Posted on 03/30/2002 11:05:34 PM PST by sarcasm
SAN FRANCISCO, California - Recent raids on California airports that have resulted in the arrest of hundreds of immigrants, mostly Hispanics, have drawn criticism from human rights groups.
"To ask individuals to identify themselves just because they look, act or behave like immigrants is illegal and it creates panic in our community. We are not going to keep quiet about it," said the chairwoman of the Los Angeles Coalition for Immigrant Rights, Angelica Salas.
Salas said the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) is using racial profiling in the arrests, which is illegal in the United States. More than 300 people demonstrated on Thursday against the raids in Los Angeles
"First, they came for the Muslims, the Arabs. Now, they go for Latinos and other non-white immigrants," said National Lawyers Guild spokesman James Lafferty of the some 1,200 arrests, mostly of Muslims and citizens of Middle Eastern countries, made after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Of those detainees, 327 continue in prison. Some 250 people were arrested as a result of recent raids on 11 airports nationwide.
In airports of San Francisco and San Jose, California, immigration officers required employees and legal residents to identify themselves.
Fifty-five people have been arrested since Monday in northern California and will be deported, said INS San Francisco office spokesperson Sharon Rummery.
She said the arrest and deportation of janitors, porters and kitchen helpers at the airports are measures to combat terrorism, as immigrants are vulnerable to eventual pressure from terrorists. Charges against the undocumented include using fake social security cards and lying about their backgrounds in job applications.
"It is an extremely dangerous situation for all. Terrorist groups learn about the status of these people and could force them to do things they don't want to do at the airports," Rummery said on behalf of the INS.
The INS also reported the arrest last week of 183 Mexicans and a Guatemalan citizen.
Thomas Schilgen, director of INS in Los Angeles, denied the airport raids targeted people who looked like immigrants or Hispanics. He said that INS acted based on intelligence reports that said immigrant traffickers were using U.S. airports and flights to ply their trade.
Also, the federal government could deport 66 undocumented immigrants, most of them from Mexico, arrested in an early March dragnet in the Charlotte-Douglas International Airport of North Carolina.
Just a little info to think about:
There are close to 300,000 illegal CC's in the US, and that is a fact.
I see the phrase "could deport" used quite frequently by INS. I can't for the life of me understand why they can't declare, will deport.
Don't forget SPEAK. It's actually quite easy to tell an immigrant from a native born American. It's even easier than picking out a Southerner from a New Yorker. An American born and raised Hispanic doesn't sound or look or act like a person fresh over here from Mexico.
Had a friend who's family had a large ranch in South Texas. They tried to teach their illegals to "look normal" when the INS showed up. Didn't work. Every time a helicoptor flew over they would run and hide. Shortly thereafter the "ground crew" came to pick them up.
Having worked at the US Attorneys Office in Chicago, I know that the DEA at O'Hare watched for those who looked nervous, furtive and in a big hurry.
I guess I was lucky, don't think I ever looked furtive, but at O'Hare I was always nervous and in a big hurry to get the heck out of there.
Good. Maybe they'll deport themselves, or just not sneak in to begin with.
We are not going to keep quiet about it," said the chairwoman of the Los Angeles Coalition for Immigrant Rights, Angelica Salas.
Salas ought to be arrested for aiding and abetting illegal aliens. Illegals shouldn't have any rights at all other than the right to remain silent and the right to talk to somebody at their consulate on the phone. Whatever it takes to round up and throw out America's Palestinians is fine by me.
Boring. It's calle probable cause btch! and cops have to do it all the time.
But it also shows that she doesn't understand the system. No one has to profile anyone to do this roundup ("Operation Tarmac"). It's a paper chase. Everyone working on an airport has to fill out a SIDA background check for access. All they have to do to identify the perps is actually check the paperwork, which is almost never done!
SIDA stands for Secure Identification Display Area. Here's an example of what they do to you when you lie on the form: Miami Bust
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