111 Arrested in Florida Immigration Raid
Nov 09, 2008
New American Media
MIAMI - Two days after immigrant rights groups in southern Florida sent a letter asking president-elect Barack Obama to intervene and curb immigration raids, ICE announced the arrest of 111 undocumented immigrants in a new Florida raid, Univision reports. The five-day operation was carried out in Miami, Broward, Palm Beach, Orlando, Tampa and surrounding areas. Those arrested in Florida are from Argentina, Brazil, China, Colombia, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Philippines, Tunisia, Romania and Venezuela. Of the 111 arrested, 69 remain in ICE custody of ICE and 42 were released on parole.
On Thursday, Florida activists called for a moratorium on raids until Congress passes an immigration reform bill that includes a path to legalization. The office of the president-elect responded, saying that "our position is well-known" and that his commitment “to immigration reform and all the important issues for Latinos in the U.S. still stands."
ICE teams will continue to seek out and detain "foreigners who have ignored a judge's order to leave the country," said Michael Rozos, director of ICE in Florida.
During fiscal year 2008 (Oct. 1, 2007 to Sept. 30, 2008) ICE deported nearly 350,000 immigrants, the majority of them of Latin American origin. The figure represents an 20 percent increase over the number deported in fiscal year 2007.
http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=023baa26afb181beaef5e956369f7eeb
