Agencia efe / Guatemala
La Opinión
2011-10-02
Las autoridades migratorias de México y Estados Unidos han deportado a 45,615 indocumentados guatemaltecos en lo que va del 2011, informó una fuente oficial.
Según la Dirección General de Migración (DGM) de Guatemala, desde el 1 de enero al 21 de septiembre, México deportó a 23,401 inmigrantes guatemaltecos que iban de paso hacia Estados Unidos.
Durante todo el 2010, las autoridades mexicanas deportaron a 28,090 indocumentados de este país centroamericano, precisa la información oficial publicada en su página de internet.
Mientras que Estados Unidos ha deportado en el 2011 a 22,214 guatemaltecos, la mayoría de ellos (20,366) hombres.
En 2010, las autoridades migratorias estadounidenses deportaron a un total de 27,222 indocumentados hacia Guatemala.
http://www.impre.com/laopinion/noticias/latinoamerica/2011/10/2/mexico-y-eeuu-deportan-guatema-275129-1.html
Showing posts with label Central Americans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Central Americans. Show all posts
Monday, October 3, 2011
Friday, August 26, 2011
Cerca de 27.000 hondureños han sido deportados de EE.UU. y México en 2011
Por Agencia EFE
25 Agosto 2011
Tegucigalpa, 24 ago (EFE).- Unos 26.985 hondureños han sido deportados de Estados Unidos y México en lo que va de 2011, informó hoy la directora del no gubernamental Centro de Atención al Migrante en Tegucigalpa, Valdette Willeman.
Willeman detalló a periodistas que solamente de EE.UU. han sido deportados por vía aérea unos 13.985 hondureños, en su mayoría hombres, en tanto que por tierra, procedentes de México, han retornado unos 13.000.
Willeman indicó que de Estados Unidos están llegando cinco vuelos semanales y que no cree que la voluntad política del presidente de ese país, Barack Obama, de reducir las deportaciones de inmigrantes, favorezca mucho a los hondureños.
El pasado lunes llegaron tres vuelos del Servicio de Inmigración de EE.UU. con 130 personas cada uno, manifestó la directora del Centro de Atención al Migrante.
Las autoridades de Tegucigalpa calculan que en Estados Unidos viven un poco más de un millón de hondureños, entre residentes legales e indocumentados, que anualmente envían remesas por más 2.000 millones de dólares.
En promedio cada año son deportados entre 25.000 y 30.000 hondureños de Estados Unidos y México, cifra inferior a los que salen de manera ilegal, alrededor de unos 3.000 cada mes, en busca de una oportunidad de trabajo.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/epa/article/ALeqM5hHHY_UG2D82lVP9qGS8SFsz8XS7g?docId=1593712
25 Agosto 2011
Tegucigalpa, 24 ago (EFE).- Unos 26.985 hondureños han sido deportados de Estados Unidos y México en lo que va de 2011, informó hoy la directora del no gubernamental Centro de Atención al Migrante en Tegucigalpa, Valdette Willeman.
Willeman detalló a periodistas que solamente de EE.UU. han sido deportados por vía aérea unos 13.985 hondureños, en su mayoría hombres, en tanto que por tierra, procedentes de México, han retornado unos 13.000.
Willeman indicó que de Estados Unidos están llegando cinco vuelos semanales y que no cree que la voluntad política del presidente de ese país, Barack Obama, de reducir las deportaciones de inmigrantes, favorezca mucho a los hondureños.
El pasado lunes llegaron tres vuelos del Servicio de Inmigración de EE.UU. con 130 personas cada uno, manifestó la directora del Centro de Atención al Migrante.
Las autoridades de Tegucigalpa calculan que en Estados Unidos viven un poco más de un millón de hondureños, entre residentes legales e indocumentados, que anualmente envían remesas por más 2.000 millones de dólares.
En promedio cada año son deportados entre 25.000 y 30.000 hondureños de Estados Unidos y México, cifra inferior a los que salen de manera ilegal, alrededor de unos 3.000 cada mes, en busca de una oportunidad de trabajo.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/epa/article/ALeqM5hHHY_UG2D82lVP9qGS8SFsz8XS7g?docId=1593712
Monday, June 27, 2011
Man suing government over raid at 7-Eleven fled to U.S. because of death threat;Immigration officials say lawsuit should be thrown out & man deported
By Nick Madigan
The Baltimore Sun
June 25, 2011
Sitting on a bus in Honduras in 2002, Denis Alvarez Alvarado says he overheard two men in front of him discussing how he was going to die.
Unaware that he was there, the men said that members of a gang called MS3 — who had kidnapped Alvarez a few days earlier, beaten him and eventually released him — intended to silence him so that he would not tell police about the abduction.
"I left Honduras because I was afraid that MS3 members would kill me," Alvarez, now 32, says in court documents drawn up in his legal fight against the U.S. government to avoid deportation to his native country. "I fear that if I return the MS3 gang will have me killed."
On Jan. 23, 2007, Alvarez, who had arrived in the U.S. without documentation, was arrested by immigration agents outside a 7-Eleven store in Upper Fells Point. A judge ordered him deported, but he is still here. Four years after his release on bail, he remains embroiled in a legal war as both defendant and plaintiff, and the battle could go on for years.
One of Alvarez's legal cases is the effort by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to deport him, and the other is his lawsuit against the federal government, claiming that his constitutional rights were violated because he was targeted as a Latino. He seeks a half-million dollars in damages.
What seemed a routine matter of rounding up illegal immigrants has become a test of the government's ability to force a man to return to a place in which, he says, he could die.
The raid in which Alvarez and others were arrested left Baltimore's Latino community angry. Human rights activists, politicians and representatives of Casa de Maryland, an advocacy group, accused federal immigration agents of racial profiling.
Attorneys for the ICE declined to comment, and court documents contain no references, other than Alvarez's own, to his claim that his life would be in danger should he be forced to go home. Alvarez's lawyers were silent, too. Alvarez, whose 11-year-old son was born in the U.S., says in court documents that he is the sole source of financial support for his father, who is in Honduras, disabled and using a wheelchair.
In documents Alvarez filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, he explained the events that had prompted his departure from Honduras. He had lived in Choluteca, the country's fourth-largest city, in a neighborhood called El Porvenir that he said was "known to belong to a gang called 18."
Alvarez wrote that in October 2002 he was kidnapped by members of MS3, a rival gang from the Santa Lucia neighborhood. "The MS3 gang falsely believed that I was a member of 18," he said. "I tried telling them that I was not a gang member and that I had no connections to 18 or any other gang. However, they did not believe me."
For two days he was kept in a room, he said, beaten and deprived of food and with only a single bottle of water. Alvarez's father, Santos, whom he described as "respected in the community," convinced MS3 that his son had no connection to the rival gang.
Alvarez was released. Several days later, he was riding a bus to work when he overheard the chilling conversation between the two men and the death threat. He fled to the U.S. and worked as a day laborer in Baltimore, where the 7-Eleven parking lot on Broadway was a popular spot to pick up workers.
In an interview at his East Baltimore home in November, Alvarez said the agents had "grabbed me unjustly" during the roundup in 2007. Alvarez said he was waiting for a man who had promised to hire him as a painter but decided to go home when the man failed to show up. Alvarez said that as he was leaving, a van appeared and the men inside — who turned out to be federal agents — solicited the crowd for construction workers.
In the lawsuit, Alvarez said that as he walked away, a second vehicle blocked his exit and men emerged wearing holstered guns. Alvarez was arrested, held for several days in the Dorchester County jail and released on $10,000 bail.
Alvarez said in court documents that the ICE's Fugitive Operations Team had arrested him "based on nothing more than his race."
A response filed by the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the ICE, said members of its fugitive team went to the 7-Eleven only to get food and coffee, and had not planned to arrest anyone as part of a raid.
An immigration judge overseeing Alvarez's appeal of his deportation said the officers "were not forthcoming" about the arrests. The judge said it was "implausible" that the officers "went to the store to purchase food and coffee," considering the "nearly immediate arrival of two additional ICE vehicles." He admonished the officers for their "complete lack of candor to the court" and said they had misrepresented to the laborers "that they were seeking to hire them for casual employment."
But the judge determined that the officers had not violated Alvarez's rights and ordered him deported, though he may remain here while he appeals.
Other documents filed in the case suggest that immigration agents were determined to boost their arrest numbers. An internal DHS administrative report says that after the officers had detained nine people earlier on the day of Alvarez's arrest, a supervisor ordered the team "back into the field and make additional arrests."
According to the report, the supervisor said they "needed more numbers." Newshttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif accounts of the raid indicated that out of 24 people arrested, eight had been previously deported and six had criminal records. Alvarez has no such record.
Warren Price, an Annapolis immigration attorney who is not involved in Alvarez's case, said it was rare for a roundup of illegal immigrants to result in such a drawn-out legal battle. Alvarez is represented by the Immigrant Justice Center, based at American University's Washington College of Law.
"These constitutional violations against members of the undocumented population happen all the time, but you rarely see these types of lawsuits in response," Price said. "Usually they just get deported."
www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/bs-md-alvarez-raid-20110613,0,2065062.story
The Baltimore Sun
June 25, 2011
Sitting on a bus in Honduras in 2002, Denis Alvarez Alvarado says he overheard two men in front of him discussing how he was going to die.
Unaware that he was there, the men said that members of a gang called MS3 — who had kidnapped Alvarez a few days earlier, beaten him and eventually released him — intended to silence him so that he would not tell police about the abduction.
"I left Honduras because I was afraid that MS3 members would kill me," Alvarez, now 32, says in court documents drawn up in his legal fight against the U.S. government to avoid deportation to his native country. "I fear that if I return the MS3 gang will have me killed."
On Jan. 23, 2007, Alvarez, who had arrived in the U.S. without documentation, was arrested by immigration agents outside a 7-Eleven store in Upper Fells Point. A judge ordered him deported, but he is still here. Four years after his release on bail, he remains embroiled in a legal war as both defendant and plaintiff, and the battle could go on for years.
One of Alvarez's legal cases is the effort by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to deport him, and the other is his lawsuit against the federal government, claiming that his constitutional rights were violated because he was targeted as a Latino. He seeks a half-million dollars in damages.
What seemed a routine matter of rounding up illegal immigrants has become a test of the government's ability to force a man to return to a place in which, he says, he could die.
The raid in which Alvarez and others were arrested left Baltimore's Latino community angry. Human rights activists, politicians and representatives of Casa de Maryland, an advocacy group, accused federal immigration agents of racial profiling.
Attorneys for the ICE declined to comment, and court documents contain no references, other than Alvarez's own, to his claim that his life would be in danger should he be forced to go home. Alvarez's lawyers were silent, too. Alvarez, whose 11-year-old son was born in the U.S., says in court documents that he is the sole source of financial support for his father, who is in Honduras, disabled and using a wheelchair.
In documents Alvarez filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, he explained the events that had prompted his departure from Honduras. He had lived in Choluteca, the country's fourth-largest city, in a neighborhood called El Porvenir that he said was "known to belong to a gang called 18."
Alvarez wrote that in October 2002 he was kidnapped by members of MS3, a rival gang from the Santa Lucia neighborhood. "The MS3 gang falsely believed that I was a member of 18," he said. "I tried telling them that I was not a gang member and that I had no connections to 18 or any other gang. However, they did not believe me."
For two days he was kept in a room, he said, beaten and deprived of food and with only a single bottle of water. Alvarez's father, Santos, whom he described as "respected in the community," convinced MS3 that his son had no connection to the rival gang.
Alvarez was released. Several days later, he was riding a bus to work when he overheard the chilling conversation between the two men and the death threat. He fled to the U.S. and worked as a day laborer in Baltimore, where the 7-Eleven parking lot on Broadway was a popular spot to pick up workers.
In an interview at his East Baltimore home in November, Alvarez said the agents had "grabbed me unjustly" during the roundup in 2007. Alvarez said he was waiting for a man who had promised to hire him as a painter but decided to go home when the man failed to show up. Alvarez said that as he was leaving, a van appeared and the men inside — who turned out to be federal agents — solicited the crowd for construction workers.
In the lawsuit, Alvarez said that as he walked away, a second vehicle blocked his exit and men emerged wearing holstered guns. Alvarez was arrested, held for several days in the Dorchester County jail and released on $10,000 bail.
Alvarez said in court documents that the ICE's Fugitive Operations Team had arrested him "based on nothing more than his race."
A response filed by the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the ICE, said members of its fugitive team went to the 7-Eleven only to get food and coffee, and had not planned to arrest anyone as part of a raid.
An immigration judge overseeing Alvarez's appeal of his deportation said the officers "were not forthcoming" about the arrests. The judge said it was "implausible" that the officers "went to the store to purchase food and coffee," considering the "nearly immediate arrival of two additional ICE vehicles." He admonished the officers for their "complete lack of candor to the court" and said they had misrepresented to the laborers "that they were seeking to hire them for casual employment."
But the judge determined that the officers had not violated Alvarez's rights and ordered him deported, though he may remain here while he appeals.
Other documents filed in the case suggest that immigration agents were determined to boost their arrest numbers. An internal DHS administrative report says that after the officers had detained nine people earlier on the day of Alvarez's arrest, a supervisor ordered the team "back into the field and make additional arrests."
According to the report, the supervisor said they "needed more numbers." Newshttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif accounts of the raid indicated that out of 24 people arrested, eight had been previously deported and six had criminal records. Alvarez has no such record.
Warren Price, an Annapolis immigration attorney who is not involved in Alvarez's case, said it was rare for a roundup of illegal immigrants to result in such a drawn-out legal battle. Alvarez is represented by the Immigrant Justice Center, based at American University's Washington College of Law.
"These constitutional violations against members of the undocumented population happen all the time, but you rarely see these types of lawsuits in response," Price said. "Usually they just get deported."
www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/bs-md-alvarez-raid-20110613,0,2065062.story
Friday, June 10, 2011
Más de 16 mil hondureños han sido deportados de EE.UU. en lo que va del año
La Tribuna
6 junio, 2011
TEGUCIGALPA.- Las autoridades del Centro de Atención al Migrante Retornado (CAMR), informaron que en lo que va del año más de 16 mil hondureños fueron deportados de los Estados Unidos. De estos, 8,563 regresaron vía aérea y 7,796 vía terrestre, en su mayoría hombres, seguido de mujeres y niños.
Según la directora del Centro de Atención al Migrante Retornado (CAMR), Sor Valdete Willemann, la cifra ha bajado en un 1 por ciento en comparación con el año pasado. No obstante, no puede asegurar que esta condición persista en el transcurso del 2011.
“Si la Ley de Arizona se aplica en otros Estados, esperaríamos más deportados”, advirtió.
Una de las situaciones que mantiene preocupadas a las autoridades hondureñas es que cada semana llegan entre seis a 12 buses repletos de inmigrantes deportados desde México.
Willemann anunció que el miercoles, a las 9:00, unos 135 hondureños arribarán al aeropuerto “Ramón Villeda Morales”, en San Pedro Sula y que otro tanto lo hará a las 10:30 en el aeropuerto Toncontín.
NIÑOS
Por su parte el director de Casa Alianza, Manuel Capellin, indicó que el número de niños que regresan en bus al país cada semana asciende a 40. Este sale cada semana desde Tapachula, México, a las 3:00 de la mañana y llega a la aduana Corinto, entre Honduras y Guatemala, a las 5:00 de la tarde del mismo día.
“En la frontera hay un equipo de Casa Alianza que los está esperando, pero siempre estamos con la frustración de que muchos de esos niños se bajan del bus y empiezan a caminar hacia el norte, y vuelven a Guatemala”, comentó Capellin.
“Esta es una situación muy compleja que tiene que ver con muchas cosas, como desintegración en la familia, abusos, búsqueda de mejores oportunidades. Muchas veces son niños que dicen bueno mi mamá o abuelita está sola y yo las voy a ayudar”.
Capellin pidió a la directora del Instituto Hondureño de la Niñez y la Familia (Ihnfa), Suyapa Núnez, que enfoque una política de relaciones exteriores basada en la protección y en la defensa de los niños migrantes, que se calculan en ocho mil cada año, aproximadamente.
http://www.latribuna.hn/2011/06/06/mas-de-16-mil-hondurenos-han-sido-deportados-de-ee-uu-en-lo-que-va-del-ano/
6 junio, 2011
TEGUCIGALPA.- Las autoridades del Centro de Atención al Migrante Retornado (CAMR), informaron que en lo que va del año más de 16 mil hondureños fueron deportados de los Estados Unidos. De estos, 8,563 regresaron vía aérea y 7,796 vía terrestre, en su mayoría hombres, seguido de mujeres y niños.
Según la directora del Centro de Atención al Migrante Retornado (CAMR), Sor Valdete Willemann, la cifra ha bajado en un 1 por ciento en comparación con el año pasado. No obstante, no puede asegurar que esta condición persista en el transcurso del 2011.
“Si la Ley de Arizona se aplica en otros Estados, esperaríamos más deportados”, advirtió.
Una de las situaciones que mantiene preocupadas a las autoridades hondureñas es que cada semana llegan entre seis a 12 buses repletos de inmigrantes deportados desde México.
Willemann anunció que el miercoles, a las 9:00, unos 135 hondureños arribarán al aeropuerto “Ramón Villeda Morales”, en San Pedro Sula y que otro tanto lo hará a las 10:30 en el aeropuerto Toncontín.
NIÑOS
Por su parte el director de Casa Alianza, Manuel Capellin, indicó que el número de niños que regresan en bus al país cada semana asciende a 40. Este sale cada semana desde Tapachula, México, a las 3:00 de la mañana y llega a la aduana Corinto, entre Honduras y Guatemala, a las 5:00 de la tarde del mismo día.
“En la frontera hay un equipo de Casa Alianza que los está esperando, pero siempre estamos con la frustración de que muchos de esos niños se bajan del bus y empiezan a caminar hacia el norte, y vuelven a Guatemala”, comentó Capellin.
“Esta es una situación muy compleja que tiene que ver con muchas cosas, como desintegración en la familia, abusos, búsqueda de mejores oportunidades. Muchas veces son niños que dicen bueno mi mamá o abuelita está sola y yo las voy a ayudar”.
Capellin pidió a la directora del Instituto Hondureño de la Niñez y la Familia (Ihnfa), Suyapa Núnez, que enfoque una política de relaciones exteriores basada en la protección y en la defensa de los niños migrantes, que se calculan en ocho mil cada año, aproximadamente.
http://www.latribuna.hn/2011/06/06/mas-de-16-mil-hondurenos-han-sido-deportados-de-ee-uu-en-lo-que-va-del-ano/
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Obama Calls for an Economic Cure for Illegal Immigration
By JACKIE CALMES
The New York Times
March 22, 2011
SAN SALVADOR — President Obama ended his three-nation Latin American tour on Tuesday with a visit to El Salvador, a source of one of the largest immigrant groups in the United States, and agreed with its president that “the best strategy” for curbing illegal immigration was to create economic growth in the region.
Mr. Obama, in a private meeting and a subsequent news conference with El Salvador’s president, Mauricio Funes, said he remained committed to seeking a comprehensive overhaul of immigration law that both enhances American border security and provides a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who have lived for years in the United States and have jobs and families.
But that legislative goal, which Mr. Obama shelved in his first two years in office as he focused on the economy and overhauling the health-insurance system, is moribund now that Republicans, who oppose a citizenship process, have taken control of the House. In the news conference, Mr. Obama noted that some Republicans, including his 2008 presidential rival, Senator John McCain of Arizona, previously supported a comprehensive approach.
“My hope,” he said, “is that they begin to recognize over the next year that we can’t solve this problem without taking a broad, comprehensive approach” — a prospect that is not considered at all likely as the 2012 elections approach. “The politics of this are difficult,” Mr. Obama conceded, “but ultimately I am confident that we are going to get it done.”
Mr. Obama, summarizing the leaders’ private meeting, said, “President Funes is committed to creating more economic opportunities here in El Salvador so that people don’t feel like they have to head north to provide for their families,” or “join a criminal drug network” in order to stay in the country.
But unlike in Brazil and Chile, Mr. Obama’s first two stops and countries with growing economies, El Salvador has had low rates of economic growth in the past decade and drug-related crime has flourished. The two presidents outlined ways in which El Salvador and the United States were working as partners with other nations in the hemisphere — from Canada to Chile — to address drug trafficking and economic development, including by involving the private sector in job-creation efforts.
It is estimated that more than two million people from El Salvador are now in the United States, legally and illegally. That is equal to about a third of this country’s current population, underscoring the scale of migration north in the three decades since the civil war of the 1980s began here, a conflict in which the United States backed the rightist government against the leftist rebels.
Before an official dinner, Mr. Obama visited the Metropolitan Cathedral, which holds the tomb of Archbishop Óscar Romero, who was assassinated in 1980 and is now a national hero.
Mr. Obama had planned to visit the crypt on Wednesday, the eve of the anniversary of the assassination, but moved it up so he could return to Washington a couple of hours earlier. He will return to the United States after a conference call with his national security team about the conflict in Libya, which has overshadowed the trip to Latin America.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: March 23, 2011
An earlier version of this article misstated the date of the anniversary of Archbishop Óscar Romero’s assassination. The anniversary is March 24; President Obama’s planned visit to the crypt on Wednesday would have fallen on the eve of the anniversary, not the anniversary itself.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/23/world/americas/23prexy.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha24
The New York Times
March 22, 2011
SAN SALVADOR — President Obama ended his three-nation Latin American tour on Tuesday with a visit to El Salvador, a source of one of the largest immigrant groups in the United States, and agreed with its president that “the best strategy” for curbing illegal immigration was to create economic growth in the region.
Mr. Obama, in a private meeting and a subsequent news conference with El Salvador’s president, Mauricio Funes, said he remained committed to seeking a comprehensive overhaul of immigration law that both enhances American border security and provides a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who have lived for years in the United States and have jobs and families.
But that legislative goal, which Mr. Obama shelved in his first two years in office as he focused on the economy and overhauling the health-insurance system, is moribund now that Republicans, who oppose a citizenship process, have taken control of the House. In the news conference, Mr. Obama noted that some Republicans, including his 2008 presidential rival, Senator John McCain of Arizona, previously supported a comprehensive approach.
“My hope,” he said, “is that they begin to recognize over the next year that we can’t solve this problem without taking a broad, comprehensive approach” — a prospect that is not considered at all likely as the 2012 elections approach. “The politics of this are difficult,” Mr. Obama conceded, “but ultimately I am confident that we are going to get it done.”
Mr. Obama, summarizing the leaders’ private meeting, said, “President Funes is committed to creating more economic opportunities here in El Salvador so that people don’t feel like they have to head north to provide for their families,” or “join a criminal drug network” in order to stay in the country.
But unlike in Brazil and Chile, Mr. Obama’s first two stops and countries with growing economies, El Salvador has had low rates of economic growth in the past decade and drug-related crime has flourished. The two presidents outlined ways in which El Salvador and the United States were working as partners with other nations in the hemisphere — from Canada to Chile — to address drug trafficking and economic development, including by involving the private sector in job-creation efforts.
It is estimated that more than two million people from El Salvador are now in the United States, legally and illegally. That is equal to about a third of this country’s current population, underscoring the scale of migration north in the three decades since the civil war of the 1980s began here, a conflict in which the United States backed the rightist government against the leftist rebels.
Before an official dinner, Mr. Obama visited the Metropolitan Cathedral, which holds the tomb of Archbishop Óscar Romero, who was assassinated in 1980 and is now a national hero.
Mr. Obama had planned to visit the crypt on Wednesday, the eve of the anniversary of the assassination, but moved it up so he could return to Washington a couple of hours earlier. He will return to the United States after a conference call with his national security team about the conflict in Libya, which has overshadowed the trip to Latin America.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: March 23, 2011
An earlier version of this article misstated the date of the anniversary of Archbishop Óscar Romero’s assassination. The anniversary is March 24; President Obama’s planned visit to the crypt on Wednesday would have fallen on the eve of the anniversary, not the anniversary itself.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/23/world/americas/23prexy.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha24
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Immigration raids net people from 5 countries
WJMN.COM
Jan 21, 2011
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — Federal agents arrested 77 people from Mexico and other counties during immigration raids across southwest Lower Michigan.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Detroit field office Director Rebecca Adducci says agents in the Grand Rapids area targeted illegal residents, immigration fugitives and immigration violators during a four-day operation ending late Thursday.
Alducci says agents arrested 41 people from Mexico, 27 from Guatemala, seven from Honduras, and one each from China and Laos.
The Grand Rapids Press says two large-scale fake document operations have been busted in that city over the past 18 months.
Arrests occurred in Kent, Ottawa, Kalamazoo, Mason, Berrien, Calhoun and St. Joseph counties.
Of those arrested, 22 had prior convictions, six had previously been deported and 35 were immigration fugitives who failed to comply with deportation orders.
http://www.wfrv.com/news/michigan/114373974.html
Jan 21, 2011
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — Federal agents arrested 77 people from Mexico and other counties during immigration raids across southwest Lower Michigan.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Detroit field office Director Rebecca Adducci says agents in the Grand Rapids area targeted illegal residents, immigration fugitives and immigration violators during a four-day operation ending late Thursday.
Alducci says agents arrested 41 people from Mexico, 27 from Guatemala, seven from Honduras, and one each from China and Laos.
The Grand Rapids Press says two large-scale fake document operations have been busted in that city over the past 18 months.
Arrests occurred in Kent, Ottawa, Kalamazoo, Mason, Berrien, Calhoun and St. Joseph counties.
Of those arrested, 22 had prior convictions, six had previously been deported and 35 were immigration fugitives who failed to comply with deportation orders.
http://www.wfrv.com/news/michigan/114373974.html
Monday, November 8, 2010
Tens of Thousands of Missing Central American Migrants
By Emilio Godoy
The Inter Press Service
November 7, 2010
MEXICO CITY - The last time Estela Domínguez of Mexico saw her daughter Estela Paz was in April 2006, when the young woman left home with the goal of reaching Las Vegas, Nevada.
Paz, who was 27 at the time, planned to cross the U.S. border at the town of Altar in the northwestern state of Sonora. She was traveling without documents, and with her six-year-old son Emiliano. She was heading back to her job making bracelets.
But she never made it.
"I talked to her on the phone just before she was to cross the border, but I never heard from her again," Domínguez, a supermarket bagger in Córdoba, a city in the southeastern Mexican state of Veracruz, told IPS. "What I want most in the world is for her to come back, and for her children to see her again."
Her grandson survived, and was reunited with his family when the "coyotes" or people smugglers contacted them in the United States. He is now living with his aunt.
Domínguez, 57, joined a protest convoy of 13 members of the Network of Committees of Migrants and Relatives of Honduras (Red COMIFAH), which set out from Honduras on Oct. 26 and reached the Mexican capital on the night of Nov. 3.
The NGO estimates that some 800 Honduran migrants have gone missing over the last decade in Mexico, on their way to the United States.
"We located one Honduran in Tapachula (a Mexican city on the Guatemalan border) and we have information about five other people," the executive secretary of Red COMIFAH, Ian Quiroz, told IPS. "Our main objective is to find the people who are missing and also forge ties with local human rights organizations."
The Honduran NGO is taking part in the Alternative World Forum for Peoples in Movement, Thursday through Saturday in the Mexican capital. Under the slogan "No Human Being Is Illegal", the event has drawn scores of activists from the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa.
The main issues on the agenda of the forum are the promotion and defence of the human rights of migrants, and the key event is an international tribunal that will hold a symbolic trial focusing on eight cases of abuses against foreign migrants committed in different parts of the world.
Some 500,000 undocumented migrants from Central and South America cross Mexico every year in their attempt to reach the United States, according to estimates based on official statistics and figures from NGOs.
Along the way, they face the risk of arbitrary arrest, extortion, theft, assault, rape, kidnapping and murder, at the hands of youth gangs and organized crime, as well as corrupt police and other agents of the state.
Undocumented migrants cross the porous border between Mexico and Guatemala and ride what is known as the "train of death" through the southern states of Chiapas, Tabasco, Oaxaca and Veracruz, the most dangerous areas, before they head northwards towards the U.S. border.
But perhaps the most horrifying face of the phenomenon is the disappearance of migrants. A recent report by the Mexican legislature's committee on population, borders and migration affairs states that more than 60,000 Central and South Americans went missing between 1998 and 2008 in Mexico on their journey to the U.S.
In late August, 72 undocumented migrants from several Central and south American countries were killed on a ranch near the U.S. border in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, presumably by members of Los Zetas, a crime syndicate made up of former elite Mexican army commandos that dominates the kidnapping of undocumented migrants racket.
The massacre destroyed any remaining shred of credibility that Mexico's migration policy might have had.
Names like those of Honduran migrants Junior Espinoza, Carlos Valle, Jorge Osorto and Brayan García have given a face to the tragedy. Fifty of the bodies have been identified, including those of 32 Hondurans, 12 Salvadorans, four Guatemalans, and two Brazilians.
But nothing has changed since the mass killing, according to migrant rights advocates. This week, a train running between Oaxaca and Veracruz, carrying numerous migrants perched on the roof of the wagons as usual, was assaulted and a score of people were kidnapped, Catholic priest Alejandro Solalinde, one of the leading advocates for migrants' rights, complained Thursday.
Solalinde, who runs a shelter for migrants in the state of Oaxaca, said the authorities are still not doing anything to prevent or investigate the frequent kidnappings and assaults.
So far this year, 56,566 undocumented migrants have been detained in their attempt to make it to the United Status. Most of them were from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, according to National Migration Institute (INM) statistics.
"Our chief demand is for the human rights of migrants to be respected," Elvira Arellano, a Mexican representative of Familia Latina Unida Sin Fronteras, a Chicago-based immigrant rights organisation that emerged in 1987, told IPS.
"We've had enough of being seen as the goose that lays the golden egg, because of the remittances we send home. We want solutions," Arellano said.
The 34-year-old Arellano, who lives in the west-central state of Michoacán, became a symbol of the fight for migrant rights after she took refuge for a year in the Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago, Illinois in defiance of a deportation order, to avoid being separated from her U.S.-born son.
She was deported to Mexico in 2007.
Her case, like the murders of the 72 migrants in Tamaulipas, is one of the cases that will be tried by a 20-member jury in the international tribunal, which held a first session Oct. 7-9 in Quito, Ecuador.
"We defend the right to emigrate, and we condemn Mexico's responsibility by omission in the massacre," said Quiroz, whose convoy met Thursday with the members of the congressional committee on population, borders and migration affairs.
The alternative forum was held parallel to the Peoples' Global Action on Migration, Development and Human Rights (PGA), held Tuesday through Friday in Mexico City.
Both events were organized ahead of the Fourth Global Forum on Migration and Development, to take place Nov. 8-11 in the resort city of Puerto Vallarta on Mexico's Pacific coast.
© 2010 Inter Press Service
The Inter Press Service
November 7, 2010
MEXICO CITY - The last time Estela Domínguez of Mexico saw her daughter Estela Paz was in April 2006, when the young woman left home with the goal of reaching Las Vegas, Nevada.
Paz, who was 27 at the time, planned to cross the U.S. border at the town of Altar in the northwestern state of Sonora. She was traveling without documents, and with her six-year-old son Emiliano. She was heading back to her job making bracelets.
But she never made it.
"I talked to her on the phone just before she was to cross the border, but I never heard from her again," Domínguez, a supermarket bagger in Córdoba, a city in the southeastern Mexican state of Veracruz, told IPS. "What I want most in the world is for her to come back, and for her children to see her again."
Her grandson survived, and was reunited with his family when the "coyotes" or people smugglers contacted them in the United States. He is now living with his aunt.
Domínguez, 57, joined a protest convoy of 13 members of the Network of Committees of Migrants and Relatives of Honduras (Red COMIFAH), which set out from Honduras on Oct. 26 and reached the Mexican capital on the night of Nov. 3.
The NGO estimates that some 800 Honduran migrants have gone missing over the last decade in Mexico, on their way to the United States.
"We located one Honduran in Tapachula (a Mexican city on the Guatemalan border) and we have information about five other people," the executive secretary of Red COMIFAH, Ian Quiroz, told IPS. "Our main objective is to find the people who are missing and also forge ties with local human rights organizations."
The Honduran NGO is taking part in the Alternative World Forum for Peoples in Movement, Thursday through Saturday in the Mexican capital. Under the slogan "No Human Being Is Illegal", the event has drawn scores of activists from the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa.
The main issues on the agenda of the forum are the promotion and defence of the human rights of migrants, and the key event is an international tribunal that will hold a symbolic trial focusing on eight cases of abuses against foreign migrants committed in different parts of the world.
Some 500,000 undocumented migrants from Central and South America cross Mexico every year in their attempt to reach the United States, according to estimates based on official statistics and figures from NGOs.
Along the way, they face the risk of arbitrary arrest, extortion, theft, assault, rape, kidnapping and murder, at the hands of youth gangs and organized crime, as well as corrupt police and other agents of the state.
Undocumented migrants cross the porous border between Mexico and Guatemala and ride what is known as the "train of death" through the southern states of Chiapas, Tabasco, Oaxaca and Veracruz, the most dangerous areas, before they head northwards towards the U.S. border.
But perhaps the most horrifying face of the phenomenon is the disappearance of migrants. A recent report by the Mexican legislature's committee on population, borders and migration affairs states that more than 60,000 Central and South Americans went missing between 1998 and 2008 in Mexico on their journey to the U.S.
In late August, 72 undocumented migrants from several Central and south American countries were killed on a ranch near the U.S. border in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, presumably by members of Los Zetas, a crime syndicate made up of former elite Mexican army commandos that dominates the kidnapping of undocumented migrants racket.
The massacre destroyed any remaining shred of credibility that Mexico's migration policy might have had.
Names like those of Honduran migrants Junior Espinoza, Carlos Valle, Jorge Osorto and Brayan García have given a face to the tragedy. Fifty of the bodies have been identified, including those of 32 Hondurans, 12 Salvadorans, four Guatemalans, and two Brazilians.
But nothing has changed since the mass killing, according to migrant rights advocates. This week, a train running between Oaxaca and Veracruz, carrying numerous migrants perched on the roof of the wagons as usual, was assaulted and a score of people were kidnapped, Catholic priest Alejandro Solalinde, one of the leading advocates for migrants' rights, complained Thursday.
Solalinde, who runs a shelter for migrants in the state of Oaxaca, said the authorities are still not doing anything to prevent or investigate the frequent kidnappings and assaults.
So far this year, 56,566 undocumented migrants have been detained in their attempt to make it to the United Status. Most of them were from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, according to National Migration Institute (INM) statistics.
"Our chief demand is for the human rights of migrants to be respected," Elvira Arellano, a Mexican representative of Familia Latina Unida Sin Fronteras, a Chicago-based immigrant rights organisation that emerged in 1987, told IPS.
"We've had enough of being seen as the goose that lays the golden egg, because of the remittances we send home. We want solutions," Arellano said.
The 34-year-old Arellano, who lives in the west-central state of Michoacán, became a symbol of the fight for migrant rights after she took refuge for a year in the Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago, Illinois in defiance of a deportation order, to avoid being separated from her U.S.-born son.
She was deported to Mexico in 2007.
Her case, like the murders of the 72 migrants in Tamaulipas, is one of the cases that will be tried by a 20-member jury in the international tribunal, which held a first session Oct. 7-9 in Quito, Ecuador.
"We defend the right to emigrate, and we condemn Mexico's responsibility by omission in the massacre," said Quiroz, whose convoy met Thursday with the members of the congressional committee on population, borders and migration affairs.
The alternative forum was held parallel to the Peoples' Global Action on Migration, Development and Human Rights (PGA), held Tuesday through Friday in Mexico City.
Both events were organized ahead of the Fourth Global Forum on Migration and Development, to take place Nov. 8-11 in the resort city of Puerto Vallarta on Mexico's Pacific coast.
© 2010 Inter Press Service
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Migrant massacre shakes Central America
The recent killing of 72 people, from El Salvador, Honduras and other nations, as they tried to cross through Mexico into the U.S., has sent shockwaves across the continent. But many may still attempt the perilous trek.
By Alex Renderos and Ken Ellingwood
The Los Angeles Times
September 03, 2010
Reporting from Las Penitas, El Salvador, and — Cayetano Flores wishes he had just said no.
His granddaughter, Yedmi Victoria Castro, had just celebrated her 15th birthday in this mountain hamlet near El Salvador's border with Honduras. A suitor was becoming aggressive, and the idea arose that she join her mother in New York.
Flores, a wizened corn farmer, said he opposed her making the risky journey without papers. But the girl's mother was decided: Yedmi would go north.
The dark-haired and slender teenager read passages from the Bible to Flores for three days in a row. On Aug. 10, she set out for Guatemala and Mexico, a route traveled by thousands of Salvadorans before her.
Two weeks later she was dead.
Yedmi was among the 72 Central and South American migrants found slain in northern Mexico's Tamaulipas state on Aug. 24 — allegedly victims of the notorious Zetas drug gang. Salvadoran officials said 13 of the victims identified so far are from El Salvador.
"Her last call was from Guatemala saying that she was all right, but then afterwards, it was all darkness," Flores, 70, said this week, his eyes brimming with hurt. "She didn't deserve that fate."
The massacre was a horrifying reminder to Mexicans of the runaway violence in their country as drug-trafficking gangs wage war against the government and each other.
But the incident is rippling beyond Mexico to obscure places such as Las Penitas, a burg of 100 or so homes where some of the school's classrooms have dirt floors and the hills echo with rumors of gun-running and drug-smuggling.
This is an area long used to the rhythms — and dangers — of migrant life. Many of the rustic brick houses were built with money sent by Salvadoran workers in the United States. The surrounding region has itself drawn field workers from Honduras and Nicaragua, making it both a source and landing spot for migrants.
At the school Yedmi attended, about three-fourths of the 168 students between the ages of 12 and 15 have parents living in Los Angeles, New York, Houston and other U.S. cities, said the principal, Mario Romano.
The killings in Mexico have stirred indignation in Las Penitas, but few residents were eager to discuss them, fearful that the smugglers would come back for vengeance.
"Everybody is scared," said Yedmi's ninth-grade teacher, Milagro Martinez, who recalled her as a good student, quiet and humble.
The slayings underscored the perils of a more than 1,300-mile trip north that involves at least three border crossings, and often means dangerous rides atop Mexican trains. Past studies estimate that 400,000 migrants a year cross through Mexico.
Advocates have long complained that criminals and corrupt officials prey on migrants, but they say the risks have worsened due to the deepening involvement of crime groups.
Mexico's National Human Rights Commission estimated last year that 1,600 migrants are kidnapped each month.
In El Salvador and other countries from which the victims came, the massacre has raised another dark question: how many others have met the same fate, but were never found?
Mexico, whose citizens migrate northward too, is in the uncomfortable position of defending its treatment of foreign migrants. In Honduras, home to at least 14 of the victims, the front pages of newspapers have carried photos of coffins and grief-struck relatives.
A young man from Ecuador and a Honduran are the only known survivors.
Officials said the Ecuadoran, Luis Freddy Lala Pomavilla, 18, told them that the Zetas captured his group and demanded that they join the gang. Other news reports have quoted relatives of some of the dead as saying they received calls demanding money shortly before the bodies turned up on a ranch in Tamaulipas.
Lala, back in Ecuador, went on television to urge compatriots not to try crossing into the United States the way he did. "The Zetas are killing a lot of people," he said.
Mexican officials say they will crack down on drug gangs that have branched out into migrant smuggling and kidnapping migrants to extort money. Deportations of undocumented migrants have dropped drastically from 250,000 in 2005 to 43,000 so far this year — a sign that fewer people are crossing Mexico. Authorities attribute the decline mainly to a sagging job market and immigration crackdowns in the United States. But they note that the increasing violence in Mexico probably is also a deterrent.
Still, few in El Salvador expect the slayings to deter some people from the migrant trail.
"There are sons and daughters living alone here, taken care of only by their grandparents. And the parents want to hug their daughters and sons and give them a better life," said Martinez, the Las Penitas schoolteacher.
"But besides that, and most terrible, is that they think that the risk of death is maybe worth taking."
ken.ellingwood@latimes.com
Renderos is a special correspondent and reported from Las Penitas. Times staff writer Ken Ellingwood reported from Mexico City.
By Alex Renderos and Ken Ellingwood
The Los Angeles Times
September 03, 2010
Reporting from Las Penitas, El Salvador, and — Cayetano Flores wishes he had just said no.
His granddaughter, Yedmi Victoria Castro, had just celebrated her 15th birthday in this mountain hamlet near El Salvador's border with Honduras. A suitor was becoming aggressive, and the idea arose that she join her mother in New York.
Flores, a wizened corn farmer, said he opposed her making the risky journey without papers. But the girl's mother was decided: Yedmi would go north.
The dark-haired and slender teenager read passages from the Bible to Flores for three days in a row. On Aug. 10, she set out for Guatemala and Mexico, a route traveled by thousands of Salvadorans before her.
Two weeks later she was dead.
Yedmi was among the 72 Central and South American migrants found slain in northern Mexico's Tamaulipas state on Aug. 24 — allegedly victims of the notorious Zetas drug gang. Salvadoran officials said 13 of the victims identified so far are from El Salvador.
"Her last call was from Guatemala saying that she was all right, but then afterwards, it was all darkness," Flores, 70, said this week, his eyes brimming with hurt. "She didn't deserve that fate."
The massacre was a horrifying reminder to Mexicans of the runaway violence in their country as drug-trafficking gangs wage war against the government and each other.
But the incident is rippling beyond Mexico to obscure places such as Las Penitas, a burg of 100 or so homes where some of the school's classrooms have dirt floors and the hills echo with rumors of gun-running and drug-smuggling.
This is an area long used to the rhythms — and dangers — of migrant life. Many of the rustic brick houses were built with money sent by Salvadoran workers in the United States. The surrounding region has itself drawn field workers from Honduras and Nicaragua, making it both a source and landing spot for migrants.
At the school Yedmi attended, about three-fourths of the 168 students between the ages of 12 and 15 have parents living in Los Angeles, New York, Houston and other U.S. cities, said the principal, Mario Romano.
The killings in Mexico have stirred indignation in Las Penitas, but few residents were eager to discuss them, fearful that the smugglers would come back for vengeance.
"Everybody is scared," said Yedmi's ninth-grade teacher, Milagro Martinez, who recalled her as a good student, quiet and humble.
The slayings underscored the perils of a more than 1,300-mile trip north that involves at least three border crossings, and often means dangerous rides atop Mexican trains. Past studies estimate that 400,000 migrants a year cross through Mexico.
Advocates have long complained that criminals and corrupt officials prey on migrants, but they say the risks have worsened due to the deepening involvement of crime groups.
Mexico's National Human Rights Commission estimated last year that 1,600 migrants are kidnapped each month.
In El Salvador and other countries from which the victims came, the massacre has raised another dark question: how many others have met the same fate, but were never found?
Mexico, whose citizens migrate northward too, is in the uncomfortable position of defending its treatment of foreign migrants. In Honduras, home to at least 14 of the victims, the front pages of newspapers have carried photos of coffins and grief-struck relatives.
A young man from Ecuador and a Honduran are the only known survivors.
Officials said the Ecuadoran, Luis Freddy Lala Pomavilla, 18, told them that the Zetas captured his group and demanded that they join the gang. Other news reports have quoted relatives of some of the dead as saying they received calls demanding money shortly before the bodies turned up on a ranch in Tamaulipas.
Lala, back in Ecuador, went on television to urge compatriots not to try crossing into the United States the way he did. "The Zetas are killing a lot of people," he said.
Mexican officials say they will crack down on drug gangs that have branched out into migrant smuggling and kidnapping migrants to extort money. Deportations of undocumented migrants have dropped drastically from 250,000 in 2005 to 43,000 so far this year — a sign that fewer people are crossing Mexico. Authorities attribute the decline mainly to a sagging job market and immigration crackdowns in the United States. But they note that the increasing violence in Mexico probably is also a deterrent.
Still, few in El Salvador expect the slayings to deter some people from the migrant trail.
"There are sons and daughters living alone here, taken care of only by their grandparents. And the parents want to hug their daughters and sons and give them a better life," said Martinez, the Las Penitas schoolteacher.
"But besides that, and most terrible, is that they think that the risk of death is maybe worth taking."
ken.ellingwood@latimes.com
Renderos is a special correspondent and reported from Las Penitas. Times staff writer Ken Ellingwood reported from Mexico City.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Support couldn’t stop Marshall teen from being deported
17-year-old sent back to El Salvador after family fled
By Deb Gau
Independent: Southwestern Minnesota's Daily Newspaper
March 1, 2010
He was more than a good person and a good friend, friends and acquaintances of Jairo Yanes said late last week - he was like family.
"He was like a brother to everybody," said Marshall High School student Jeremy Rodgriguez on Friday. "What I remember most about him is just how outgoing he is, he's always got a huge smile."
"I miss his smile," said student Kelsey Przymus. "The small things mean a lot."
But that support wasn't enough to keep Yanes, a junior at MHS, from being deported to El Salvador on Friday. Classmates and teachers said they learned Yanes had been flown to Miami at 5 a.m. Friday and back to El Salvador later that night.
Yanes had been in a detention center in Carver County since Monday.
"It was the single hardest thing I've ever done, was let them take him," said MHS choir teacher Caroline Przymus.
Yanes was a member of show choir, and had become close to the Przymus family. They maintained contact with him over the course of the week. Friends and classmates learned last week that Yanes and his mother and younger brother came to the U.S. illegally. When Yanes came home from a show choir tournament on Feb. 21, his family was gone.
"There was nothing there but a check and a letter that said 'we love you, but we have to leave,'" Caroline Przymus said.
The family had been scheduled to meet with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on Monday, Przymus said. Even though Yanes, 17, is a minor, she said I.C.E. could still deport him by himself. He was placed in detention at the Carver County Jail.
"He was treated very well there, he was not in a cell," Przymus said, but it was still very difficult to take.
Caroline Przymus said an immigration law specialist had been trying to help get Yanes' deportation stayed, but the stay was denied.
Classmates said they tried to help Yanes "any way we could." They, as well as community members, wrote letters in support of Yanes and even spoke with a reporter from KARE 11 News. But Friday morning, they learned it was too late.
Caroline Przymus said Yanes had a brother, 19, who lives in El Salvador, and they were trying to contact him.
Students said they were coming together to cope with the situation. Both Marshall teens and adults have left messages of support on a Facebook page created for Yanes. As of the weekend, the page had more than 400 members.
"It was really comforting to know we're not the only ones who see him as he really is," Kelsey Przymus said.
"We understand not everyone agrees with the immigration thing," Caroline Przymus said. "The students met outside school (Thursday) and I told them, you can't get upset with things people say."
A final message from Yanes posted on Facebook on Friday night read: "I have you all in the tip of my heart . . . stay strong. Don't be sad. And I love you all."
http://www.marshallindependent.com/page/content.detail/id/515363.html
By Deb Gau
Independent: Southwestern Minnesota's Daily Newspaper
March 1, 2010
He was more than a good person and a good friend, friends and acquaintances of Jairo Yanes said late last week - he was like family.
"He was like a brother to everybody," said Marshall High School student Jeremy Rodgriguez on Friday. "What I remember most about him is just how outgoing he is, he's always got a huge smile."
"I miss his smile," said student Kelsey Przymus. "The small things mean a lot."
But that support wasn't enough to keep Yanes, a junior at MHS, from being deported to El Salvador on Friday. Classmates and teachers said they learned Yanes had been flown to Miami at 5 a.m. Friday and back to El Salvador later that night.
Yanes had been in a detention center in Carver County since Monday.
"It was the single hardest thing I've ever done, was let them take him," said MHS choir teacher Caroline Przymus.
Yanes was a member of show choir, and had become close to the Przymus family. They maintained contact with him over the course of the week. Friends and classmates learned last week that Yanes and his mother and younger brother came to the U.S. illegally. When Yanes came home from a show choir tournament on Feb. 21, his family was gone.
"There was nothing there but a check and a letter that said 'we love you, but we have to leave,'" Caroline Przymus said.
The family had been scheduled to meet with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on Monday, Przymus said. Even though Yanes, 17, is a minor, she said I.C.E. could still deport him by himself. He was placed in detention at the Carver County Jail.
"He was treated very well there, he was not in a cell," Przymus said, but it was still very difficult to take.
Caroline Przymus said an immigration law specialist had been trying to help get Yanes' deportation stayed, but the stay was denied.
Classmates said they tried to help Yanes "any way we could." They, as well as community members, wrote letters in support of Yanes and even spoke with a reporter from KARE 11 News. But Friday morning, they learned it was too late.
Caroline Przymus said Yanes had a brother, 19, who lives in El Salvador, and they were trying to contact him.
Students said they were coming together to cope with the situation. Both Marshall teens and adults have left messages of support on a Facebook page created for Yanes. As of the weekend, the page had more than 400 members.
"It was really comforting to know we're not the only ones who see him as he really is," Kelsey Przymus said.
"We understand not everyone agrees with the immigration thing," Caroline Przymus said. "The students met outside school (Thursday) and I told them, you can't get upset with things people say."
A final message from Yanes posted on Facebook on Friday night read: "I have you all in the tip of my heart . . . stay strong. Don't be sad. And I love you all."
http://www.marshallindependent.com/page/content.detail/id/515363.html
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Protest quickly staged after raid leads to 7 being detained; Casa de Maryland says Hondurans are in custody
By Liz F. Kay and Andrea F. Siegel
The Baltimore Sun
February 5, 2010
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials detained seven people from Honduras after a raid Thursday in Anne Arundel County, prompting a demonstration outside the Baltimore Federal Building.
ICE spokeswoman Ernestine Fobbs confirmed that an enforcement action took place and that seven Hondurans were in custody.
She said that because the investigation is continuing, she could provide only limited information. Fobbs did not disclose the name of the business where the Hondurans were working or the location of the business.
Protesters gathered outside the Federal Building in Baltimore late Thursday afternoon. About 15 people held signs and shouted slogans, including, "Reform not raids" and "Stop separating families."
Leaders of Casa de Maryland, advocates for immigrants' rights, said they were told that seven males, one of them a juvenile, were taken into custody at a Hanover restaurant.
Elizabeth Alex, Casa's lead organizer for the Baltimore region, said there haven't been many workplace raids under the Obama administration. Advocates had hoped that raids would stop until comprehensive immigration reform can be achieved.
"We're unhappy we're seeing a return to Bush-era policy," Alex said.
"We would hope immigration enforcement would be reserved for people who are criminals," she said later.
The protesters hoped that the detainees would be released on their own recognizance or be permitted to meet with legal counsel within 24 hours.
Alex said that people who have been detained after raids might be given contact information for lawyers but might not necessarily reach them before they are sent to detention centers in York, Pa., or on the Eastern Shore.
"Due process is part of the foundation of this country," said Gustavo Andrade, senior organizing director of Casa de Maryland.
Lawyers for Casa waited 90 minutes in the ICE offices before they were told that they would not be allowed to meet with the detainees, Alex said.
www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/anne-arundel/bal-md.raid05feb05,0,3834674.story
The Baltimore Sun
February 5, 2010
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials detained seven people from Honduras after a raid Thursday in Anne Arundel County, prompting a demonstration outside the Baltimore Federal Building.
ICE spokeswoman Ernestine Fobbs confirmed that an enforcement action took place and that seven Hondurans were in custody.
She said that because the investigation is continuing, she could provide only limited information. Fobbs did not disclose the name of the business where the Hondurans were working or the location of the business.
Protesters gathered outside the Federal Building in Baltimore late Thursday afternoon. About 15 people held signs and shouted slogans, including, "Reform not raids" and "Stop separating families."
Leaders of Casa de Maryland, advocates for immigrants' rights, said they were told that seven males, one of them a juvenile, were taken into custody at a Hanover restaurant.
Elizabeth Alex, Casa's lead organizer for the Baltimore region, said there haven't been many workplace raids under the Obama administration. Advocates had hoped that raids would stop until comprehensive immigration reform can be achieved.
"We're unhappy we're seeing a return to Bush-era policy," Alex said.
"We would hope immigration enforcement would be reserved for people who are criminals," she said later.
The protesters hoped that the detainees would be released on their own recognizance or be permitted to meet with legal counsel within 24 hours.
Alex said that people who have been detained after raids might be given contact information for lawyers but might not necessarily reach them before they are sent to detention centers in York, Pa., or on the Eastern Shore.
"Due process is part of the foundation of this country," said Gustavo Andrade, senior organizing director of Casa de Maryland.
Lawyers for Casa waited 90 minutes in the ICE offices before they were told that they would not be allowed to meet with the detainees, Alex said.
www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/anne-arundel/bal-md.raid05feb05,0,3834674.story
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Feds arrest 7 workers in raids
The Capital (Annapolis)
February 5, 2010
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials served search warrants at three county businesses Thursday, arresting seven people from Honduras.
Ernastine Fobbs, an ICE spokeswoman, said officials raided three locations late Thursday morning.
County police said officers assisted ICE at the Red Parrot Asian Bistro at 7698 Dorchester Blvd. in Hanover at about 10:30 a.m. Fobbs confirmed that ICE served one of the three warrants at that location.
Because the investigation is ongoing, Fobbs declined to identify the other two places that were raided or say how many arrests took place at each business. But she confirmed that seven people were currently in ICE custody.
Wendy Chang, owner of the Red Parrot Asian Bistro, said she did not know some of her employees were working in the country illegally. "We have a Thai chef that hired some people that we really didn't know," she said. "They told us they had the proper papers."
Dozens of protesters gathered outside the Federal Building in Baltimore Thursday to demand that the detained workers be allowed to speak with their attorneys, according to Tania Del Angel of Casa De Maryland.
Leaders of Casa De Maryland hoped those arrested would be released on recognizance within 24 hours.
http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/nbh/2010/02/05-27/Arundel-Digest.html
February 5, 2010
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials served search warrants at three county businesses Thursday, arresting seven people from Honduras.
Ernastine Fobbs, an ICE spokeswoman, said officials raided three locations late Thursday morning.
County police said officers assisted ICE at the Red Parrot Asian Bistro at 7698 Dorchester Blvd. in Hanover at about 10:30 a.m. Fobbs confirmed that ICE served one of the three warrants at that location.
Because the investigation is ongoing, Fobbs declined to identify the other two places that were raided or say how many arrests took place at each business. But she confirmed that seven people were currently in ICE custody.
Wendy Chang, owner of the Red Parrot Asian Bistro, said she did not know some of her employees were working in the country illegally. "We have a Thai chef that hired some people that we really didn't know," she said. "They told us they had the proper papers."
Dozens of protesters gathered outside the Federal Building in Baltimore Thursday to demand that the detained workers be allowed to speak with their attorneys, according to Tania Del Angel of Casa De Maryland.
Leaders of Casa De Maryland hoped those arrested would be released on recognizance within 24 hours.
http://www.hometownannapolis.com/news/nbh/2010/02/05-27/Arundel-Digest.html
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Activists Decry Pending Deportation of Hispanic Man
By Luis Uribe
August 7, 2009
The Latin American Herald Tribune
LOS ANGELES – A Hispanic migrant who has lived, worked and paid taxes in the United States for 18 years will be sent back to his homeland “without any valid reason” in less than 30 days, said the March 25 Coalition, which has called for a halt to deportations.
Jose Villanueva arrived in the United States in 1991 to escape the civil war then raging in his native Guatemala and was granted conditional asylum. His wife, Leticia, arrived 10 years ago and the couple now has two daughters, ages 8 and 10 months.
“I just ask that they not deport him. He’s been working the whole time, he’s paid his taxes and has no problems with the law,” Leticia Villanueva told Efe outside the Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles while feeding her baby.
“They say there are no guerrillas in Guatemala, but there are (violent youth) gangs and the crime problem is very bad. They kill you for 2 quetzals (25 cents),” she said.
Representatives of the March 25 Coalition and the Hermandad Mexicana Trans-Nacional (Transnational Mexican Association), accompanied by community leaders, staged a protest Tuesday outside the Federal Building to denounce “the arbitrary nature of this case.”
“This is extremely regrettable. Insofar as immigration under the Obama administration, the administration of “hope and change,” we’re still waiting for that change,” Javier Rodriguez, the coalition’s director, told Efe.
“The only thing we’ve seen is that there are no longer any raids, but in a certain sense things have gotten worse,” he said. “The raids (are being substituted by) E-Verify,” he said, referring to a voluntary government-run program – expanding under Obama – that is designed to help certify that employees hired by companies are legally authorized to work in the country.
Villanueva was unable to take part Tuesday in the protest because he was working.
“Since he’s had to miss a lot of work because of immigration-related matters, today they didn’t give him permission,” Leticia Villanueva said, adding that her husband has worked in different areas of the construction business during his entire time in the United States.
“They’re applying the strategy that (former President George W.) Bush applied in 2006 after the marches: the carrot and the stick. They’re beating us up so that we surrender politically and accept whatever they give us,” Rodriguez said, referring to Obama’s pledge during his campaign to make immigration reform a priority.
As a senator, Obama supported a bill that would have put many illegal immigrants on a path to legalization, instituted a guest worker program and strengthened border security, but the legislation was derailed in the summer of 2007.
Rodriguez also said that – “due to the same government pressure tactics” – close to 1,800 workers at American Apparel, a California company that has actively supported immigration reform, could lose their jobs.
“I just don’t want them to deport my dad. I feel very sad because they’re taking him away for no reason. He’s working very well and hard here and they want to send him far away,” Michelle Villanueva said.
“This is alarming. We agree that criminals should be sanctioned and punished but not these families,” Gloria Saucedo, Hermandad Mexicana’s director, told Efe.
The activist said a very important message is being sent to Central Americans and Guatemalans in particular.
“That they shouldn’t relax because they have a work permit, political asylum, even if they’ve been renewing it for many years,” she said.
“Like what happened with this family that already paid $7,000 and now they face deportation. They had to post $500 bond so they gave him a period of one month. What’s going to happen with those 18 years of his life, of the effort he gave doing really tough jobs?” Saucedo asked rhetorically.
The Villanueva family, meanwhile, finds itself in desperate circumstances, lacking the money to pay their rent and facing the possibility of having to return to a country that is completely foreign to their children and that provides far fewer economic opportunities than the United States.
Michelle, who will start the third grade this month, said that when she grows up “I’m going to try to be president so they stop these things and the right decisions are made.” EFE
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=340851&CategoryId=12394
August 7, 2009
The Latin American Herald Tribune
LOS ANGELES – A Hispanic migrant who has lived, worked and paid taxes in the United States for 18 years will be sent back to his homeland “without any valid reason” in less than 30 days, said the March 25 Coalition, which has called for a halt to deportations.
Jose Villanueva arrived in the United States in 1991 to escape the civil war then raging in his native Guatemala and was granted conditional asylum. His wife, Leticia, arrived 10 years ago and the couple now has two daughters, ages 8 and 10 months.
“I just ask that they not deport him. He’s been working the whole time, he’s paid his taxes and has no problems with the law,” Leticia Villanueva told Efe outside the Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles while feeding her baby.
“They say there are no guerrillas in Guatemala, but there are (violent youth) gangs and the crime problem is very bad. They kill you for 2 quetzals (25 cents),” she said.
Representatives of the March 25 Coalition and the Hermandad Mexicana Trans-Nacional (Transnational Mexican Association), accompanied by community leaders, staged a protest Tuesday outside the Federal Building to denounce “the arbitrary nature of this case.”
“This is extremely regrettable. Insofar as immigration under the Obama administration, the administration of “hope and change,” we’re still waiting for that change,” Javier Rodriguez, the coalition’s director, told Efe.
“The only thing we’ve seen is that there are no longer any raids, but in a certain sense things have gotten worse,” he said. “The raids (are being substituted by) E-Verify,” he said, referring to a voluntary government-run program – expanding under Obama – that is designed to help certify that employees hired by companies are legally authorized to work in the country.
Villanueva was unable to take part Tuesday in the protest because he was working.
“Since he’s had to miss a lot of work because of immigration-related matters, today they didn’t give him permission,” Leticia Villanueva said, adding that her husband has worked in different areas of the construction business during his entire time in the United States.
“They’re applying the strategy that (former President George W.) Bush applied in 2006 after the marches: the carrot and the stick. They’re beating us up so that we surrender politically and accept whatever they give us,” Rodriguez said, referring to Obama’s pledge during his campaign to make immigration reform a priority.
As a senator, Obama supported a bill that would have put many illegal immigrants on a path to legalization, instituted a guest worker program and strengthened border security, but the legislation was derailed in the summer of 2007.
Rodriguez also said that – “due to the same government pressure tactics” – close to 1,800 workers at American Apparel, a California company that has actively supported immigration reform, could lose their jobs.
“I just don’t want them to deport my dad. I feel very sad because they’re taking him away for no reason. He’s working very well and hard here and they want to send him far away,” Michelle Villanueva said.
“This is alarming. We agree that criminals should be sanctioned and punished but not these families,” Gloria Saucedo, Hermandad Mexicana’s director, told Efe.
The activist said a very important message is being sent to Central Americans and Guatemalans in particular.
“That they shouldn’t relax because they have a work permit, political asylum, even if they’ve been renewing it for many years,” she said.
“Like what happened with this family that already paid $7,000 and now they face deportation. They had to post $500 bond so they gave him a period of one month. What’s going to happen with those 18 years of his life, of the effort he gave doing really tough jobs?” Saucedo asked rhetorically.
The Villanueva family, meanwhile, finds itself in desperate circumstances, lacking the money to pay their rent and facing the possibility of having to return to a country that is completely foreign to their children and that provides far fewer economic opportunities than the United States.
Michelle, who will start the third grade this month, said that when she grows up “I’m going to try to be president so they stop these things and the right decisions are made.” EFE
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=340851&CategoryId=12394
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Immigration raids result in arrests of Rome, NWGA residents
by Mark Millican
Dalton Daily Citizen
Several people living in Dalton, Chatsworth and Rome have been arrested and put on Immigration and Customs Enforcement holds for deportation, officials said. The arrests were made with the help of the Conasauga Safe Streets Task Force, said Maj. John Gibson with the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office, and all are in the Whitfield County Jail awaiting deportation.
“This was actually a federal operation, the rounding up of illegals here and then shipping them back out,” said Gibson.
Steve Peluso of the Dalton ICE office said a Detention Removal Unit that deals with fugitives out of the Atlanta ICE office made the arrests.
“We’ve had a fugitive operations team in the area, arresting folks with final orders of removal,” said Temple Black, a spokesman for the Detention Removal Unit. Those arrested by the team have been ordered to leave the country by an immigration judge but have failed to comply, according to a news release Black sent out.
Black would not give specifics as to why each of the 10 were arrested in northwest Georgia. The release said fugitive operations teams “give top priority to cases involving aliens who pose a threat to national security and community safety, including members of transnational street gangs, child sex offenders and aliens with prior convictions for violent crimes.”
Arrested were:
Pedro Francisco Alonzo, 55, 1104 Walston St., Apt. 106, Dalton, a native of Guatemala
Aracely Canales, 36, 703 Hampton Court, Apt. 16, Dalton (El Salvador)
Francisco Javier Hurtado-Lazarin, 31, 207 W. Long St., Dalton (Mexico)
Miguel Monzon, 514 Burnett Ferry Road, Rome (Guatemala)
Eliseo Perez Ramirez, 2190 Leonard Bridge Road, Chatsworth (Guatemala)
Alfonso Torres, 505 Willowdale Road, Dalton (original country unknown)
David Rey Sanchez Torres, 1116 Willowdale Road, Dalton (Mexico)
Maximiliano Hernandez Alvarado, 47, of Old Grade Road, Apt. 1, in Dalton, formerly of El Salvador
Angel Santizo-Perez, 22, of 2048 Mimosa St. in Dalton (El Salvador)
Mauricio Perez-Vincentes, 32, of 514 Burnett Ferry Road in Rome (Guatemala)
The Conasauga Safe Streets Task Force consists of agents from the FBI and ICE and officers from the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office, Dalton Police Department and Calhoun Police Department.
http://romenews-tribune.com/pages/full_story?page_label=home_top_stories_news&id=2777023-10+arrested+in+immigration+raids+in+Rome-+NWGA&article-10%20arrested%20in%20immigration%20raids%20in%20Rome-%20NWGA%20=&widget=push&instance=home_news_lead&open=&
Dalton Daily Citizen
Several people living in Dalton, Chatsworth and Rome have been arrested and put on Immigration and Customs Enforcement holds for deportation, officials said. The arrests were made with the help of the Conasauga Safe Streets Task Force, said Maj. John Gibson with the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office, and all are in the Whitfield County Jail awaiting deportation.
“This was actually a federal operation, the rounding up of illegals here and then shipping them back out,” said Gibson.
Steve Peluso of the Dalton ICE office said a Detention Removal Unit that deals with fugitives out of the Atlanta ICE office made the arrests.
“We’ve had a fugitive operations team in the area, arresting folks with final orders of removal,” said Temple Black, a spokesman for the Detention Removal Unit. Those arrested by the team have been ordered to leave the country by an immigration judge but have failed to comply, according to a news release Black sent out.
Black would not give specifics as to why each of the 10 were arrested in northwest Georgia. The release said fugitive operations teams “give top priority to cases involving aliens who pose a threat to national security and community safety, including members of transnational street gangs, child sex offenders and aliens with prior convictions for violent crimes.”
Arrested were:
Pedro Francisco Alonzo, 55, 1104 Walston St., Apt. 106, Dalton, a native of Guatemala
Aracely Canales, 36, 703 Hampton Court, Apt. 16, Dalton (El Salvador)
Francisco Javier Hurtado-Lazarin, 31, 207 W. Long St., Dalton (Mexico)
Miguel Monzon, 514 Burnett Ferry Road, Rome (Guatemala)
Eliseo Perez Ramirez, 2190 Leonard Bridge Road, Chatsworth (Guatemala)
Alfonso Torres, 505 Willowdale Road, Dalton (original country unknown)
David Rey Sanchez Torres, 1116 Willowdale Road, Dalton (Mexico)
Maximiliano Hernandez Alvarado, 47, of Old Grade Road, Apt. 1, in Dalton, formerly of El Salvador
Angel Santizo-Perez, 22, of 2048 Mimosa St. in Dalton (El Salvador)
Mauricio Perez-Vincentes, 32, of 514 Burnett Ferry Road in Rome (Guatemala)
The Conasauga Safe Streets Task Force consists of agents from the FBI and ICE and officers from the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office, Dalton Police Department and Calhoun Police Department.
http://romenews-tribune.com/pages/full_story?page_label=home_top_stories_news&id=2777023-10+arrested+in+immigration+raids+in+Rome-+NWGA&article-10%20arrested%20in%20immigration%20raids%20in%20Rome-%20NWGA%20=&widget=push&instance=home_news_lead&open=&
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Raid nets 57 illegal immigrants
Raid nets 57 illegal immigrants
By John Harbin
Times-News Staff Writer
Published: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 at 6:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, August 12, 2008 at 11:47 p.m.
Fifty-seven illegal immigrants rounded up Tuesday at a Buncombe County factory were sent to the Henderson County Jail for processing but didn’t stay long. After the raid at the Woodfin parachute making plant, ICE agents bused the workers to Henderson County to determine their status and decide whether to release or transfer them.
“We have 57 illegal aliens from Mill Manufacturing Corp.,” U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement agency spokesman Ivan Ortiz said. “Twenty-nine of the people have qualified to be released, and will be given a notice to appear before an immigration judge to determine their status. The remaining people will be taken to Charlotte or Georgia to be detained.”
The 29 were released for humanitarian reasons and cited. They were not fugitives, Ortiz said, nor did they have criminal records.
http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20080813/NEWS/643845189&title=Raid_nets_57_illegal_immigrants
By John Harbin
Times-News Staff Writer
Published: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 at 6:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, August 12, 2008 at 11:47 p.m.
Fifty-seven illegal immigrants rounded up Tuesday at a Buncombe County factory were sent to the Henderson County Jail for processing but didn’t stay long. After the raid at the Woodfin parachute making plant, ICE agents bused the workers to Henderson County to determine their status and decide whether to release or transfer them.
“We have 57 illegal aliens from Mill Manufacturing Corp.,” U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement agency spokesman Ivan Ortiz said. “Twenty-nine of the people have qualified to be released, and will be given a notice to appear before an immigration judge to determine their status. The remaining people will be taken to Charlotte or Georgia to be detained.”
The 29 were released for humanitarian reasons and cited. They were not fugitives, Ortiz said, nor did they have criminal records.
http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20080813/NEWS/643845189&title=Raid_nets_57_illegal_immigrants
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Immigrant raid spurs protest, cheers
More details emerge from operation that rounded up 45 at Annapolis company
By LISA BEISEL, Staff Writer
Capital Gazette Communications
Published 07/01/08
Spurred by yesterday's raid of an Annapolis-area painting business, Hispanic rights defenders protested this morning in front of the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement office in Baltimore.
Meanwhile, political leaders and other business owners in the area applauded the raids, saying companies that hire undocumented workers undercut legitimate businesses and workers.
ICE agents, with the help of about 50 county police officers, raided the offices of Annapolis Painting Services and 15 homes throughout the county yesterday morning, arresting 45 suspected undocumented workers.
About 50 people attended this morning's rally in Baltimore, which was organized by the National Capital Immigrant Coalition, armed with signs saying "Don't divide our families" and "Stop the raids."
Irma Gonzalez, who said she has lived in Annapolis for 20 years, sported a bright pink sign with a picture of County Executive John R. Leopold with a line through it saying "John Leopold, we are not criminals."
She said immigrants in Annapolis are afraid.
"We have a voice," she said. "We can't keep quiet because a lot of innocent people get hurt," she said.
The Rev. John Levin, a priest at St. Mary's Church in Annapolis, said poverty in El Salvador and other countries drives people here, sometimes illegally.
"The effect on the families is what concerns me," he said of the raids. "They are people of faith, they're contributing to our economy, and we're taking advantage of them. It's a terrible injustice," he said.
Scot R. Rittenberg, assistant special agent in charge for ICE in Baltimore, said the agency received a tip about the company and has been investigating for 18 months. The arrests involved 11 search warrants, five seizure warrants for bank accounts, 10 seizure warrants for vehicles and 15 forfeitable properties, he said.
The arrested workers included people from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nigeria and Panama.
Ten women and 35 men were taken into custody. In addition, at least five more people were served notice, but not taken into custody because of medical reasons, being the sole caregiver for a child, or in one case, due to a late-term pregnancy, Mr. Rittenberg said. Those people will have to appear before an immigration judge at a later date, he said.
ICE has been investigating employers since 2003 when the agency was created as a part of the Department of Homeland Security.
"The magnet for illegal immigrants is jobs, is the work and the money," Mr. Rittenberg said. "So one method of sort of getting rid of that magnet is by going after these companies, especially ones that are egregious violators of both the immigration and labor laws so we can get rid of the draw of illegal immigration."
ICE still is investigating the company and the owner has not been charged with anything at this point, he said.
Mr. Leopold said the county plans to continue working cooperatively with ICE in operations like this and said that other jurisdictions in the region are collaborating more and more in this kind of operation.
Companies that hire illegal immigrants hurt the business market, he said.
"Clearly when companies hire illegal immigrants, pay them below market wage rates, don't pay overtime, don't pay taxes, they're putting employers who want to play by the rules at a competitive disadvantage," Mr. Leopold said this morning.
He stressed that he did want to help immigrants "who want to play by the rules" get legal status in the U.S.
Mr. Leopold pushed for a workshop earlier this year to help businesses navigate the complicated process of legally hiring foreign workers.
The business owner
Calls to Robert Bontempo Jr., owner of Annapolis Painting Services, were not returned yesterday and someone who answered the door at the company said he was not there.
As a young man, Mr. Bontempo paid for college by painting homes in the 1970s and built up a firm that has worked on everything from the Naval Academy to such landmark buildings as the State Capitol building.
On early mornings, the firm's white vans can regularly be seen zig-zagging across the city.
"Over the years, we've been called on for virtually every painting project imaginable, and have completed work on over 10,000 residential, commercial, historic and landmark properties," according to the company's Web site. Mr. Bontempo's firm also is one of several local firms branding themselves as the "Annapolis Design District," mostly along Chinquapin Round Road.
Other than his success as a businessman, Mr. Bontempo is a property owner who owned nearly a third of all the properties in the 5-acre neighborhood of Carrs Manor and was a vocal proponent who petitioned to hook his lots up to the county sewer system.
Diane Marianos, whose husband owns M&M Painting Co., an Annapolis-area painting company, called yesterday's immigration raid "unfortunate," but not uncommon.
Ms. Marianos said M&M Painting employs only legal workers, but said the issue of hiring illegal immigrants is becoming rampant.
"It happens more and more everyday," she said.
Michael McGurk, owner of Bay Country Painters in Severna Park and president of the Baltimore/Annapolis Chapter of the Painting and Decorating Contractors of America, said Mr. Bontempo is a "serious business man" he knows personally.
Mr. McGurk said he is glad to see the county executive being so vocal on an issue unfair to companies like his that are playing by the rules.
"We're trying to do everything by the book," he said. "I've worked really hard to do that."
Bob Burdon, president and chief executive officer of the Annapolis and Anne Arundel County Chamber of Commerce, said Mr. Botempo is a member of the local chamber.
"It's a well-established business, a very well respected business in the community," he said. "It's hard to believe when you hear something like this."
Mr. Burdon said like any other person a number of questions are running through his mind, including whether Mr. Bontempo was aware of hiring unqualified employees.
Because these people were taken in under suspicion, "I guess we're going to have to wait and see" to find out what the results are, he said.
Mario Quiroz, a spokesman for Casa de Maryland, a nonprofit group that advocates for Hispanic immigrants, said yesterday's operation will have long-reaching effects.
"We think that this is really bad for the community because we're not only talking about 45 people, we're talking about 45 people and their families," he said.
His group condemns actions like this, especially in this case, where 125 officers - 50 from the county and 75 from ICE - were used to capture just 45 detainees.
"These people are not criminals. They are not a national threat," he said.
The national immigration system is "broken," he said, and problems in policy must be solved on a national level.
He said the group also feels that illegal immigrants help the economy by providing much-needed labor.
Mr. Quiroz said he was surprised the county was so involved in the operation, noting that it is unusual for local agencies to be involved in these operations, and he was surprised immigration was such a focus in the county.
"The county has many, many needs, and he's making immigration priority one? That's something to think about," Mr. Quiroz said.
Irene M. Zoppi, executive director of the Annapolis office of El Centro de Ayuda - The Help Center - said they haven't gotten requests for help from effected families yet, but that they will respond to any request they get.
The Center helps people whose families are deported reunite with family members.
"We are prepared ... we are here to help them," she said.
Yesterday's efforts were one of several in the county over the last year in which the county cooperated with Immigrations and Customs Enforcment targeting immigrations.
Last fall, county police and ICE officials arrested nine people at a bust at Viva La Raza, Mexican Restaurant & Bar in Glen Burnie.
And last March, 69 people were arrested at several businesses, including workers at Under Armour in Curtis Bay and Dixie Printing and Packaging Corp. in Glen Burnie, and six other companies in the Baltimore region. The workers worked for a temporary employment agency, and not the businesses themselves.
Last fall, Mr. Leopold permanently assigned a county police officer to the regional Document and Benefit Fraud Task Force, which is led by ICE.
Also, one officer from each of the county police department's four districts has received specialized training in spotting fake immigration documents and assisting in immigration investigations.
---
Staff writers Katie Arcieri and Elisabeth Hulette contributed to this report.
http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2008/07_01-30/TOP
By LISA BEISEL, Staff Writer
Capital Gazette Communications
Published 07/01/08
Spurred by yesterday's raid of an Annapolis-area painting business, Hispanic rights defenders protested this morning in front of the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement office in Baltimore.
Meanwhile, political leaders and other business owners in the area applauded the raids, saying companies that hire undocumented workers undercut legitimate businesses and workers.
ICE agents, with the help of about 50 county police officers, raided the offices of Annapolis Painting Services and 15 homes throughout the county yesterday morning, arresting 45 suspected undocumented workers.
About 50 people attended this morning's rally in Baltimore, which was organized by the National Capital Immigrant Coalition, armed with signs saying "Don't divide our families" and "Stop the raids."
Irma Gonzalez, who said she has lived in Annapolis for 20 years, sported a bright pink sign with a picture of County Executive John R. Leopold with a line through it saying "John Leopold, we are not criminals."
She said immigrants in Annapolis are afraid.
"We have a voice," she said. "We can't keep quiet because a lot of innocent people get hurt," she said.
The Rev. John Levin, a priest at St. Mary's Church in Annapolis, said poverty in El Salvador and other countries drives people here, sometimes illegally.
"The effect on the families is what concerns me," he said of the raids. "They are people of faith, they're contributing to our economy, and we're taking advantage of them. It's a terrible injustice," he said.
Scot R. Rittenberg, assistant special agent in charge for ICE in Baltimore, said the agency received a tip about the company and has been investigating for 18 months. The arrests involved 11 search warrants, five seizure warrants for bank accounts, 10 seizure warrants for vehicles and 15 forfeitable properties, he said.
The arrested workers included people from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nigeria and Panama.
Ten women and 35 men were taken into custody. In addition, at least five more people were served notice, but not taken into custody because of medical reasons, being the sole caregiver for a child, or in one case, due to a late-term pregnancy, Mr. Rittenberg said. Those people will have to appear before an immigration judge at a later date, he said.
ICE has been investigating employers since 2003 when the agency was created as a part of the Department of Homeland Security.
"The magnet for illegal immigrants is jobs, is the work and the money," Mr. Rittenberg said. "So one method of sort of getting rid of that magnet is by going after these companies, especially ones that are egregious violators of both the immigration and labor laws so we can get rid of the draw of illegal immigration."
ICE still is investigating the company and the owner has not been charged with anything at this point, he said.
Mr. Leopold said the county plans to continue working cooperatively with ICE in operations like this and said that other jurisdictions in the region are collaborating more and more in this kind of operation.
Companies that hire illegal immigrants hurt the business market, he said.
"Clearly when companies hire illegal immigrants, pay them below market wage rates, don't pay overtime, don't pay taxes, they're putting employers who want to play by the rules at a competitive disadvantage," Mr. Leopold said this morning.
He stressed that he did want to help immigrants "who want to play by the rules" get legal status in the U.S.
Mr. Leopold pushed for a workshop earlier this year to help businesses navigate the complicated process of legally hiring foreign workers.
The business owner
Calls to Robert Bontempo Jr., owner of Annapolis Painting Services, were not returned yesterday and someone who answered the door at the company said he was not there.
As a young man, Mr. Bontempo paid for college by painting homes in the 1970s and built up a firm that has worked on everything from the Naval Academy to such landmark buildings as the State Capitol building.
On early mornings, the firm's white vans can regularly be seen zig-zagging across the city.
"Over the years, we've been called on for virtually every painting project imaginable, and have completed work on over 10,000 residential, commercial, historic and landmark properties," according to the company's Web site. Mr. Bontempo's firm also is one of several local firms branding themselves as the "Annapolis Design District," mostly along Chinquapin Round Road.
Other than his success as a businessman, Mr. Bontempo is a property owner who owned nearly a third of all the properties in the 5-acre neighborhood of Carrs Manor and was a vocal proponent who petitioned to hook his lots up to the county sewer system.
Diane Marianos, whose husband owns M&M Painting Co., an Annapolis-area painting company, called yesterday's immigration raid "unfortunate," but not uncommon.
Ms. Marianos said M&M Painting employs only legal workers, but said the issue of hiring illegal immigrants is becoming rampant.
"It happens more and more everyday," she said.
Michael McGurk, owner of Bay Country Painters in Severna Park and president of the Baltimore/Annapolis Chapter of the Painting and Decorating Contractors of America, said Mr. Bontempo is a "serious business man" he knows personally.
Mr. McGurk said he is glad to see the county executive being so vocal on an issue unfair to companies like his that are playing by the rules.
"We're trying to do everything by the book," he said. "I've worked really hard to do that."
Bob Burdon, president and chief executive officer of the Annapolis and Anne Arundel County Chamber of Commerce, said Mr. Botempo is a member of the local chamber.
"It's a well-established business, a very well respected business in the community," he said. "It's hard to believe when you hear something like this."
Mr. Burdon said like any other person a number of questions are running through his mind, including whether Mr. Bontempo was aware of hiring unqualified employees.
Because these people were taken in under suspicion, "I guess we're going to have to wait and see" to find out what the results are, he said.
Mario Quiroz, a spokesman for Casa de Maryland, a nonprofit group that advocates for Hispanic immigrants, said yesterday's operation will have long-reaching effects.
"We think that this is really bad for the community because we're not only talking about 45 people, we're talking about 45 people and their families," he said.
His group condemns actions like this, especially in this case, where 125 officers - 50 from the county and 75 from ICE - were used to capture just 45 detainees.
"These people are not criminals. They are not a national threat," he said.
The national immigration system is "broken," he said, and problems in policy must be solved on a national level.
He said the group also feels that illegal immigrants help the economy by providing much-needed labor.
Mr. Quiroz said he was surprised the county was so involved in the operation, noting that it is unusual for local agencies to be involved in these operations, and he was surprised immigration was such a focus in the county.
"The county has many, many needs, and he's making immigration priority one? That's something to think about," Mr. Quiroz said.
Irene M. Zoppi, executive director of the Annapolis office of El Centro de Ayuda - The Help Center - said they haven't gotten requests for help from effected families yet, but that they will respond to any request they get.
The Center helps people whose families are deported reunite with family members.
"We are prepared ... we are here to help them," she said.
Yesterday's efforts were one of several in the county over the last year in which the county cooperated with Immigrations and Customs Enforcment targeting immigrations.
Last fall, county police and ICE officials arrested nine people at a bust at Viva La Raza, Mexican Restaurant & Bar in Glen Burnie.
And last March, 69 people were arrested at several businesses, including workers at Under Armour in Curtis Bay and Dixie Printing and Packaging Corp. in Glen Burnie, and six other companies in the Baltimore region. The workers worked for a temporary employment agency, and not the businesses themselves.
Last fall, Mr. Leopold permanently assigned a county police officer to the regional Document and Benefit Fraud Task Force, which is led by ICE.
Also, one officer from each of the county police department's four districts has received specialized training in spotting fake immigration documents and assisting in immigration investigations.
---
Staff writers Katie Arcieri and Elisabeth Hulette contributed to this report.
http://www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2008/07_01-30/TOP
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