Posted on 01/31/2004 5:56:03 AM PST by SheLion
Their boss insists that they're not trying to act like jerks. It's just that the border patrol agents who descended on Portland last weekend are new to Maine and, this being the dead of winter and all, they apparently can't help themselves.
"A lot of our agents are just off the southern (U.S.) border and there's a different atmosphere down there," said Monte J. Bennett, assistant chief patrol agent for the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection in Houlton. "There are a lot more numbers down there. Things are more aggressive."
In other words, if you're an immigrant in Maine these days, you'd best double-check your papers before you go anywhere and learn to say "Yes, sir" and "No, sir" to anyone in a black uniform and boots. And oh yes, try not to look suspicious.
"My business is down 80 percent since Saturday," lamented Juan Gonzalez, owner of La Bodega Latina Grocery Store on Congress Street. "Customers call me on the phone saying, 'Is it clear? Can we come down?' People are really afraid."
According to bureau spokesman Bennett, what happened Saturday in Portland was a typical "transportation sweep" in which federal agents - many recently transferred here as part of a south-to-north shift in homeland security forces - visited Portland's airport, train and bus stations in search of illegal aliens.
They netted 10 people whose papers failed to pass muster. At the same time, they left Portland's hard-won reputation as an immigrant-friendly city in tatters.
Nasir Ahmed was behind the counter at Amei Halaal Market on St. John Street when agents walked in and told everyone, employees and customers alike, to get out their passports and green cards. Ahmed said some patrons eating lunch in the Somali market bolted out the back door - not because they were undocumented, but because they were scared to death.
"How would you feel if you went to McDonald's and got asked for ID while you were eating your food? That's what happened here," Ahmed asked. "Now, less people come in. We lost a lot of customers."
Mohammed Barre, who was in the store at the time, said much of the anxiety could have been avoided if the agents had clearly identified themselves (several eyewitnesses said they didn't) and, before coming through the door, had taken the chips off their shoulders.
"Unfriendly," Barre replied when asked to describe the agents' demeanor. "Very unfriendly."
Bennett insisted that the operation targeted only Portland's "transportation hubs," not its immigrant enclaves. He added, however, that the agents will investigate anything "that needs investigating."
Would two stores with foreign names, frequented by people with dark skin, each a block or two from the Vermont Transit bus station "need investigating"?
"Based solely on that, no," Bennett replied. "They go more by people's mannerisms."
Thus, we are asked to believe, it was a citywide outbreak of "mannerisms" that attracted agents to Amei Halaal Market, La Bodega Latina and even the Preble Street Resource Center, where director Mark Swann has vowed that the next time agents show up, they'll be asked for a search warrant.
(Lest we all think the agents' attitudes began and ended with immigrants, consider my daughter's welcome Saturday upon arriving in Portland by bus from Boston: After she gave a border agent her license, he demanded her passport. She correctly told him that U.S. citizens don't need passports for interstate travel. "Let me give you a word of advice," he replied tersely. "You need to learn to watch your mouth.")
Where all this tension goes from here is anyone's guess.
Meetings are already being held among Portland's immigrant elders and leaders. And the Latino Health and Community Service has called off its Feb. 14 health fair because, director John Connors explained, "I'm not going to put up posters telling these guys we're going to have a bunch of minorities and immigrants showing up at a particular time and place."
Bennett calls such fears unfounded. If confronted by a federal agent, he said, all anyone has to do is "be friendly, be straightforward and answer their questions."
And above all, watch your mannerisms.
Columnist Bill Nemitz can be contacted at 791-6323 or at: bnemitz@pressherald.com
I don't know. Isn't there a bill out there that is inviting more illegals in to the U.S. to work?
Why not, John? Cold it be that it would really be a bunch of ILLEGAL minorities and immigrants showing up at a particular time and place?
Answer: No.
Comment: It merely looks good in print. Helps calm the Americans rising anxiety regarding the relentless drive towards third world serfdom.
Your sure welcome. Save it for yourself. For future reference!
Oh Bull Chit. They NEVER get the snow in southern Maine that WE do! That's bull chit.
I know others that have been following this story is tired of hearing me repeat this.....but here goes:
The Somali women went to the shelter in Lewiston and cleaned the place out. One of our own girls went to get diapers for her baby. There was none to be found. The Somali's took every last one of them.
I wasn't aware of that thread. One gal from southern Maine sent me this article in this mornings email. So I posted it here in Free Republic. A lot of us are following this story.
There are a couple of problems with that. First, many of these illegals are working for cash...no need for SS#'s. With businesses where they do have to have them, if they're not verified, they're not worth the paper they're written on and the employer cannot be held liable because he did, after all, see the proper "documentation."
I am so tired of journalists and politicians using the word "immigrant" as if this is just a benign group of innocents that is being systematically and unjustifiably harassed. Legitimate immigrants have no need for concern. Illegals are a whole different matter. There is nothing in our Constitution that guarntees foreign interlopers a free pass and full benefits if they penetrate our borders successfully. Of course, many of these people are illiterate in two languages, so we're not typically dealing with the brightest bulbs in the package either, so getting them to grasp the simple concept that "illegal" mean against the law and subject to criminal penalties may be the equivilent of trying to get the DUhmmies at the DU to grasp the concept that freedom is not free.
hehe!
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