Thread: ICE raids: Can they spur action?

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Article published Feb 22, 2007
OUR VIEW
ICE raids: Can they spur action?

The Salinas Valley hasn't seen a bona fide immigration raid since the 1970s, when U.S. Border Patrol agents could be seen running through the fields chasing people like they were rabbits. Border Patrol vans would pull up in an east Salinas shopping center, check suspected illegal immigrants for proper identification, and haul away those without it.

Now reports of immigration raids by the new Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency give this community - citizens and noncitizens alike - something to fear: a tidal wave of disruption to the local economy and public institutions, not to mention the mess raids would make of the lives of laborers and their families.

Illegal immigration has been with us for decades. It won't be solved overnight and, as we've seen in Salinas over the years, raids are ineffective at turning off the magnet of economic benefits that attract immigrants here in the first place.

Or are they ineffective? Why is ICE conducting raids? Is it trying to send a message to Congress? Is it a media stunt to whoop up anti-immigrant fervor and support for more federal funding?

What if raids were to be launched in the Salinas Valley and other key agricultural communities where they could exact a lot of turmoil? Would the raids spur new marches by immigrants and the human rights groups that support them? Would they be enough to get local elected officials and law enforcement to demand action from congressional leaders?

The Salinas Valley should abhor any attempt by ICE to conduct raids here.

What's needed to solve illegal immigration is comprehensive immigration reform: stronger border security, enforcement of employer sanctions, a path to citizenship for those who qualify and a temporary guest-worker program. President Bush and many in Congress support these reforms. It's time to act on them once and for all.

About 12 million undocumented workers are in the United States, working and living in the shadows. Half of the nation's agricultural labor force of 1 million is illegal, says the American Farm Bureau.

Congress must stop using what is perhaps the most important economic and social issue of our time - immigration - as a political football during election season and come up with a solution that renews respect for our laws, deals fairly with people and allows agriculture to put food on America's table.

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Now reports of immigration raids by the new Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency give this community - citizens and noncitizens alike - something to fear: a tidal wave of disruption to the local economy and public institutions, not to mention the mess raids would make of the lives of laborers and their families.

Excuse me, the CRIMINAL ALIENS made the "mess" by ignoring our laws and coming into this country illegally!

Code:

not to mention the mess raids would make of the lives of laborers and their families.

AAAAAhhhhh!!!!!!!!
Poor things

The Salinas Valley should abhor any attempt by ICE to conduct raids here.

And you sir should be ashamed to make a statement like this. Your a disgrace to every U.S. citizen and LEGAL alien!