Posted on 05/01/2006 4:42:08 AM PDT by SwinneySwitch
As federal officials keep silent on rumors, Austin officials question whether groups impersonating officers are terrorizing residents.
With widespread reports of immigration raids in Austin multiplying and federal officials refusing to say whether the rumors are true, city and immigrant rights leaders Friday raised the possibility that vigilantes might be impersonating law enforcement officers and terrorizing immigrants and citizens.
At a City Hall news conference, they called on government officials to be open about information that might help explain the numerous raid reports sweeping Austin and the region.
"I think everyone just wants answers," Council Member Raul Alvarez said. "If it isn't the government doing it, who's to say it's not some other group that's doing this and is potentially violating the rights of our citizens?"
But a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Friday that the agency remained steadfast in its position of never commenting on its operations as a consideration of officer and public safety.
"That's just policy," Nina Pruneda said.
A written statement from the agency said individuals have the right to ask for identification if approached by a law enforcement officer and should call 911 and ask for police assistance if they are suspicious.
"To report suspicious activity to ICE, call 1-866-DHS-2ICE," the statement said.
Austin police, meanwhile, said they had not heard of reports that vigilantes might be impersonating officers.
The immigrant rights leaders who joined Alvarez and former Mayor Gus Garcia at Friday's news conference said continued reports led them to raise the possibility that vigilantes are behind the raids.
The leaders said they continued to field numerous firsthand accounts from sources that they deem credible about immigration raids at construction sites, store parking lots and in neighborhoods.
The reports have created a climate of fear among illegal immigrants who fear being arrested and separated from their families and from their children who are U.S. citizens.
"I can't have that many accounts of raids from very reliable people and then be told that nothing is happening," said the Rev. Lydia Hernandez of Manos de Cristo in Austin, which provides dental care, clothing and food to the poor.
Hernandez said some reports have described immigration agents knocking on apartment doors and taking people away.
"The question is, who's doing it," Garcia said. "We want to know who's doing it, where are they doing it, so that we can address those concerns that people have."
Garcia urged people to call police if they think that their rights are being violated.
Citizens are getting caught up in the raids, Alvarez said, relating how one citizen told of agents in an unmarked van who asked workers at a construction site for two forms of identification. Six were unable to produce IDs and were taken away, he said.
On Tuesday, while discounting the reports of raids as unfounded rumors, Mexican Consul General Jorge Guajardo also called on U.S. authorities and his office in Austin to work "to the extent possible to let the people know that these are not taking place."
Guajardo said the reports had led to severe unintended consequences. In addition to not going to work and school, some immigrants were neglecting medical care and even risking their children's health, he said.
Hernandez said many students stopped coming to her agency's English as a second language classes and others were forgoing trips there for food, clothing and other basic needs.
jcastillo@statesman.com; 445-3635
I just finished traveling 3,400 miles throughout the Southeast and it does appear that there is a new push to roust out a few illegals bu ice for a change but I don't expect it will last past Nov.
just doing the job real american law enforcement wont do!!!!
citizen yeah right
chasing illegals that rob you or rape your wife is illegal to.
There is one school of thought within the Hispanic leadership that this boycott shouldn't happen today. I believe they are behind the rumors. WRT the supposed visits to worksites of INS officers i'm not buying it.
whatever works, sometimes you have to try different tactics to find one that works. Lynchings were illegal because they were going after americans.
There just seems to be a cosmic symmetry in the concept (real or not) of undocumented law enforcement officers appehending ("terrorizing") undocumented immigrants ...
they are given tickets and never show up for a hearing (catch and release doesnt work) maybe neuter and release will
This account has been banned or suspended...
Hopefully you're still reading replies. "Terrorizing" implies physical violence, not the threat of laws being enforced. It's no worse than dressing a few friends in DEA shirts and entering a college dorm yelling "five-oh" (from Hawaii 5-0, kidspeak for "here come the cops") and listening to all the toilets flush...
they apparently dont care about law or legal.
Note to Mods: please let clawrence3 back on; he gives us an insight into how the other side thinks.
Whatever Lawrence
Since the President is bound and determined to give Illegal Aliens here a free pass to citizenship, I will take him at his word.
So far the man hasn't lied.
This is OUR country, and if you want to come here legally, then do so LEGALLY.
And yes.. since you ask, I do support Citizens doing the job the Government refuses to do. Call them Vigilantes if you want, but you know. I live in a state where Vigilanteism (sp) is rooted in it's history.
When the government doesn't do it's job, someone else will.
Like it or not
Well, what is a vigilante man?
Tell me, what is a vigilante man?
Has he got a gun and a club in his hand?
Is that is a vigilante man?
Rainy night down in the engine house,
Sleepin' just as still as a mouse,
Man come along an' he chased us out in the rain.
Was that a vigilante man?
Stormy days we passed the time away,
Sleepin' in some good warm place.
Man come along an' we give him a little race.
Was that a vigilante man?
Preacher Casey was just a workin' man,
And he said, "Unite all you working men."
Killed him in the river some strange man.
Was that a vigilante man?
Oh, why does a vigilante man,
Why does a vigilante man
Carry that sawed-off shot-gun in his hand?
Would he shoot his brother and sister down?
I rambled 'round from town to town,
I rambled 'round from town to town,
And they herded us around like a wild herd of cattle.
Was that the vigilante men?
Have you seen that vigilante man?
Have you seen that vigilante man?
I've heard his name all over this land.
(Woody Guthrie)
You're an honest man. I appreciate that.
That is not true. Either you are deceived or you are lying. The only way to prove me wrong is for you to post the authoritative source for your wild, unfounded claim that millions are deported each year. Prove it.
LOL- you realize that lynchings are not even mentioned in the article, right?
In fact, the "vigilantes" could simply be lefties themselves. Wouldn't put it past 'em.
It's easy to start a rumor like that when you've got a network of "cousins".
"...who also have a cousin (it's always "a cousin") who has seen a chupacabra."
Usually a DRUNK cousin.
"To report suspicious activity to ICE, call 1-866-DHS-2ICE," the statement said.
I wonder how effective that call will be when people see these marches with a target rich environment of ILLEGAL Aliens.
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