Illegal Immigrants Arrested en Masse; Fear Rules
On Monday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested approximately 600 illegal aliens in Laurel, Mississippi while they were working. The agents stormed in, the immigrants, mostly Hispanics, were handcuffed and led away.
The result: panic. The families of those arrested and other illegal immigrants are wondering what will happen to those taken into custody. Mothers do not allow their children to go to school because they fear the child may be arrested as well.
The superintendent of the county’s school district told reporters about half of approximately 160 Hispanic students did not show up for school Tuesday.
Pastor Roberto Velez, another leading figure in the community, said that 30 to 40 percent of parishoners were taken into custody Monday.
The impact of the raid was and continues to be gigantic. Mothers were separated from their children, husbands from their wife. No one knew what was going on, except that life changed tremendously in just one second.
This is the other side of the immigration debate, and of the enforcement of immigration laws. The political side has received a lot of attention in recent months, now it is time for the human, emotional side. Laws influence people’s lives. Sometimes for the better, in this case clearly for the worse.
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Not clearly worse in my view, it’s not like these families did not know they were illegal. Give it a week or two and they’ll be back – just in another location.
I don’t have any problem with families putting it on the line to better themselves and in many cases – simply provide. It is a situation I can fully understand and empathize with, for in most cases – taking the risks is all that they can do. But that does not mean that the United States needs to subsidize or turn a blind eye to those that are breaking the law.
This is an area Bush had right, you have to combine enforcement with reasonable laws – for as long as it’s cheaper and easier to do it illegally than legally – people will opt for illegally. Congress has – once again – failed.
I’m sorry. I get sick and tired of hearing about people demanding sympathy for criminals. They knowingly and willingly violated the law. The majority that came here illegally knew that there was a high level of risk and now it’s time to pay the piper. Where is all the outrage that so many illegals have entered the country? Where is the outrage calling for sympathy if one of these illegals commits a violent crime? I speak from a Point of complete disgust over this. My mother LEGALLY immegrated to the US from the UK. She had to marry my dad FOUR times to appease every segment and STILL had to go through 20 YEARS of tests, questionaires background checks and harassment before she was granted citizenship. She had to renounce her citizenship to the UK (with decendancy to the throne) to come to the US and all these illegals are whining about how unjustly they’re being treated? Spare me the sanctimonium. They should thank whatever diety they believe in for not being killed tortured and imprisoned as potential invaders or subversives as they would be in their originating countries.
The United States is a great place, a great nation. But as with any other place, you break the law, you pay the consequences.
Illegal immigrants should return to their own country so they will not live in fear. They have to obey the laws of our land. This is our country and we have to have laws in order to keep order. They have no right to disobey our laws and keep their children in fear.
"The impact of the raid was and continues to be gigantic. Mothers were separated from their children, husbands from their wife. No one knew what was going on, except that life changed tremendously in just one second."
ICE handled this in a very humanitarian way! About 100 of those arrested were allowed to wear tracking devices so they could leave and attend to their children and take care of any medical needs instead of just being incarcerated. They will appear before a judge at a later time. These people were not arrested for over staying a visa or crossing the border illegally. They were arrested for felonies, identity theft and forged documents. Martha Stewart is a multimillionaire legal citizen that did jail time and had to wear a tracking device because she committed a felony. I have no sympathy for those that break our laws and get caught and punished. I only hope that ICE nailed some of the greedy employers that certainly knew illegal aliens were working for them.
I was going to also disagree with Michael, but the other comments pretty much sum up my views.
I’ll also say this: plenty of these illegal immigrants are decent, hardworking, people that contribute a lot to society. So I wish they would apply that work ethic to building up their own countries, rather than fleeing them.
If more raids like this happen, maybe Mexico will realize that they have to seriously crack down on corruption and overpopulation, not just take the easier route of exporting all their problems to the United States to deal with.
That is the best news yet. Great job ICE. Their women and children dont bother me at all. They should never have brought them here or had them here in the first place. Where are the husbands?? Arrest them to if they care enough about the wives to visit them.
I keep reading about respecting their rights. WHAT RIGHTS. They are here illegally. They are felons. They have no rights,,NONE what so ever NONE.
Illegal mothers pregnant. No you are kidding. Ship them back before the anchors are born. We dont need any more anchor babies.
I think you can see that you’re not going to generate a lot of sympathy for the poor illegals who enter the US and depress wages while running up American’s health care and education bills, Michael.
Another boo-hoo story for people who exhibit criminal behavior and think there should be no consequences or punishment for that actions when caught. The illegals are right to be fearful, as they know they are in the wrong – and ICE is coming. The illegal parents are the ones who have no regard for our laws and make conscious decisions to enter illegally and put their families at risk. They break multiple laws such as identity fraud, social security fraud, driving unlicensed, etc. And we are supposed to feel sorry when they get caught for their criminal activities?? Sorry, not here. It is through their own decisions and actions that THEY are the ones who are causing the break up and separation their own familes. They need to take personal responsibility for their own actions. American governement is not being cruel, but finally enforcing immigration laws. If the illegals had followed the laws, none of this would have happened. Another story said the legal employees applauded as the illegals were taken out in handcuffs. I think that says how Americans feel about the illegal aliens. They need to either go back to their own country or face the possilibility that they will get caught in a raid. Either way, they need to go. God Bless America.
Let’s see what happens to the owners and management of Howard Industries? Will the FBI storm in and handcuff the Howard family? The article stated that the illegals weren’t just smelly Mexicans:
The result: panic? I see it as:
The result: upholding the law.
I feel for the families, however, illegals that raise a family here knowingly put their family in this predicament. Shame on them for breaking the law, and putting their families in this situation.
now it is time for the human, emotional side?
No, that time has passed. That emotion should have been part of the decision process when the illegals decided to com here in the first place. (I.E. Do I want to risk ripping my family apart by coming the the US illegally) If you weigh the risks, and roll the dice, you get what you get.
Ice just folded a month-long program where 457,000 illegal immigrants could voluntarily turn themselves in and get up to 90 days to “self-deport”. They could use tht time to make financial arrangements, set up travel arrangements, and get things straight with their friends and families.
Want to know how many illegal immigrants took advantage of our generosity?
Eight.
To second what Tully said, Michael you can see this issue generates a lot of heat in the US. You can also see why McCain "flip-flopped" on immigration. Of course, my take on the flop is more along the lines of "Well that’s definitely not going to work. Let see if a harder line on enforcement can something through regarding changing the status quo".
I’ve said before I’m pretty liberal in my views on immigration. I believe it’s a net benefit to the US. (And I know all of the counter- arguments/angry screeds to that viewpoint). Having said that I understand that when ICE identifies someone illegally in this country, that they will enforce the law.
I would also say that as a Republican I believe the party has missed a great opportunity. Hispanic citizens are, I believe, naturally inclined toward a conservative view of government (i.e. don’t expect much from the government, concerned about family, generally church going etc.) Hispanic citizens also tend not to see immigration as the most important issues. However, the "heat" around the immigration discussion tends, IMHO, to push hispanic voters away from the republican party. And the dems are politically smart and lay relatively low so that the republicans get the heat.
It’s always time for people to look at the human aspect but for leaders to look out for the interest of those they lead. I don’t care to pull the swithch but I feel some criminals earned the death penalty. I don’t want to send our military to war but sometime it is necessary. Many illegals are good people and they are acting in their own best interest and it is not the best interest on America so it’s time for our leaders to get the emotion out of the way of doing the right thing for the country. Get them out of here!
I’m also fairly liberal on my views for legal immigration. You know that I was also for the repeal of the HIV travel/immigration restrictions. I think that as long as someone can prove they’ll provide something in way of work to the U.S., they should be heavily considered for immigration rights.
That said, illegal is illegal (in most cases). Most illegals that are here should be returned home. Yet, I also know that rounding up 20 million people is impossible. So, cut off social benefits, and perhaps they’ll do the job themselves.
I also think there are a few cases where exceptions could be made; ie, when the person has shown exceptional loyalty to the U.S. I’ve read about a couple cases recently of this where I could sympathize.
Yet, mostly, illegal is illegal. Can’t find it in me to really sympathize much here.
I see people are still at it. "I think for the most part, illegals are good people". No, they are not, they are here illegally. that means they are NOT obeying laws. that makes them BAD people.
Yes others may pipe p and say " You know, even our First President was an immigrant". Yes he was, but he as still here legally in the colonial US. The General consensus seems to be " if you are here legally, Cool, we will assist you where possible, but if you are here ILLEGALLY, we will hunt you down and enforce the law"
Illegal is illegal. Legal immigrants and American citizens come and join http://www.alipac.com. We need everyone who believes in closing the border to help us achieve this sooner than later.
"They were arrested for felonies, identity theft and forged documents."
This really is the bottom line here. We need stricter laws against identity theft. As of now, most states have their own laws determining the degree of the felony and the punishment. The Feds should set the bar, and set it high. If you’re caught using and possessing, 5 years minimum. If you’re caught providing, 30 years minimum.
Bob. I feel it is still the states responsibility, why not have the / A State(s) set the bar high? One of the Federal "solutions" of recent years in this regard, has been the RealID act. I am not a fan of that Federal option.
I’m not a fan of the RealID act, the Patriot act or nearly any other Govt. act. But as long as we have the Patriot act, we may as well use it wisely. I live in Rhode Island, population a little over 1 million. Its reported that we may have up to 100,000 illegals here..nearly 10%. The Providence Diocese Bishop came out last week and recommended State workers should use disretion based on faith over law when deporting illegals. It turns out, a large portion of his parishners are illegals that asked for help, not to mention the money the church will lose if they are deported. Nobody (state level) wants to be the bad guy, but the reality is nothing gets done because of politics and fear of alienating the latino vote. Can Identify theft be tied to the Patriot Act due to "terrorism"? I say, absolutely..let it be done. The majority of Federal Legisltation being passed for Identity theft is to protect the consumers and lenders, but the fact remains it is bad for the economy. Also, I’m not totally opposed to changing the laws regarding the illegals already here… give them some type of green status and let them be counted. I can’t blame them for wanting to be here, its the greatest country in the world.
Bob, I do agree with you on the presence of the problem you mention that church. (I am in Mass. and the same is true here). But there are laws on the books already. I think this has already been mentioned, but a better solution would be for the states to hold employers more accountable (through heavy fines or imprisonment) and for the states to not give out benefits of any kind to these illegals. I think using this method, as well as the ICE raids, and other current state initiatives, most of them would leave on their own.
I agree with Jay_C. There should be heavy fines on the employers as well. Knowing that these guys are illegal immigrants and making them work for themselves make them equally guilty.
This is demand and supply issue at the end. All these immigrants going to US with hope of employment and new life would not take the risk at all if they knew that there was no demand.
When Hazleton Pennsylvania tried to crack down on immigration by holding companies and landlords responsible, a US Federal Judge set precedence and ordered it unconstitutional. Constitutionally, the Judge may have gotten the call right, protecting their civil rights, so..I hate to say, this could only be handled on the Federal level.
I can’t argue with the judgement of the Federal Judge, he did what he did.
However, correct me if I’m wrong, I’m not a lawyer or a judge but to me this is 2 different issues.
1) I believe simply that employers and all US citizens when they do something illegal (such as hire someone that is illegal) have the right to due process, a speedy and public trial, The right to Remain Silent, The Right to be Free from Unreasonable Searches and Seizures, and The Right to Advocate for Change. Other than that, I’m not sure what else there is for citizens that break the law? (I’ve never been read my Miranda Rights, so I may be missing a few there) 2) The discovery of illegals while investigating an employer that illegally hired the illegals, yes, that should be a should be (and already is) a Federal issue (where ICE sweeps in and does their thing). But, to me, cracking down on any illegal act at the state or local level, (in this case, hiring illegals) should not be hindered. How is an employee breaking the law protected?
Sorry, How is an employer breaking the law protected?
Jay_C.. I do agree with you. I think States should have more power than they do, regarding nearly everything. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case, States Rights have eroded drastically and the Feds pull rank every chance they can. Now keep in mind, the topic we were discussing was Identity Theft. Each State has it’s own laws regarding the penalty, but no State is powerful enough to stop illegal immigration without violating someone’s civil liberties. Therefore, in my opinion, I think the Federal Government should address the issue through harsher Identity Theft penalties to deter future violators.
BTW. I read in a post you were a Ron P. supporter.. He’s got my vote in November.