avila and immigration attorneys were allowed to visit detainees on the nights of March 6 and 7, the government denied them communication with family members until ICE had flown them to Harlingen or El Paso, Texas.


5. ICE issued the first report-in appointments for detainees on Monday, March 12, 2007. It soon became clear that Boston ICE officials, with whom local immigration attorneys have an ongoing working relationship, had nothing to do with the disposition of the Bianco detainees. Their superiors in Washington appeared to have been responsible for the entire operation, and they had no plan by late afternoon.


6. The above detainees returned to New Bedford in the early evening. I waited for the first Salvadoran nationals to be released at the JFK building, as the Orantes-Hernandez case precluded the removal of Salvadorans from Massachusetts. On the way home, they began to tell of mis- and maltreatment at the hands of the ICE personnel that has proved consistent to all attorneys and advocates who have since heard the allegations: shackled at wrists and ankles; being forced to sit on the cold factory floor; transported with the wrists fastened to the back of the seat in front of them; the cold of high-security Fort Devens, while compelled to stand for hours without attention to basic human needs; frequent and gratuitous verbal abuse; minimal satisfaction of nutrition; being urged to sign pre-checked forms waiving important legal rights; and a female detainee who had been removed from New Bedford after having protested that she was presently nursing her infant.

7. The Guatemalans and Hondurans who were flown to Texas within 72 hours described similar offenses: legs and arms immobilized for the entire trip, with cheese sandwiches and juice callously tossed to the detainees absent any provision to receive and ingest the food. Some observed the manhandling of detainees who tried to communicate with one another.


8. Male ICE agents refused to allow female detainees the dignity of closing the door while using the lavatory; they remained outside watching the detainee throughout. ICE agents suggested that they would run rubber tubing from the lavatory to the urinary tracts of the detainees when the women complained of the indignity of their lavatory access.


9. Texas detainees were subject to inconsistent treatment by immigration court judges. While several dozen Harlingen detainees were able to finance immigration bonds, no El Paso detainee was permitted to so. Detainees have described systematic verbal abuse and misrepresentation of their legal status by ICE agents, along with substandard nutrition, sanitation, medical care, communication with family members, and access to legal counsel.


10. ICE denied due process and access to legal counsel to one detainee with a disability. The government compelled this hearing-impaired K'iche' Mayan, whose grasp of Spanish is consequently weak, to attend group hearings that were conducted only in Spanish or English.


Although we do not suggest that every federal agent sank to such depravity, the very notion of employing personnel and tactics more suited to apprehending amoral, violent drug dealers is de facto dehumanizing and contrary to any notion of the common good.


As community advocates, we did not endure or witness the offenses on the buses or planes or at Fort Devens, yet we must give witness to the shock tactics of the federal government whose militarized agents arrived under the cover of a helicopter, with automatic pistols in their thigh holsters, who strutted about on March 6 with their collapsible nightsticks, all of which triggered deep-seated trauma for these Central Americans.


**While local community support has been amazing and life-giving on so many levels over these long months, none of us could fabricate the systematic allegations of dehumanization as separately documented by attorneys, advocates, ministers and others. We lament the loss to our community as perpetrated by the federal government. We give witness so as to recall some dignity in what is left of the tatters of the Constitution in the hands of ICE and the Department of Homeland Security.

What gets me is the likelyhood is that the people complaining about how the Mayans were treated were the same people who told them it was alright to come. At the least they did not do anything to tell the Maya illegal aliens that it was a bad idea before they came.


Any resolution they get should still include their involuntary repatriation. Ted Kennedy takes one look at illegal aliens and says "ooooh Democrats" the way that Homer Simpson say donuts.

Originally Posted by Richard

Monday, April 7, 2008





??On behalf of the Central American community of New Bedford, in particular those families affected by the egregious acts against and systematic mistreatments of detainees by the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on March 6, 2007, and during the past year, let me list below some examples to show that this raid had nothing to do with humanitarian principles or concepts.


Huh? I wasn't aware that law enforcement actions such as raids are intended to be humanatarian missions. I was always under the impression that the intent is to take into custody those who are breaking the law and bring them to justice. [/color


1. The government buzzed the Michael Bianco factory with a helicopter. This served as an emotional trigger reawakening trauma incurred by these Central Americans workers, who grew up during the civil wars and genocide of the 1980s. Local service providers consider many to be post-traumatic.

[color=indigo]
I'm sorry, but use of law enforcement helicopters is SOP in this day and age. Further, every single day of the week, all of us are witness to a variety of helicopters....law enforcement, military,news choppers, private, etc.....buzzing around as a matter of routine.

How is that these South American illegal aliens managed to live and work here for all of this time without being "traumatized" by the sights and sounds of helicopters any other day of the year, yet were so very traumatized by one helicopter being used during a law enforcement action?

And, should they continue to argue the trauma, then it needs to be questioned just why so many persons....illegally in this country.....are being left, by their own advocates, to amble around suffering with untreated PTSD posing a danger to themselves and others.




3. ICE committed to holding the detainees indoors ? it was below 20 degrees Fahrenheit with 20-30 mph winds all day long ? and not expose them to photographers as they entered the buses. Yet they did their "perp walk" vehicularly, as each motor coach was preceded and followed by sheriffs' vehicles of various counties of the commonwealth.

Oh, now this is gooood. Are they trying to say that media coverage of vehicles taking these people away is tantamount to parading them through the streets like circus animals for some kind of sick minded enjoyment of the American public? That the authorities set this up and carried it out in a manner purposely set up to humiliate them and strip them of their dignity?

That's just crazy..........

4. While Guatemala Consul General Carlos Avila and immigration attorneys were allowed to visit detainees on the nights of March 6 and 7, the government denied them communication with family members until ICE had flown them to Harlingen or El Paso, Texas.

[color=indigo]I don't suppose it makes any difference that, routinely, anyone whom is arrested and/or incarcerated does not have immediate contact with family members until they are transported, processed, and settled in to where they are taken.?

Why is that these folks consistently think that matters of procedure are a violation of their rights, that things should somehow be handled differently for them?[/color



As community advocates, we did not endure or witness the offenses on the buses or planes or at Fort Devens, yet we must give witness to the shock tactics of the federal government whose militarized agents arrived under the cover of a helicopter, with automatic pistols in their thigh holsters, who strutted about on March 6 with their collapsible nightsticks, all of which triggered deep-seated trauma for these Central Americans.


Again, all of these Central Americans managed to live here illegally, in the daily presence of helicopters, police officers who are armed, and it never bothered them.

They get caught, and all of a sudden, they are traumatized.

Couldn't this back fire on them? I think that mental illness disqualifies one from gaining legal status here.


??While local community support has been amazing and life-giving on so many levels over these long months, none of us could fabricate the systematic allegations of dehumanization as separately documented by attorneys, advocates, ministers and others. We lament the loss to our community as perpetrated by the federal government. We give witness so as to recall some dignity in what is left of the tatters of the Constitution in the hands of ICE and the Department of Homeland
Security.

Yes, goodness knows that nobody would ever lie about their treatment at the hands of the authorities....especially not people who've been caught dead to rights breaking the law and will do anything to try and stay here hoping for another amnesty.

As far as the Constitution left in tatters....I find that to be a little bit rich coming from people who are doing their damndest to violate the rights of Americans and legal citizens, void our Constitution altogether, and silence those who do not agree with illegal immigration.

Maybe the good Rev. could better utilize his crusade in Mexico and ending their treatment of illegals and demanding they take care of the own citizens.

http://www.cssdioc.org/

address
238 Bonney Street
New Bedford, MA 02744
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elizabeth@cssdioc.org

Maybe the good Reverand will take in all these poor lawbreakers, pay their bills, etc. How long would he remain the "Good" Reverand? Not long I would surmise.