Group forms in response to Lansing-area ICE raids
Members hope to raise awareness, funds for families
Kevin Grasha, kgrasha@lsj.com
November 21, 2008
Lansing State Journal
EAST LANSING - During four days last month, federal officers conducted raids in the Lansing area, arresting 64 people suspected of being in the U.S. illegally.
A group calling itself the No Human Is Illegal Network formed after the raids in part to help the families affected.
That group wants more people to know what's happening, and that families of undocumented workers are being torn apart.
"They come here because they just want to work," said Maximo Anguiano, a retired Lansing firefighter and member of the No Human Is Illegal Network. "And most of them pay taxes."
Anguiano was one of about 25 people who gathered Thursday at the East Lansing Public Library night for an event partly intended to raise money for the families.
"A lot of times, the main breadwinner of the family is arrested," said Nikhil Sonnad, who heads Amplifx, a social change advocacy organization that helped put together Thursday night's event. "The rest of the family, even if they are legal, they rely on that money."
Organizers showed "Crossing Arizona," which depicts how people risk their lives to find work in this country.
During last month's raids, authorities said 40 of the total arrested were fugitives, meaning a judge had ordered that they be returned to their home country, but they fled. They now are being detained and awaiting deportation, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Mike Gilhooly.
The other 24 are believed to be in the U.S. illegally, Gilhooly said.
Anguiano described how one of the 64 people arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers last month was taken as he played with his 12-year-old son. Anguiano said the man, who was reportedly working, was arrested on suspicion of being an undocumented immigrant.
He is still being held in a detention facility in Detroit, Anguiano said.
http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20081121/NEWS01/811210325/1001/NEWS
