Thread: CA: Immigration Raids in Central Valley Town Cause Dissent

Immigration Raids in Central Valley Town Cause Dissent
Gina-Marie Cheeseman


April 3, 2007
Immigration raids in the small town of Mendota, population about 8,775, during the week of February 7 have spawned dissent across the Central Valley of California. An estimated 200 people were arrested, and many of them left U.S.-born children behind. On March 22 the Mendota City Council approved a resolution condemning the raid.

A nationwide effort called “Operation Return to Sender” to reduce illegal immigration is designed to target immigrants with deportation orders a judge issued, but agents of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement pick up other undocumented immigrations they come across, as is the case with the Mendota raids.

Mendota City Council Member Joseph Riofrio said, “I'm elated. ... I said this all along, 'I represent everyone.” Calling the raids “inhumane,” Riofrio said that the undocumented workers arrested in the February raid worked in the fields, contributing economically to Mendota.

A legal immigrant from El Salvador said, “It was great. They gave us the opportunity to tell immigration [officials] how we feel.” She said the resolution will make undocumented immigrants feel “more protected. They know they are being supported by the city.”


The resolution passed in Mendota, the small town 40 miles west of Fresno with a population 95% Latino, has inspired seven other Fresno County farming towns to consider passing similar resolutions. The town of Parlier is one of the small towns considering a resolution. Parlier’s Mayor Armando Lopez said, “Obviously, without the farm workers, the farmers will be shorthanded.”

Mayor Michael Montelongo of Sanger, another town considering a resolution, said, “It's symbolic” because the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency “will continue to do that, so we just have to respect that because they are not going to stop.”

A 1984 raid where 250 people were arrested in the Fresno County town of Selma caused the town to pass a similar resolution. The 1984 Selma resolution called the immigration laws at the time “inadequate, hard to enforce and force many undocumented works to live in a subculture subject to exploitation.” The resolution discouraged “blanket raids by INS.”

Fresno Mayor Alan Autry, who starred as ‘Bubba’ in the hit 1980s television series Heat of the Night, introduced a resolution similar to Mendota’s on March 20, but it did not pass. Autry called the February immigration raid “capricious and arbitrary” and criticized Operation Return to Sender as a “deeply flawed policy.” Autry also called the raid “a human tragedy that is mind-boggling in its callousness.”

Two spokeswomen for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have stated Mendota’s resolution will have no affect on federal immigration policy. One of the spokeswomen, Virgina Kice, said, “That's a local initiative, local politics.” Lori Haley, the other spokeswoman, said, “ICE does not enact the laws. ICE officers are sworn to enforce the laws.”

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articl ... leID=23294

Thank you ICE! Keep on picking them up! Illegal immigrants do not belong in this country. They have violated federal laws by coming here and should not be treated as anything other than criminals. They must be deported.

Farmers carry a lot of clout here. Most of these towns are farming communities with huge populations of illegals. Which is why I keep posting about the Orange Freeze Relief. A great part of this money is going right into illegal's pockets, paying their rent, food, utilities, etc. They've even been given 6 weeks "unemployment compensation". The farmers here are frequently big corporate farmers, some are government lands too with government contracts. They are INSURED against crop loss. Why the heck did they need over 2 billion dollars that they've been approved for? I have nothing against farmers per se, but darn it they are pulling a con game here.