Posted on 04/08/2007 11:41:42 AM PDT by VU4G10
SAN DIEGO -- More than one-third of 18,000 people arrested in a nearly yearlong federal crackdown on illegal immigrants were not the people authorities targeted, according to government figures.
The so-called "collateral arrests" involved people picked up by immigration agents while seeking fugitives such as drug smugglers, thieves, drunken drivers and others who flouted deportation orders.
When tracking down fugitives, authorities visit a suspect's last known address and often find other immigrants, who are then asked to prove they are legally entitled to live in the United States.
Supporters of such tactics say the government is just doing its job after years of neglect.
"God bless 'em,"' said Peter Nunez, a former U.S. attorney in San Diego who teaches immigration policy at the University of San Diego. "They apparently decided to start with these fugitives. If you're going to find one (illegal immigrant), you're going to find 100."
Critics say the campaign against fugitive illegal immigrants ensnares many hard-working people who are in the country illegally but do not pose a danger.
"They're trying to sell it as something where they target (criminals) but it's become part of a larger dragnet," said Pedro Rios, director of the American Friends Service Committee's office in San Diego.
Dubbed "Operation Return to Sender," the crackdown began last May in cities across the nation. As of Feb. 23, it has resulted in 18,149 arrests of suspected illegal immigrants, most of whom were captured at home and in Hispanic neighborhoods.
But, according to figures from Immigration and Custom Enforcement, 37 percent of those cases, or 6,696 arrests, were "collateral" captives _ people who just happened to be present when agents arrived. Such arrests account for more than half the total in four cities: Dallas and El Paso, Texas (59 percent); New York (54 percent); and San Diego (57 percent).
On Tuesday, ICE completed a two-week sting that targeted 300 fugitives in San Diego. Agents found 62 fugitives but took 297 other people into custody, bringing the total arrests to 359. The illegal immigrants were returned to their home countries or jailed while awaiting a court hearing.
The government defends the collateral arrests.
"We can't look the other way," said Robin Baker, ICE's director of detention and removals in San Diego. "We did that for too long." The agency's guidelines are to make arrests in houses, not in the streets, Baker said, adding that agents do not randomly search communities for illegal immigrants.
For some, the stings evoke memories of immigration raids that fell out of favor in the 1980s. Since then, immigration authorities have stayed close to U.S. borders but are increasingly venturing into homes and workplaces across the country.
"It didn't happen for a good 15 years," Baker said. "Now that it's opening up again, people don't like it. They got used to us not being there."
I shall email him an exerpt with all due haste!
&&
LOL
There could easily be 50,000 sleepers that have jumped our border. Time will tell how profoundly our open borders policy will hurt this great country.
You didn't expect me to read that long-winded pile of BS, did you?
Look around schmuck, there are many here, in the House and in the Senate that do not agree with you or president bush. We're not trolls. We're not left-wingers either. We're just not willing to sit back and watch this president give amensty to the millions of ILLEGALS without speaking our minds.
You should too. But then you wouldn't be a bush-bot who thinks the man deserves our undying support regardless how wrong he may be.
You'd make a great democrat.
Securing our borders is a vital part of the WOT.
Why bush refuses to do so is clear; he'd rather patronize the millions of ILLEGALS.
I’ve never seen you give kudos, only complaints.
That makes you as bad as a troll, whether you think that you are such a 5th columnist (most likely), or not (i.e. just a useful idiot who doesn’t knwo what he’s doing).
Then you haven't been paying attention.
I support the president whole-heartedly on the WOT and have said so in many threads. But when I see him pushing as hard as he does for amnesty for the millions of ILLEGALS in this country that is where I draw the line.
Are the 70 House members left-wing trolls also? Is Tom Tancredo? Duncan Hunter? Must one really keep their mouth shut and watch our "conservative" president give the farm to these invaders to register as a conservative in your book? If you think so you are seriously deluded.
Leftists want nothing more then to see the 12 million ILLEGALS become voting citizens. I would rather that doesn't happen. You should too.
You're 100% on target.
It will take another 9-11 before anyone wakes up.
The "We Will Never Forget" crowd never got it in the first place.
Every quarter, W asks for another $100B supplemental funding for the war. If I were sitting in his chair, I'd have taken 1% of one quarter's funding and built the friggin wall six years ago. Anyone found here illegally would be deported. No revolving door catch-and-release. Border agents would be given a $100 bonus for each illegal sent back to Mex-e-co.
This is not rocket science.
And just for effect, I'd have a moratorium on all work visas.
America has become a squishy-squashy limp wristed, gutless country. Terrroists have to be laughing at us. And we just lap it up.
/rant
Nomex on, and Halon at the ready.
2. end minimum wage
3. end rent control
4. end government guaranteed lending
5. implement a logical identification cards
6. end social security
7. ban workers' unions
8. end publicly funded education of all sorts (K-12 and university.) (we can buy our own meals, houses, cars, etc,- why can't we buy our children's education on our own?)
9. problem solved.
“It will take another 9-11 before anyone wakes up”
If there are indeed 50,000 sleepers, which a rational person could not rule out, 9/11 could become a veritable blip on the radar screen.
“Boy, Geraldo had better not hear about this, or that carotid artery will surely burst this time.”
E-mail him the information quick!!!!
Even when I was a staunch advocate for Hispanic illegals being mostly good and hardworking people (which I still believe, but I have hardened), I was amazed that the Mexican border was not closed after 9/11 strictly for anti-terrorism reasons. No matter where a person stands on the immigration issue, the fact that sleepers can walk or drive freely into America 6 years after our “wakeup call” is inexcusable. And I don’t see an effective wall actually being built in the forseeable future...they are talking about a couple hundred miles of fence on a 1,951-mile border.
“Even when I was a staunch advocate for Hispanic illegals being mostly good and hardworking people”
They used to be. Not anymore. About half of them are now crooks, in one way or another. They now have power in numbers, and at least in California, they have become surly and street wise. They are also notorious drunk drivers.
Good comments Ping...!
Happy Easter, Hi Jinx!
Deport deport deport deport deport deport all illegal entrants
Jerry Rivers begins with lying about his name, and goes on from there.
Ummm. If they are here illegally, it's a given that they are driving illegally. Or am I missing a bit of logic?
An illegal driving a construction van t-boned my daughter's car and totaled it last November. My 5-yo grandson had his face cut to ribbons from the window glass and had internal bruising. The driver tried to drive away, then when his flat tire wouldn't let him, he got out and started running down the road. The cops got him. He didn't speak a word of English. We are still waiting for word on the legal case since the US construction company hired this guy to drive their van.
Put the whore U S construction company into bankruptcy, or better yet, collect a big sum from them.
18,000 down, 12 million to go.
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.