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Meat plant arrests near Amarillo leave families of 100 children separated
AVALANCHE-JOURNAL AUSTIN BUREAU ^ | Thursday, December 14, 2006 | ENRIQUE RANGEL

Posted on 12/14/2006 8:15:55 AM PST by WestTexasWend

First it was the chaos. Then it was the confusion as to who was arrested and where they would be taken.

Now, the Spanish-speaking residents of Cactus, Dumas and other neighboring communities who escaped Tuesday's raid because they either are here legally or do not work at the Swift meat plant, face an even bigger problem: what is going to happen to the more than 100 children whose parents were rounded up and arrested?

"Right now the children are being taken care of by relatives or friends of those who were deported," said Orlando Gajardo, spokesman for the St. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Dumas.

The church is actively helping the families of the hundreds of suspected illegal immigrants who were busted Tuesday morning by U.S. immigration agents at the Swift and Company plant in Cactus, which is about 60 miles north of Amarillo.

"But we are worried about their future," Gajardo added. "We are afraid that if they are not reunited with their parents soon, some may end up in foster homes."

The children of those busted, whose ages range from a month to 18 years, are for the most part U.S. citizens, according to residents and volunteers helping the families of those arrested.

"Their parents may be here illegally, but those children are American citizens," said Eric Perez, a Dumas resident who owns El Jacalito, a combination of a convenience store and a Mexican fast food restaurant.

"Many of those children were left without their father and mother," said Lorena Adame, an El Jacalito employee who, like her boss, witnessed the early morning raid because the store is across the U.S. 287 from the meat plant. "There were many cases in which both parents were arrested."

Like others, Adame, Gajardo and Perez don't know for sure how many Swift workers were arrested Tuesday and how many children had a parent or both parents busted.

Some estimate that the number of workers arrested may be as high as 520, and the vast majority were either natives of Mexico or Guatemala.

"We don't have official figures but we are told that 220 Guatemalans were arrested," said Jose Barillas-Trennert, the Guatemalan Consul in Houston. "We're obviously worried because we don't know what is going to happen to our fellow citizens and because we don't know what is going to happen to their children."

Immigration authorities have been secretive about the number of arrested and where they were taken, Barillas-Trennert said.

In Cactus and Dumas it is widely believed that the arrested were bused to detention centers in Amarillo and Lubbock, the Guatemalan consulate has been told, also, that some of the detainees might be taken to New Mexico and other states, the Consul added.

Although the fate of the children of the detainees is the main worry for the immigrant community in Cactus, Dumas and surrounding communities, some fear another major headache - burglaries.

"We already heard stories that the homes of those who were arrested were burglarized Tuesday night," Gajardo said. "The thieves went looking for money, jewelry and other valuable objects."

Cactus Mayor Luis Aguilar and Police Chief Tim Turley could not be reached to comment on the unconfirmed reports.

An additional worry, though flatly denied by Gajardo and Perez, is that some immigration officers knocked on some doors looking for suspected illegal immigrants.

However, in Grand Island, Neb., where Swift also owns and operates a meat packing plant, The Independent, a sister publication of The Avalanche-Journal, filmed some agents going inside the house of a suspected illegal immigrants, said Editor Bill Dunn.

Dumas resident Socorro Rodriguez, whose wife Mercedes has been helping the families of those deported, said the immigrant community in the area was shocked and saddened by the massive immigration raid.

"I've been here for 47 years and I've never seen anything like this," said the 65-year-old Mexican immigrant. "And we are also very upset because the agents chose one of the most sacred days for Mexicans: the Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe.

"If the (immigration) agents had been planning this raid for a long time, why couldn't they wait a little longer, like January," he added. "They spoiled our Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe and our Christmas."


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; Government; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: aliens; amarillo; bordercontrol; cactus; crymeariver; illegalenablers; illegalinvasion; illegalproblems; illegals; illegalworkers; immigrantlist; immigration; nationalsecurity; swift; texas; tx; waaaaa
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To: WestTexasWend
When a parent who is a citizen gets arrested and goes to jail, and there is nowhere else for the child, what do they do? CPS.

If it's good enough for criminal citizens, it's good enough for criminal invaders.

21 posted on 12/14/2006 8:27:25 AM PST by Last Laugh
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To: 50sDad
"Baaaad ol' Puddy Tat."


22 posted on 12/14/2006 8:27:38 AM PST by Bloody Sam Roberts (This is my tagline. There are many like it but this one is mine.)
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To: Long Island Pete; WestTexasWend

"Come here legally and you wont be putting your children through this. Enough with the anchor babies. Time to change that ridiculous law."

YES! Misinterpretation of the 14th Amendment won't be solved with any amnesty or shamnesty program.

We need to nip this nightmare thing in the bud!


23 posted on 12/14/2006 8:27:45 AM PST by Froufrou
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To: WestTexasWend
..they certainly don't have any worries about exposing their children to crossing a desert, or piling into the back of a non-airconditioned windowless truck do they?
24 posted on 12/14/2006 8:28:28 AM PST by Doogle (USAF 68-73...although it's been said many times many ways Merry Christmas tooooo you)
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The IRS should be made to audit the W4's and any 1040's of every single illegal they can identify.....and make certain that every penny they owe is paid!


25 posted on 12/14/2006 8:30:31 AM PST by Vn_survivor_67-68
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To: WestTexasWend

"Their parents may be here illegally, but those children are American citizens"

Call me mean-spirited, but given the way we're being taken advantage of, that is the FIRST thing that needs to change! Beyond that, they can all cry me a river.


26 posted on 12/14/2006 8:30:34 AM PST by NRA1995 (Clinton "tried", 3000 died)
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To: LS

You are right..zero tolerance and the rest will get the message.
Now we need to prosecute those who hire illegals with equal force. Work on supply and demand.
Get those meat packing jobs back up to $17 per hour..or whatever it takes. We will just pay more for beef, pork and chicken. Or eat less(we are mostly overweight).


27 posted on 12/14/2006 8:30:52 AM PST by Oldexpat
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To: WestTexasWend
"If the (immigration) agents had been planning this raid for a long time, why couldn't they wait a little longer, like January," he added. "They spoiled our Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe and our Christmas."

ROFLOL

28 posted on 12/14/2006 8:32:57 AM PST by org.whodat (Never let the facts get in the way of a good assumption.)
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To: econjack

Perhaps this is one of the things they should have thought about when they decided to sneak into this country illegally.
------
Exactly. Let us hope this is not just a token gesture on the part of our government. They have a long way to go to fix the problem THEY CREATED.


29 posted on 12/14/2006 8:33:48 AM PST by EagleUSA
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To: WestTexasWend
Do we have independent verification that those arrested in the raid were (or will be) actually deported? Because ICE is involved, I suspect the illegal aliens arrested will be back with their families on this side of the border by the end of this weekend.
30 posted on 12/14/2006 8:34:22 AM PST by Unmarked Package
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To: WestTexasWend
What to do...What to do...(Apply common sense)

1. Check all children for American born citizenship

2. Check the children for non American born Citizenship.

3. Send all children with American citizenship to live with legal citizen relatives

4. Give other qualified American citizen children a chance to stay (ie: make arrangement through various agencies to house the LEGAL ones) and

5. Deport all other children who do not have citizenship with their parents

There...... I think that pretty much covers it.

31 posted on 12/14/2006 8:34:46 AM PST by thingumbob (Dead terrorists don't make more terrorists!)
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To: politicalwit

Here's what should be done. Say we are deporting them to fight global warming. With the estimated 11 - 20M illegals in this country, that is that many more people that need to use the energy infrastructure (electrical, roads, natural gas, etc). With those people back in Mexico there will be that much less CO2 being generated.


32 posted on 12/14/2006 8:35:08 AM PST by MarkeyD (The tree of liberty must from time to time be watered with the blood of tyrants and patriots.)
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To: Oldexpat
We will just pay more for beef, pork and chicken. Or eat less(we are mostly overweight).

Beef sells higher than ever, but the packing houses are making more money, just passing heath care on to tax payer and putting labor savings in their pockets. Asset forfeiture will stop this...

33 posted on 12/14/2006 8:36:24 AM PST by org.whodat (Never let the facts get in the way of a good assumption.)
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To: EagleUSA

Dear Mexicans, your children will be going with you. There is no law requiring Anchor Babies to be kept in the United States. They are not government property. They are your children. Via Con Dios.


34 posted on 12/14/2006 8:36:37 AM PST by massgopguy (I owe everything to George Bailey)
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To: 50sDad
b) Here comes the Dem talking points on "those horrible republicans who want to split up families."

Yes, the dems will be 'troubled' by this horrible display by the cold hearted Republicans.

Buuuttt, if these children were in a compound, let's say, somewhere around Waco................

35 posted on 12/14/2006 8:42:14 AM PST by cowboyway (My heroes have always been Cowboys)
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To: WestTexasWend
"Their parents may be here illegally, but those children are American citizens," said Eric Perez, a Dumas resident who owns El Jacalito, a combination of a convenience store and a Mexican fast food restaurant.

Well, gee, that's just too bad.

I hope the other Mexican kids aren't too tough on them when they move back to Mexico. You know, them being Americans and all.

36 posted on 12/14/2006 8:45:39 AM PST by VeniVidiVici (Barack Hussein Obama - Ted Kennedy's Left-Hand Man.)
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To: Ronaldus Magnus Reagan
They spoiled our Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe and our Christmas."

Oh yeah? Well illegals have spoiled my tax rates, my hospitals, hundreds of neighborhoods, my culture...

37 posted on 12/14/2006 8:45:54 AM PST by Last Laugh
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To: WestTexasWend
I guess the term lawbreakers means nothing to the press.

Unless it is a Republican.


38 posted on 12/14/2006 8:48:37 AM PST by darkwing104 (Let's get dangerous)
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To: cripplecreek
The reason they stopped smoking pot?

Because everyone knows that once you have kids, sex is over?

39 posted on 12/14/2006 8:50:01 AM PST by DCPatriot ("It aint what you don't know that kills you. It's what you know that aint so" Theodore Sturgeon)
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To: steel_resolve

Its a Mexican Holiday...so what the Hell are you doing here in the US...we don't care about you Mexican Holidays....man are they stupid


40 posted on 12/14/2006 8:52:04 AM PST by Youngman442002
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