Thread: Street-Corner Immigration Protests In San Rafael

Street-Corner Immigration Protests In San Rafael

POSTED: 8:42 am PST March 9, 2007

SAN RAFAEL -- Small groups of local religious leaders carrying candles manned street corners throughout San Rafael's Hispanic Canal District neighborhood early Friday, protesting a series of federal immigration raids in the area.

Spearheaded by the Marin Interfaith Council, at least 50 religious and civic leaders broke up into small groups ready to react to any raids that may have been scheduled for early Friday.

When one of the groups got word of a possible raid, they raced armed with cameras and flashlights to the home but found no action was being undertaken.

The protest followed two days of early morning raids by the I.C.E. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) teams in San Rafael and Novato. Some 30 warrants were executed in the Canal area alone.

"People are not attending schools, they are not going to their health checkups," said local resident Anna Ferrer of the impact of the raids. "It’s affecting every aspect of their lives."

Erendiria Olivera, an official with the Marin County Health and Human Services Department, objected to even the name of the I.C.E. operation -- "Return To Sender."

"We are not mail, we are human beings," she told KTVU. "Most of the people who were dragged from their homes did not have deportation orders."

The religious leaders said the I.C.E. agents identified themselves as "police" to gain access to several homes in the pre-dawn raids and then rousted people from their beds and questioned everyone in the house.

They said several people including children were taken into custody.

The Interfaith Council and a number of civic and non-profit organizations were calling for I.C.E. to immediately cease all enforcement activities until adequate constitutional safeguards could be put into place.

"We are doing this to say to the residents here in the Canal that we are with you," Rev. Carol Hovis of the Interfaith Council told KTVU. "We are religious leaders, civic leaders concerned with the procedures I.C.E. officials have used this week. The level of fear in this neighborhood is very high right now."

Federal immigration officials had no comment about the protest early Friday.


http://www.foxreno.com/news/11212640/detail.html

Apparently ICE had information on the presence of illegal aliens in that neighborhood and were performing their duty.

Religious leaders, I don't care who they are or what church they come from, are messing around with federal law whenever they actively involve themselves in obstructing immigration enforcement. If churches continue to interfere they should be sued by their congregations and held accountable in a court of law.

Martyrdom may have a place in the advancement of religion but it has no place whatsoever in secular society. Keep the church and state separate as it is written in the U.S. Constitution!

ICE Demonstrations Continue In San Rafael

Supervisors To Ask ICE To Stop Raids
By Lyanne Melendez
Mar. 12 - KGO - Hundreds of people in San Rafael are protesting the recent immigration raids which continue to have an impact on that city. On Tuesday, the Marin County Board of Supervisors plans to take action to protest these raids.

Monday's march began at the Church of San Rafael and headed to an evening meeting to help people understand their rights. Police, city officials and community leaders will be there. Also at the meeting will be Isabel Allende, a very famous author who lives in San Rafael.

Dozens marched to protest the recent immigration raids in San Rafael.

In the Canal District, most residents will tell you these days the home is the safest place from immigration agents.

There are some who cautiously venture out and talk to only those they know.

Amado Santos (translated): "I'm scared. For all I know you may even work for the immigration department."

Immigration and customs enforcement agents conducted two raids here last week.

Since October 2006 in Northern California, 800 illegal immigrants have been arrested. Five-hundred of those had been given deportation orders and about 300 other undocumented immigrants were arrested during these raids.

Santos says every time a van drives by, we run.

Community organizations say the raids have had an impact on businesses.

Tom Wilson, Canal Alliance: "We've had reports from a couple of businesses that their business is way down and that they've lost customers as well as employees so it's had a tremendous impact on the county of Marin, not just the neighborhood where this immigrant population lives."

Mi Tierra supermarket has seen the number of customers drop.

Employee (translated): "Our business is down anywhere from 25 to 50 percent."

Immigration officials refer to those arrested as fugitives -- aliens who have been ordered deported by immigration judges who have chosen to ignore the order.

Steve Kinsey is a Marin County supervisor. Tuesday the board will hold hearings regarding these raids. Kinsey vows to take the matter to Congress.

Steve Kinsey: "We're going to be sending a letter to Congress letting them know it's time to deal with this issue in the larger context. This is not a good way to deal with it from the bottom up through these raids that have occurred in our communities."

On Tuesday morning, the Board of Supervisors will formally ask ICE officials to stop these raids and it will be done through a non-binding resolution which means that ICE officials will probably not comply.

But in 1997, when INS or immigration officials were conducting sweeps, that same board wrote them a letter and asked them to stop the raids and immigration officials complied.