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Posted on Fri, Feb. 16, 2007

Reassurances to immigrants fall short
SAN MATEO COUNTY, REDWOOD CITY DECLINE TO CONDEMN SWEEPS
By Michael Manekin and Kelly Pakula
MediaNews

Two weeks after federal immigration officials swept through San Mateo County, arresting at least seven undocumented immigrants in Redwood City, local officials have scrambled to put the Latino community at ease, offering sympathetic ears and impassioned assurances.

However, neither Redwood City nor the county has done what immigration advocates say would be the strongest possible statement against federal raids: approving a resolution condemning the arrests.

That kind of resolution, said Sheryl Bergman of the International Institute of San Francisco, a Bay Area immigration rights group with an office in Redwood City, would make great strides in easing the fear that has permeated the city's Latino community.

``It would help make parents safer when they take their children to school, when they go to the grocery store to buy milk and when they go to their jobs,'' Bergman said.

Complaint over system

Since the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement roundups two weeks ago, a small chorus of immigration advocates have begun to pressure local officials to take a public stand against the nation's immigration system -- a system, they contend, that is punitive and clearly broken.

Rhina Ramos, Latina outreach coordinator of Community Overcoming Relationship Abuse, lobbied the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors this week for such a resolution.

A resolution ``will send a strong message to the people that they matter as residents in this local community,'' Ramos said. ``That sends a message that we're backing them up.''

The recent ICE operations -- which Bergman claims also picked up two individuals outside Redwood City, one in East Palo Alto and another in Burlingame -- are part of a national campaign dubbed ``Operation Return to Sender.'' Launched in June, the operation has led to some 13,000 arrests nationwide.

Although the sweeps target illegal immigrants with outstanding deportation orders or criminal records, federal officials often pick up immigrants with clean records, something that has helped drive immigration advocates' push for an anti-raid resolution.

A resolution on the Peninsula wouldn't be the Bay Area's first. After an ICE operation that brought 119 arrests in Concord and Richmond, the Richmond City Council passed a statement against the sweeps last week. Meanwhile, San Francisco Supervisor Chris Daly submitted a resolution Wednesday that is scheduled to be heard at the end of the month.

Community impact

ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice declined to comment as to whether a local resolution would affect the agency's operations, but Larisa Casillas, director of the Bay Area Immigrant Rights Coalition, said that such resolutions ``show federal officials that this is really impacting local communities,'' sending a clear message that there are communities ``where ICE can't just do what they want to do.''

Nonetheless, both the county and Redwood City have so far resisted taking a firm stance against federal immigration officials.

``The fact that they're a federal agency, it causes me to pause very thoughtfully about what we can do . . . given the fact that we don't have authority over them,'' said Rose Jacobs Gibson, the president of the county board of supervisors.

In an effort to bridge the divide, Gibson recently contacted Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, who sent a letter Tuesday to Nancy Alcantar, a field office director for ICE's Detention and Removal Operations. In the letter, Eshoo expressed concern that the federal sweeps have instilled fear in the community and have the potential to fray local law enforcement's ties to its residents. The letter stops short of an outright condemnation.

Redwood City Mayor Barbara Pierce joined the city's police chief last week in a community meeting that attempted to assure the Latino community that local law enforcement does not generally work with ICE. But she discarded the idea of an anti-ICE resolution, on the grounds that it would not represent the view of the entire community.

On Saturday, for example, a Bay Area chapter of the Minutemen, a controversial national civilian border group, will lead a rally in support of the raids. The demonstration is planned for 1 p.m. at El Camino Real and Jefferson Avenue.

Communication, Councilwoman Alicia Aguirre said, is ``an effective response'' to a situation outside of local hands.

Said Pierce: ``Unless my community tells me to do something differently, then we're going to deal with what's in our purview.''