Posted on 07/21/2005 4:22:27 PM PDT by 4.1O dana super trac pak
Federal immigration officers arrested at least 30 Hispanic people in three suburban cities near Birmingham in what authorities said Thursday was a crackdown aimed at fighting gangs.
The U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement would not say, however, whether any of the people who were detained were suspected of committing crimes aside from being in the country illegally.
Officers from the agency swept through apartment complexes and trailer parks in Hoover, Pelham and Alabaster arresting Spanish-speaking people.
Jail records in Hoover, the largest of the three cities, showed 30 people were booked within a 75-minute period Tuesday. They were transferred to the Etowah County Jail, where the federal government processes and holds suspected illegal immigrants.
Temple Black, a spokesman for the federal immigration agency in New Orleans, said the arrests "are part of an ongoing anti-gang enforcement effort." He declined comment on details including any possible charges.
Another agency spokesman, Marc Raimondi, said officers are out daily arresting "known criminal gang members that terrorize neighborhoods," but he said he didn't know anything about the arrests around Birmingham.
Cristina Arreola, a 17-year-old from Mexico living in a mobile home park in Alabaster, said seven federal agents raided the trailer where she lives early Tuesday.
They woke her and her 17-year-old fiance, Pedro Flores Jr., and made them, his parents and two older brothers go outside. All were handcuffed and taken to the Alabaster Police Department, where they were questioned by federal agents, Arreola said.
They then were taken to the Hoover jail where they were fingerprinted, photographed and questioned again, she said. The juveniles then were taken to the U.S. Customs office at the Birmingham International Airport.
Arreola, who was released to a relative, said she and her family were never told why they were being arrested.
Sabrina Bourgeois, who lives next door to Arreola, said federal agents asked some of the young men if they were involved in gangs and took picture of their tattoos. Arreola said none of the family are affiliated with gangs.
Bourgeois, who has lived next door to the Flores family for five or six years, agreed. "They've been wonderful neighbors. They've never gotten into any trouble at all," she said.
Bourgeois said immigration officials have "got people scared."
"A lot of people around here are packing up and leaving," she said.
In April 2004, the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 27 day laborers in Hoover, describing them as illegal immigrants. A federal official said three of the 27 may have been suspects in crimes.
'Slight' slant ping.
headline should read ILLEGALS. friggin PC newspapers are afraid to use "illegal" in headlines so they make it sound like U.S. hispanics. sheesh.
Like any other reason would be required!!!
What part of "Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement" does the MSM not understand?
This is right where I live. How am I going to get my grass mowed now?
There thats better !
I think local papers write their own headlines for AP articles.
The article is bad enough, but 'Hispanic roundup'? Sheesh.
If I owned a paper, you'd be making big money right now. Not that I know how much you make now.
There. Fixed it.
If I owned a paper, you'd be making big money right now.
Why is that ? because im blunt or truthful or are you just being sarcastic ?
The truth is always the best policy. It was a compliment.
Why Thank you i feel the same way The truth IS always the best policy .
If I was an American citizen of Hispanic descent I'd be mighty pissed at that headline.
'Slight' slant ping.
Nope, no bias here...move along...!
The illegals have been harassing the Hoover area for years. The city built a (spanish speaking) government-type office for the illegals to gain access to freebies, to try to placate the pesty aliens. They are known to house up to sixty people in one small house. Otherwise the city of Hoover is a very nice area to live in. Most of the problems the have stem from illegals and "Section 48" housing areas that once were super nice dwellings.
Leaving for their country of origin, hopefully.
Never thought I'd see stories like this in places like Alabama.
It seems everywhere now.
Wow, I didn't know that being Hispanic was against the law.
You're hired.
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