Immigration agents arrested three South Bay residents early Tuesday, part of a federal sweep for illegal immigrants who have ignored previous deportation orders.

By Jessie Mangaliman
Mercury News
Article Launched: 08/21/2007 04:15:12 PM PDT

For the first time, the Mercury News was invited along to watch as the arrests were made, an effort by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement to show Bay Area media the inner workings of a growing national crackdown on immigrants who are deportable because of criminal convictions, and others who have been ordered deported. The invitation came months after a comprehensive immigration reform bill was stymied in Congress and weeks after federal authorities announced they would step up enforcement of current laws by punishing businesses that hire illegal immigrants.

"People make us out to be the bad guys," said Timothy S. Aitken," ICE deputy field office director in San Francisco. "We're doing our work in the most professional and efficient manner possible."

Traveling in unmarked SUVs and cars, Aitken and six armed ICE agents - all wearing bullet-proof vests and blue nylon jackets emblazoned in yellow letters with "POLICE-ICE" - descended in quiet neighborhoods in San Jose, Fremont and Sunnyvale. Agents knocked on the doors of target homes. In all four occasions, there were brief conversations at the door, then a quick entry in the house after obtaining permission.

Miguel Valdez Zarco, 46, of Mexico, a registered sex offender who also was convicted of domestic violence, emerged from his South San Jose apartment and was handcuffed in a tank top, jersey shorts and rubber sandals.

"I'm paying for the crimes I committed," Zarco said a few hours later, while being booked and fingerprinted at the ICE office in San Francisco.

Zarco was deported in 2000 and he said, a day later, he crossed back into the United States.

Since 2003, the number of arrests in "Fugitive Operations" has grown exponentially, parallel with rise in the number of ICE teams working on rounding up illegal immigrants.

There were 1,901 arrests nationwide in 2003, when there 17 teams of immigration agents for the whole country. From October 2006 to July 20 - with 69 teams in the United States - there were 34,287 arrested, according to ICE records.

In San Francisco for the same period, there were 2,299 arrests. More than half of immigrants arrested had defied deportation orders. More than 400 were immigrants who had criminal convictions.

Aitken said the work of "Fugitive Operations" is making a dent, for the first time this year, in the nationwide number of immigrants who have standing deportation orders, from 632,000 to 620,000.

In Los Angeles and other locations, ICE has been taking members of the media on similar "ride-alongs" for a few years.

Critics of the program said thousands of illegal immigrants who have not been ordered deported are also routinely being caught up in these sweeps, separating families comprised of mixed immigration status: illegal and legal immigrants in one household.

"It's sad that we continue to use punitive measures that hurt our families," said Patricia Diaz, executive director Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network, a San Jose advocacy group. "If we really want to reduce the number of undocumented immigrants in our country, then we really need to change and reform our old and antiquated system."

Richard Konda, executive director of Asian Law Alliance, a legal advocacy group, questioned the timing of the "ride-along."

"It's an coincidence to showcase this operation" at the same time that the government seems to be stepping up efforts to round up undocumented immigrants, Konda said.''

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_6680891

You just have to love "catch and release."