Thread: WA-Coalition organizes for sanctuary revival

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/303969_raid16.html

Friday, February 16, 2007

Coalition organizes for sanctuary revival
Group to shield illegal immigrants

By JOHN IWASAKI
P-I REPORTER

A coalition of religious, immigrant and labor groups plans to revive the sanctuary movement in Seattle by late March, aiming to keep certain illegal immigrants from being deported by shielding them in churches and other houses of worship.

The plan, announced Thursday, was prompted by Wednesday's arrest of 51 foreign nationals at two Auburn warehouses by agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, part of the Department of Homeland Security.

The warehouses are operated by UPS Supply Chain Solutions, a unit of UPS, and store imported goods. The arrests were part of federal efforts to crack down on businesses with unauthorized workers who could be vulnerable to exploitation by terrorists, smugglers and other criminals.

Authorities believe the Auburn workers -- 44 of whom are from Mexico, the rest from Guatemala and El Salvador -- used fraudulent documents to enter the country illegally, work illegally, or both.

"They are not terrorists," countered Jorge Quiroga, president of El Comité Pro-Amnistía General y Justicia Social (The Committee for General Amnesty and Social Justice). He said the government was improperly "mixing homeland security with immigration."

Quiroga was one of 10 speakers representing different groups, many of them advocates for Latinos, who spoke at a news conference at St. Mary's Church. Speakers called for a moratorium on raids until U.S. immigration policy is "reformed."

When civil war influenced by American policies raged in El Salvador in the 1980s, a half-million Salvadorans fled to the U.S. Thousands came to Seattle, aided in part by a nationwide church-sponsored sanctuary movement. The new, multifaith movement would try to protect from deportation undocumented individuals whose children were born in the U.S. and have citizenship, Quiroga said. The objective is to keep such families from being split up.

Dividing families is "absolutely unconscionable," particularly when it's done "under the guise of homeland security," said the Rev. Robert Taylor, dean of St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral.

Immigrants should follow the rules to reside legally, "but at the same time, the laws in place are not easy comply with," said the Most Rev. Eusebia Elizondo, auxiliary bishop and vicar general for the Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle. He said application fees and processing delays were two of the hurdles to citizenship.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has a mandate from Congress to enforce the law, "and individuals who choose to break the law need to understand there are consequences," spokeswoman Lorie Dankers said.

Most of the Auburn detainees were temporary workers and many were hired by Spherion Corp., a temporary employment agency used by UPS.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is investigating both businesses as well as those arrested. Ten of the detainees were released Wednesday for "humanitarian reasons."

They came as temporarily protected not as premanently protected in the US. they need to go home. They knew that they were temporary when they had children and should not have expected to stay. However, they should be given amnesty before those that came into the uninivited as those pouring across the southern border.

"but at the same time, the laws in place are not easy comply with," said the Most Rev. Eusebia Elizondo, auxiliary bishop and vicar general for the Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle.


Even harder to comply with when they cut into the profits .

A coalition of religious, immigrant and labor groups plans to revive the sanctuary movement in Seattle by late March, aiming to keep certain illegal immigrants from being deported by shielding them in churches and other houses of worship.

~= conspiracy ?

Originally Posted by Beckyal

They came as temporarily protected not as premanently protected in the US. they need to go home. They knew that they were temporary when they had children and should not have expected to stay. However, they should be given amnesty before those that came into the uninivited as those pouring across the southern border.

Why

Immigrants should follow the rules to reside legally, "but at the same time, the laws in place are not easy comply with," said the Most Rev. Eusebia Elizondo, auxiliary bishop and vicar general for the Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle. He said application fees and processing delays were two of the hurdles to citizenship.

It seems to me that the biggest hurdle is getting illegals to want to comply with the law and go through the process the correct way!