Posted on 08/01/2005 11:06:04 AM PDT by LurkedLongEnough
Subtitle: Operation's secrecy is a concern; Greeley's gangs are not the problem
The heritage of open court proceedings and the belief that the accused do not disappear down a legal black hole never to be heard from again are important parts of our democratic culture. They allow the amorphous threat of terrorism to justify secrecy whenever it fits the government's needs is to forfeit much of what makes this country great.
-- Harry Hammitt, editor, Access Reports
Right here in little ol' Greeley, we never suspected we'd be writing about terrorism and its effect on secrecy in government.
But today we are.
A week ago, federal agents launched a raid in Greeley, seeking to find gang members who are in the United States illegally.
On paper, that sounds like a solid concept. If illegal immigrants are committing serious crimes in Greeley, we agree that they should be located and deported.
Nine gang members were targeted, and the raids took months to plan, District Attorney Ken Buck said. Agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement along with Greeley and Evans police departments took part in the raids last week.
Buck said the gang members would not be arrested but would be served an "administrative action" warrant by the immigration service.
As it turns out, only one gang member was picked up in Greeley. That's a sad rate of success, or perhaps we should say a high rate of failure, for an operation that was months in the planning.
Three cities in Colorado were targeted: Greeley, Colorado Springs and Denver. Across the nation, Los Angeles, New York City, Miami and Seattle were among the cities hit in the raids. The raids were part of a state and national strategy to round up illegal gang members and deport them.
"We started talking to the feds about this in January," Buck said. "It was a new initiative for them."
As far as we're concerned, it's also a dangerous initiative.
Here's essentially what happened: Federal agents swoop into our community, whisk away one of our residents, and never identify him or say where he is being held or what criminal activities he was involved in. ICE, as the new immigration service is called, apparently is empowered by the Patriot Act and our country's fear of terrorism to take such action, although as far as we know, the Greeley man had no terrorist links whatsoever.
Did the Greeley man commit crimes? Presumably. But we'll never know exactly what. Will he get his day in court? Presumably. But we'll never know when or where. Will he be deported? Presumably. But we don't know why. Is Greeley a better place now that he's gone? Maybe. But we'll never know for sure.
Not surprisingly, no state or national figures were available regarding the number of gang members who were picked up. Apparently ICE has conducted similar raids across the country, and nowhere has it identified the suspected gang members or explained what happened to them.
This kind of government action also leads to hysteria and public perception that illegal immigrants are out of control in the country, and that Greeley's gang members are primarily illegals. Greeley police have previously stated that is not the case, and that most gang members here are legal citizens. In fact, if only nine gang members were identified as illegal immigrants in Greeley, their arrests and deportation represents only a tiny fraction of the gang members in our community.
We won't argue a bit that gangs are a problem in Greeley. Law enforcement officials should use all legal means available to them to fight this problem.
But even if he's here illegally, the detained Greeley man should be afforded rights guaranteed in America. The effort to resolve Greeley's gang problem should not include laying aside the Bill of Rights.
ping
ALL illegal immigrants should be located and deported, even the ones residing in Greeley.
Protect our borders and coastlines from all foreign invaders!
Be Ever Vigilant!
Minutemen Patriots ~ Bump!
These &^%uckers will do anything for money. Anything. Kill their own mother if they are told to. We have been so stupid to leave the borders open. These people have no fear of American law enforcement. None! And it's a good bet they have hooked up with El Qaeda and will be the next group to do something very nasty with a lot of firepower.
These gangs are here, they are organized (like a packet switched network) and they are very well armed. What fools "we" are.
Comments like this betray a fundamental ignorance of the BoR.
That hysteria and public perceptions are the TRUTH!!
"This kind of government action also leads to hysteria and public perception that illegal immigrants are out of control in the country"
Bring it on only faster!!!
"We have been so stupid to leave the borders open."
Please narrow this down to those responsible for leaving the borders open. The way you have it written makes every US citizen to blame which is not the case.
Greeley has a newspaper?
And they're whining about illegals being deported? What, is this guy missing a gardener?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.