Still reeling from ICE raids
By Erin Schultz
September 25, 2008
The Suffolk Times
Spanish Mass at St. Agnes in Greenport was packed as usual last Saturday night, filled with people praying and singing, restless children laughing and cranky babies crying.
But afterward, a young woman panicked. Earlier, she'd agreed to describe to The Suffolk Times what she'd been through over the past year -- a year spent raising an 8-year-old son without the support of her brother-in-law, nephew and cousin.
But when it came time to talk, tears welled up. She changed her mind and declined to comment.
According to Sister Margaret Smyth, director of the North Fork Spanish Apostolate, the pain and anxiety caused by last year's surprise raids in Greenport by federal Immigration and Customs
Enforcement agents is still strong for many in the North Fork's Latino community.
So is the fear of being raided again.
According to a March 2007 assessment of ICE's Fugitive Operations Teams, released by the Department of Homeland Security, the quota of arrests that each team was required to meet has risen from 125 in 2003 to 1,000 in 2007.
Melinda Rubin, a Hamptons-based immigration attorney, said she's seen the frequency of early-morning raids intensify within the last two years, not only in New York, but all across the country.
Ms. Rubin explained how ICE raids work. "The trigger is someone who's on probation and hasn't shown up to court," she said. "Then the probation department will notify immigration, and the word gets out. They often are looking for only one person with a criminal record or someone with a deportment order. Other people get caught up. It's raid first, ask questions later, and [legal] people suffer as well."
http://www2.timesreview.com/ST/stories/T092508_ICE_ES
