Posted on 09/24/2011 8:32:25 PM PDT by radu
Officials are denying that a federal raid targeted community activists who claim a pattern of racial profiling and discrimination in Bedford County against Hispanics.
The accusations came after the reported arrest of three residents by federal immigration officials and the publication of a report calling for a Department of Justice investigation.
Last Monday, members of several organizations held a hearing in Shelbyville during which Hispanic residents complained they were the victims of illegal detention and racial profiling by local law enforcement. A report was generated entitled "The Forgotten Constitution - Racial Profiling and Immigration Enforcement in Bedford County, Tennessee."
The 16-page report was produced by the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC), with input from Latinos Unidos de Shelbyville (United Latinos of Shelbyville), and Bill Geissler of Shelbyville, who is a member of SOCM (Statewide Organization for Community EmpowerMent). The document was authored by Sarah White and Salmun Kazerounian, who both work for the Legal Aid Society in Tullahoma.
The report makes the claim that "(t)o be an immigrant or refugee in Bedford County is to be treated with suspicion or outright hostility by one's own government, whose offices still exhibit vestiges of the overt racial apartheid of years past," also leveling a variety of accusations at Shelbyville police, the sheriff's department and jail, as well as the court system. However, neither Sheriff Randall Boyce, Shelbyville Police Chief Austin Swing or Circuit Court Clerk Thomas Smith were aware of the report, or the claims, until copies were provided to them by the T-G on Monday.
Snip*
The accusations of retaliation were made Monday at a press conference held in Nashville by Stephen Fotopulos, executive director of the TIRRC, following a raid conducted Saturday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) resulting in the arrest of three Bedford County residents.
(Excerpt) Read more at t-g.com ...
So far, none of the locals have come out saying they’ve seen swarms of ICE officers around town, seen roadblocks, or had a clue about the ICE raid last weekend. It’s a small town and things such as have been described would definitely be noticed. It was obviously a low-profile raid, as indicated by a statement made by an ICE spokesman in the above article.
From what I understand, these groups are targeting small towns across the country that have immigrant populations. My guess is these towns are in states that have passed laws similar to AZ’s illegal immigration law. Tennessee’s stricter laws are brought up in the beginning of the 16-page report.
Watch out for these immigrant and refugee rights groups. They’re out looking for trouble and if they can’t find it, they’ll stir it up themselves.
Why would any self respecting hispanderer, let alone Barack Obama, want the Federal Government to pull a vengeful stunt like that? It makes no sense.
That’s just it. It wasn’t a venegeful stunt. They arrested three criminals and the raid was the culmination of their investigation. ICE didn’t know about that meeting in Nashville. They were working on their own timetable.
I’m tired of these activist groups and the media claiming that arresting hispanics/”latinos” is racist. Just what race are those folks claiming to be? They are Caucasian (White). Even the US Census counts them as White when enumerating by race and not ethnicity.
I think we’re all tired of it. I know I am.
But I’m also tired of the illegals playing the victim card. ICE does their job (at least they do sometimes) and they holler. And the bleeding hearts holler.
And I get the sinking feeling they’re all going to ramp it up.
Seems like it, as he's from Tenn. as well.
The one and only. :-)
He sent the link to that confounded report when he found it Monday, then the link to his first article when it was up. I was waiting for the TIRRC’s side of the story (yesterday’s article) so I could post everything together. Just didn’t get a chance to do it until tonight.
I imagine there’ll be more before this is over with. Shelbyville seems to be on the rights groups’ hit list these days.
It's what EVERYone does, not just the wetbacks: the muzzies are even worse about claiming "discrimination" anytime their whacko demands are ignored.
Shelbyville's had plenty of that crap to deal with, too, with the Somalis that have swarmed the town.
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