Thread: WILLMAR, MINNESOTA : THE IMMIGRANT CONNECTION

Immigration advocates watch outcome of sweep in Willmar

West Central Tribune
Published Sunday, May 20, 2007

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents didn't need search warrants or arrest warrants when they made 49 arrests in Willmar last month because they entered each home with the residents' consent, according to court documents.

The documents are part of a federal lawsuit filed by the Honduran consul and more than 30 immigrants who allege that immigration agents failed to obtain search warrants over the four-day sweep in Willmar and they failed to inform immigrants of their rights.

Court documents say that ICE officials used a method called "knock and talk" to get the residents' consent.

"Our position was, and is, that all actions taken by our agents were in full accordance with the law," said Tim Counts, ICE spokesman. "That includes getting permission from the occupants of the homes before entering."

Immigration advocates and analysts nationwide are watching the case, in part because large-scale sweeps of individual homes have been rare, said Muzaffar Chishti, a director at the Migration Policy Institute, a Washington-based nonpartisan organization that analyzes immigration issues.

"No one argues that ICE shouldn't enforce the law," Chishti said. "But there are restrictions on the way you enforce the law, based on the constitutional rights of individuals."

Anyone living in the United States, legally or not, is protected by the Fourth Amendment safeguarding against "unreasonable search and seizure," he said. Once inside a home, immigration agents do not have to tell people of their right to remain silent, but immigrants have the right to decline comment until they have an attorney, he said.

Of the 49 people arrested, 18 had criminal convictions, six had deportation orders and 25 were living here illegally but had no criminal history.

Some legal residents in Willmar say they didn't give consent for ICE officials to enter.

Marlen Soriano said she was doing housework one day last month when she got a call from her 15-year-old nephew, asking her to come pick him up at his house. She did, and saw immigration agents there.

Soriano, a legal resident who has lived in the United States 20 years, went inside and found another nephew, her sister-in-law and three other people sitting on the couch in pajamas and wearing handcuffs. She said she asked the agents to show a search warrant or a deportation order. She said they told her they didn't have to answer her questions.

Soriano said she took her nephew home and minutes later there was a knock at her door.

Soriano said she opened the door and a group of immigration agents walked toward her, requiring her to back up. Some agents began searching her house, while others asked her for identification and information about who lived with her. Soriano said she was told to stay seated on the couch, with an agent on either side.

"I was treated like some kind of drug trafficker," she recalled. "They never said why they were entering."

ICE would not comment on the details of any case because of the pending court action.

http://www.alipac.us/ftopicp-358822.html

2505 Willmar Ave SW
Willmar, MN , 56201-2711
Phone: 320-235-2622
FAX: 320-231-7100
Toll Free Phone: 800-328-1756
Website: www.hormel.com
Business Activity: Manufacturer / Exporter


Products Description:
Turkey processing & slaughtering; turkey farm Meat plant operation or management services, Slaughter houses services, Butcher services, Cold storage services, Meat products or by products processing services, Fish or fish products processing services, Poultry processing services


http://www.macraesbluebook.com/search/c ... any=420830

http://forum.minutemanhq.com/phpBB2/vie ... php?t=9941

Illegal immigrants arrested in Willmar, Minnesota

Last update: April 12, 2007 – 7:41 PM

WILLMAR, MINN. - Federal authorities have arrested a number of illegal immigrants during an ongoing operation in Willmar, officials confirmed Thursday.
Most of the people taken in custody are illegal immigrants with criminal records, said Tim Counts, a spokesman for the Immigration, Customs and Enforcement Agency (ICE) in Bloomington.
"Based on investigations, we are looking for specific individuals," Counts said. "Now having said that, we often encounter people who are in the country illegally that we were not initially looking for, and we often arrest those individuals as well."

Maria Diaz, who works with the Hispanic community in Willmar, said the arrests started Tuesday morning, and estimated that as many as 100 people had been detained. "I got reports from community members that Immigration had gone to their homes and taken people to Minneapolis," Diaz said. "I thought it was just an isolated incident, one or two maybe, and then it just [kept] going for the whole day.".....

http://www.startribune.com/467/story/1117631.html

Immigrants wary after Willmar arrests
Gregg Aamot, Associated Press
Published Saturday, April 14, 2007

Hispanic immigrants in Willmar were staying close to home Friday after federal agents arrested several immigrants who were wanted for criminal convictions or for fleeing deportation orders.

Some Hispanic-owned businesses closed while some immigrant workers at a food-processing plant stayed home to avoid run-ins with federal agents, according to immigrant-rights activists.

“It’s a devastating situation,â€

Jorge W
Saint Paul, MN Reply »
|Report Abuse |#27 11 min ago

First of all I want to say that “Alianiss N. Moralesâ€

HONDURAN CONSULATES
IN THE UNITED STATES
Consulados de Honduras En Los Estados Unidos


LONG LAKE, MINNESOTA Consulado Honorario 20 Cygnet Place Long Lake, MN 55356 Tel. (612) 473-5376

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA Consulado Honorario 20 Cygnet Place Long Lake, MN 55356. Tel. (612) 473-5376 Mr. Harold Joseph PANUSKA, Honorary Consul Jan. 31, 1984

http://www.marrder.com/hw/travel/consulates.htm

Immigration discussed in Willmar

By Carolyn Lange, West Central Tribune, Alexandria Echo Press
Published Wednesday, February 06, 2008

WILLMAR – Senators Joe Gimse (R-Willmar) and Bill Ingebrigtsen (R-Alexandria) said January 17 they want to bring the issue of illegal immigration into an “open forumâ€

Please post on this site!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Grandma
Las Vegas, NV Reply »
|Report Abuse |#33 8 min ago
The bottom line is that these children died because someone broke the law to come here..broke the law by stealing someones identy..then they broke the law to drive....This person should NOT have been in the U.S...that is bottom line...she was stopped once before for driving w/o a license...If the police would have done something then, she would not have been here...Wake Up!!!! Enforce the laws that are already on the books and get the illegals OUT of here so we don't have more of this..

Senator Joe Gimse (R) District 13 District
13 Assistant Minority Leader

http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/membe ... istrict=13

Senator Bill G. Ingebrigtsen (R) District 11

http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/membe ... istrict=11