By KIRK JOHNSON
The New York Times
October 5, 2011
OLATHE, Colo. — How can there be a labor shortage when nearly one out of every 11 people in the nation are unemployed?
That’s the question John Harold asked himself last winter when he was trying to figure out how much help he would need to harvest the corn and onions on his 1,000-acre farm here in western Colorado.
The simple-sounding plan that resulted — hire more local people and fewer foreign workers — left Mr. Harold and others who took a similar path adrift in a predicament worthy of Kafka.
The more they tried to do something concrete to address immigration and joblessness, the worse off they found themselves.
“It’s absolutely true that people who have played by the rules are having the toughest time of all,” said Senator Michael Bennet, a Democrat from Colorado.
Mr. Harold, a 71-year-old Vietnam War veteran who drifted here in the late ’60s, has participated for about a decade in a federal program called H-2A that allows seasonal foreign workers into the country to make up the gap where willing and able American workers are few in number. He typically has brought in about 90 people from Mexico each year from July through October.
This year, though, with tough times lingering and a big jump in the minimum wage under the program, to nearly $10.50 hour, Mr. Harold brought in only two-thirds of his usual contingent. The other positions, he figured, would be snapped up by jobless local residents wanting some extra summer cash.
“It didn’t take me six hours to realize I’d made a heck of a mistake,” Mr. Harold said, standing in his onion field on a recent afternoon as a crew of workers from Mexico cut the tops off yellow onions and bagged them.
Six hours was enough, between the 6 a.m. start time and noon lunch break, for the first wave of local workers to quit. Some simply never came back and gave no reason. Twenty-five of them said specifically, according to farm records, that the work was too hard. On the Harold farm, pickers walk the rows alongside a huge harvest vehicle called a mule train, plucking ears of corn and handing them up to workers on the mule who box them and lift the crates, each weighing 45 to 50 pounds.
“It is not an easy job,” said Kerry Mattics, 49, another H-2A farmer here in Olathe, who brought in only a third of his usual Mexican crew of 12 workers for his 50-acre fruit and vegetable farm, then struggled to make it through the season. “It’s outside, so if it’s wet, you’re wet, and if it’s hot you’re hot,” he said.
Still, Mr. Mattics said, he can’t help feeling that people have gotten soft.
“They wanted that $10.50 an hour without doing very much,” he said. “I know people with college degrees, working for the school system and only making 11 bucks.”
A mismatch between employers’ requirements and the skills and needs of the jobless — repeated across industries — has been a constant theme of this recessionary era. But here on the farm, mismatch can mean high anxiety.
The H-2A program, in particular, in trying to avoid displacing American citizens from jobs, strongly encourages farmers to hire locally if they can, with a requirement that they advertise in at least three states. That forces participants to take huge risks in guessing where a moving target might land — how many locals, how many foreigners — often with an entire season’s revenue at stake. Survival, not civic virtue, drives the equation, they say.
“Farmers have to bear almost all the labor market risk because they must prove no one really was available, qualified or willing to work,” said Dawn D. Thilmany, a professor of agricultural economics at Colorado State University. “But the only way to offer proof is to literally have a field left unharvested.”
Mr. Harold’s experience is a repeated refrain where farm labor is seasonal and population sparse. And even many immigration hard-liners have come to agree that the dearth of Americans willing to work the fields requires some sort of rethinking, at least, of the H-2A program. Indeed, Representative Lamar Smith of Texas, a conservative Republican, is pushing a bill that would greatly expand the number of foreign guest workers admitted to the country each year.
In Colorado, the unemployment rate in many rural counties is also significantly lower than in the cities — two neighboring counties here, for example, had 5.5 percent and 6 percent unemployment rates in August, according to state figures, compared with 9.1 percent for the nation as a whole. The big increase in the wage rate for H-2A workers, meanwhile, up nearly $2.50 an hour — calculated by averaging what farmers had to pay last year — also suggests that labor demand was already rising.
Mr. Harold usually hires about 50 local workers for the season — regulars who have worked summers for years — and most returned this year, he said. Finding new employees was where he ran into trouble. He was able to recover after the season started, he said, by rushing in another group of H-2A workers from Mexico.
But the broader story of labor in agriculture, economists and historians said, is that through good times and bad and across socioeconomic lines, people who find better lives off the farm rarely return. Mr. Harold and other H-2A farmers said that most of the local residents who tried field work this summer, for example, were Hispanic, many of whom, they said, had probably immigrated in years past for agricultural work before taking better-paid jobs in construction or landscaping.
Other farmers left in the lurch by local workers conceded that what they had to offer was a tough sell — full-time but temporary work. About 56,000 foreign workers came into the country with H-2A visas last year, according to the most recent federal figures, down from 60,000 in 2009.
Heath Terrell is one of the few new local residents who stuck it out. Mr. Terrell, a former hay hauler, was hired to drive a corn truck. That job kept him out of the fields, and out of the sun. Now, as the season has shifted from corn to onions, Mr. Terrell, 42, said he might just stay on with Mr. Harold through the winter, or at least onion season.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/05/us/farmers-strain-to-hire-american-workers-in-place-of-migrant-labor.html?_r=1&hp
Showing posts with label Expulsion in CO. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Expulsion in CO. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Local cop implements bad policy in school
Dear Editor:
Carbondale police officer Alvaro Agon is being accused of harassing the Latino community. I attended a meeting with Police Chief Schilling, Mayor Bernot, and Town Manager Jay Harrington, with a room full of concerned parents and students. Each told a story of how Alvaro affected them and their families personally. Dozens of complaints were read detailing specific infractions.
Alvaro, as a school resource officer, is creating fear and stress among Latino students and families. The stories shared were horrifying to hear. All present were citizens. I shared my own story, as a parent who saw 4- and 5-year-old Latino children afraid to go in the same room for a safety discussion with Alvaro last Halloween.
School resource officers are part of a unique program designed to create a “positive peace keeper” presence in schools to reduce juvenile delinquency. SROs can create strong connections with children, building relationships based on trust, compassion, and guidance. It's a great program that has positive results when implemented appropriately. Chief Schilling told the group that ICE and SROs are in a shared task force throughout the Roaring Fork Valley.
A decision was made to have ICE and SROs share a task force. Alvaro made a decision to collaborate with ICE to deport undocumented immigrants. As a result, Latino children have been targeted in our public schools to ferret out undocumented parents. School administrators have ignored infractions — while ICE raids on nonviolent Latinos have increased — splitting families.
National immigration enforcement policy and education policy have clear boundaries, with laws and codes that separate the two. Alvaro Agon very well might be a kind person who cares for his community, and attends church faithfully. However, an abusive choice was made to engage in activities that have crossed the line legally and ethically. Trust has been breached within the community. Retaining Alvaro Agon compromises the SRO program.
The parents and students have asked for one simple solution for months, “Remove Alvaro as SRO.” It's unfortunate public officials aren't willing to do it.
Anita Sherman
Glenwood Springs
The Aspen Times
September, 26 2011
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20110927/LETTER/110929878/1020&ParentProfile=1061
Carbondale police officer Alvaro Agon is being accused of harassing the Latino community. I attended a meeting with Police Chief Schilling, Mayor Bernot, and Town Manager Jay Harrington, with a room full of concerned parents and students. Each told a story of how Alvaro affected them and their families personally. Dozens of complaints were read detailing specific infractions.
Alvaro, as a school resource officer, is creating fear and stress among Latino students and families. The stories shared were horrifying to hear. All present were citizens. I shared my own story, as a parent who saw 4- and 5-year-old Latino children afraid to go in the same room for a safety discussion with Alvaro last Halloween.
School resource officers are part of a unique program designed to create a “positive peace keeper” presence in schools to reduce juvenile delinquency. SROs can create strong connections with children, building relationships based on trust, compassion, and guidance. It's a great program that has positive results when implemented appropriately. Chief Schilling told the group that ICE and SROs are in a shared task force throughout the Roaring Fork Valley.
A decision was made to have ICE and SROs share a task force. Alvaro made a decision to collaborate with ICE to deport undocumented immigrants. As a result, Latino children have been targeted in our public schools to ferret out undocumented parents. School administrators have ignored infractions — while ICE raids on nonviolent Latinos have increased — splitting families.
National immigration enforcement policy and education policy have clear boundaries, with laws and codes that separate the two. Alvaro Agon very well might be a kind person who cares for his community, and attends church faithfully. However, an abusive choice was made to engage in activities that have crossed the line legally and ethically. Trust has been breached within the community. Retaining Alvaro Agon compromises the SRO program.
The parents and students have asked for one simple solution for months, “Remove Alvaro as SRO.” It's unfortunate public officials aren't willing to do it.
Anita Sherman
Glenwood Springs
The Aspen Times
September, 26 2011
http://www.aspentimes.com/article/20110927/LETTER/110929878/1020&ParentProfile=1061
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Pilot fingerprint program in three Colorado jails to aid deportations
By Kieran Nicholson
The Denver Post
February 15, 2011
Fingerprints of inmates booked into three jails in Colorado can now be forwarded electronically to federal databases, and returned information could lead to deportations of illegal immigrants.
The Secure Communities Program kicked off today in Arapahoe and El Paso counties, as well as Denver, according to the Colorado Department of Public Safety.
"These are counties that have stepped forward," said Lance Clem, a public safety spokesman.
In January Gov. Bill Ritter approved Colorado's participation in the program. Colorado joins at least 35 other states in the measure.
"This is a very important program that will have a positive impact upon public safety, will enhance our ability to identify criminal aliens, and will focus upon the timely deportation of those who continue to victimize our community," Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson said.
As part of the program, jailers will receive immigration status information within two hours of submitting fingerprints to federal databases, which will lead to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement placing a "deportation detainer" on illegal immigrants.
The pilot program, which started at 7 a.m. and should last about six to eight weeks, aims to "ensure a smooth transition" for other sheriff's offices across the state, Robinson said.
Every inmate booked into the jail is fingerprinted and all fingerprints will be submitted to the federal data base via the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, Robinson said.
"It will be seamless," he said.
Robinson, who sat on the Governor's Immigration Task Force, said his office has some concerns over a "backlog" of inmates, or an "uptick" in the jail's population, but it "shouldn't cause overcrowding."
"We are very glad it was implemented," Robinson said.
The County Sheriffs of Colorado and the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police both support the program, Robinson said, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is aiming for nationwide implementation by 2013.
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com.
http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_17393883
The Denver Post
February 15, 2011
Fingerprints of inmates booked into three jails in Colorado can now be forwarded electronically to federal databases, and returned information could lead to deportations of illegal immigrants.
The Secure Communities Program kicked off today in Arapahoe and El Paso counties, as well as Denver, according to the Colorado Department of Public Safety.
"These are counties that have stepped forward," said Lance Clem, a public safety spokesman.
In January Gov. Bill Ritter approved Colorado's participation in the program. Colorado joins at least 35 other states in the measure.
"This is a very important program that will have a positive impact upon public safety, will enhance our ability to identify criminal aliens, and will focus upon the timely deportation of those who continue to victimize our community," Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson said.
As part of the program, jailers will receive immigration status information within two hours of submitting fingerprints to federal databases, which will lead to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement placing a "deportation detainer" on illegal immigrants.
The pilot program, which started at 7 a.m. and should last about six to eight weeks, aims to "ensure a smooth transition" for other sheriff's offices across the state, Robinson said.
Every inmate booked into the jail is fingerprinted and all fingerprints will be submitted to the federal data base via the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, Robinson said.
"It will be seamless," he said.
Robinson, who sat on the Governor's Immigration Task Force, said his office has some concerns over a "backlog" of inmates, or an "uptick" in the jail's population, but it "shouldn't cause overcrowding."
"We are very glad it was implemented," Robinson said.
The County Sheriffs of Colorado and the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police both support the program, Robinson said, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is aiming for nationwide implementation by 2013.
Kieran Nicholson: 303-954-1822 or knicholson@denverpost.com.
http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_17393883
Monday, February 7, 2011
U.S. deports 3,000 war vets in 15 years
By EFE
February 07, 2011
Washington – Some 3,000 war veterans, the majority of them Hispanic, have been deported over the last 15 years, according to a pair of Mexican-Ameican brothers who served in Vietnam and are now facing expulsion after 55 years in the United States.
The United States takes the position that foreign-born ex-soldiers who commit a crime or even minor infractions of the law may be deported to their countries of origin.
A large portion of these crimes are linked to "psychological problems and traumas stemming from war," Valente, the older of the two Valenzuela brothers, told Efe.
"Combat is very hard, such that many of those who return cannot stand it and begin to drink alcohol or do drugs, start to get involved in problems, and some wind up in jail. From there, they are deporting them," 62-year-old Valente said.
The infractions for which the Valenzuela brothers are facing possible deportation occurred more than 20 years ago, in the case of Manuel's speeding ticket, and a decade ago for Valente, cited for misdemeanor domestic violence.
Undocumented immigrants who enlist in the U.S. Armed Forces are given a choice between naturalization and retaining their foreign citizenship.
But Manuel and Valente Valenzuela never thought they would need U.S. citizenship, since their mother was American and their Mexican father went through the naturalization process.
"We were born in Mexico, and my mother made the mistake of not getting our papers in order when we came to the U.S.," Valente said. "But we've spent our whole lives here and we even risked them to defend this country in Vietnam," Valente said.
The Valenzuelas, who live in Colorado, traveled to the U.S. capital to ask President Barack Obama to "stop the deportations and bring the expelled veterans back."
As part of their campaign, Valente and Manuel on Sunday protested in their military uniforms in front of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, the monument that pays homage to the roughly 57,000 U.S. armed forces personnel who died in that war.
"We don't blame him. We know that it wasn't he who made these rules. But Obama is the only one who can put an end to the regulations that the Bush administration established after the 2001 attacks, and (the fact that) they are pursuing the foreign veterans as if we were terrorists," Manuel said.
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2011/02/07/deports-war-vets-years/#ixzz1DgzGZStK
February 07, 2011
Washington – Some 3,000 war veterans, the majority of them Hispanic, have been deported over the last 15 years, according to a pair of Mexican-Ameican brothers who served in Vietnam and are now facing expulsion after 55 years in the United States.
The United States takes the position that foreign-born ex-soldiers who commit a crime or even minor infractions of the law may be deported to their countries of origin.
A large portion of these crimes are linked to "psychological problems and traumas stemming from war," Valente, the older of the two Valenzuela brothers, told Efe.
"Combat is very hard, such that many of those who return cannot stand it and begin to drink alcohol or do drugs, start to get involved in problems, and some wind up in jail. From there, they are deporting them," 62-year-old Valente said.
The infractions for which the Valenzuela brothers are facing possible deportation occurred more than 20 years ago, in the case of Manuel's speeding ticket, and a decade ago for Valente, cited for misdemeanor domestic violence.
Undocumented immigrants who enlist in the U.S. Armed Forces are given a choice between naturalization and retaining their foreign citizenship.
But Manuel and Valente Valenzuela never thought they would need U.S. citizenship, since their mother was American and their Mexican father went through the naturalization process.
"We were born in Mexico, and my mother made the mistake of not getting our papers in order when we came to the U.S.," Valente said. "But we've spent our whole lives here and we even risked them to defend this country in Vietnam," Valente said.
The Valenzuelas, who live in Colorado, traveled to the U.S. capital to ask President Barack Obama to "stop the deportations and bring the expelled veterans back."
As part of their campaign, Valente and Manuel on Sunday protested in their military uniforms in front of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, the monument that pays homage to the roughly 57,000 U.S. armed forces personnel who died in that war.
"We don't blame him. We know that it wasn't he who made these rules. But Obama is the only one who can put an end to the regulations that the Bush administration established after the 2001 attacks, and (the fact that) they are pursuing the foreign veterans as if we were terrorists," Manuel said.
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2011/02/07/deports-war-vets-years/#ixzz1DgzGZStK
Monday, November 1, 2010
Judge throws out ICE Aspen deportation case
By Andrew Travers
Aspen Daily News
October 30, 2010
A Denver immigration judge recently threw out a deportation case against three allegedly undocumented foreign workers from Aspen, finding that federal immigration authorities illegally raided their Lazy Glen home in March of last year.
The raid on the three-story cabin, where nine adults and three children were staying, was conducted around 5:30 a.m. on March 24, 2009. Agents entered the house, woke up the residents in their bedrooms, yelling that there was an automobile accident outside and stating they were police. They then detained eight of the residents as illegal immigrants.
One man was immediately deported. The other seven have challenged the legality of the raid in immigration court, through Glenwood Springs attorney Ted Hess.
The raid was conducted by a Glenwood Springs-based U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) team, led by special agent Steve Turza.
In a 13-page ruling issued Oct. 21, Immigration Judge John W. Davis suppressed all collected evidence and dismissed the deportation cases against sisters Isabel and Citlali Guerrero, both housekeepers at the Aspen Square Condominium Hotel at the time of the raid, and Mario Alberto Soto-Gutierrez.
Judge Davis ruled that the warrantless, consentless raid was illegal.
Such rulings based on the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment are rare in immigration cases, and Hess said Friday that it was the first of its kind in Colorado.
Only if a search is found to be an “egregious” violation of search and seizure rights as defined in the Fourth Amendment, immigration judges have the authority to throw cases out.
“While interpretations of ‘egregiousness’ may vary,” Judge Davis wrote, “the decisions made by the ICE agents, particularly Special Agent Turza, who led the investigation, were beyond what a reasonable officer could or should have believed was lawful ... The court finds that the agents’ pre-dawn entry compiled with blatant misrepresentations to sleeping residents, conveying terrifying news of an accident is, in fact, egregious.”
Hess praised the judge’s ruling. “He could not in good conscience, uphold the raid,” Hess said.
Agent Turza testified that ICE received an anonymous tip in November 2008 that residents of the Lazy Glen cabin were in the U.S. illegally, and may have been involved in the theft of a television from the Aspen Square. The raid occurred five months later.
“The plan was simple: knock on the door and get consent to speak to the aliens,” Turza is quoted by the judge as testifying.
He testified that they conducted the operation in the pre-dawn hours because the residents were known to commute to work early in the morning. He said they did not get consent before entering because their knocks on the door went unanswered and his team feared the residents may have been poisoned by a carbon-monoxide leak, as an Aspen family had several months earlier.
The judge referred to this reasoning as a “ruse” and wrote that Turza also testified that the door was open when they arrived, which would diminish any possibility of a carbon monoxide problem.
“Generally,” Judge Davis wrote, “the Court found the agents’ testimony to be unreliable.”
Hess characterized it more bluntly: “This is one of the few times you will actually get an immigration judge saying that they [the ICE agents] lied.”
The judge wrote of the detainees: “All of the witnesses testified credibly that they were awoken in the pre-dawn hours and that the agents were identifying themselves as ‘police’ and yelling about an accident as they knocked on the various bedroom doors in the house.”
Citlali Guerrero testified at a July hearing in Denver that she had been sleeping in a room with her 5-year-old son when the ICE officers woke them. “The biggest mistreatment was psychological,” the judge quotes her as testifying.
As their deportation cases have proceeded, all seven local respondents have been released from detention facilities, either on immigration bonds or under ICE monitoring.
Hess said the Aspen area raid was part of an ongoing and largely unchecked trend of improper ICE operations, in which agents illegally enter homes, seize residents there who are not targets of the investigation, and then detain them based only on their racial or ethnic appearance. It was documented in a recent Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law study, titled, “Constitution on ICE.”
“They are just going freaking crazy,” Hess said, “and because this is a distinct and insular and disenfranchised minority, they are getting away with it ... I’m not going to go as far as calling them Nazis but these are Gestapo tactics. They are running roughshod over fundamental rights.”
Most cases of this kind do end in deportation, Hess said, because the individuals do not hire lawyers or fight the legality of such raids. “I was really happy when this particular group decided to stand up and resist,” he said.
A spokesman for ICE was reviewing Judge Davis’s ruling Friday, but did not respond with any comments before press time.
The deportation proceedings are still pending against four of the Lazy Glen residents. Hess is asking to have those cases dismissed under the same grounds as the case Judge Davis threw out. Those hearings are in court in on Apr. 25 and June 20, 2011.
http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/143412
Aspen Daily News
October 30, 2010
A Denver immigration judge recently threw out a deportation case against three allegedly undocumented foreign workers from Aspen, finding that federal immigration authorities illegally raided their Lazy Glen home in March of last year.
The raid on the three-story cabin, where nine adults and three children were staying, was conducted around 5:30 a.m. on March 24, 2009. Agents entered the house, woke up the residents in their bedrooms, yelling that there was an automobile accident outside and stating they were police. They then detained eight of the residents as illegal immigrants.
One man was immediately deported. The other seven have challenged the legality of the raid in immigration court, through Glenwood Springs attorney Ted Hess.
The raid was conducted by a Glenwood Springs-based U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) team, led by special agent Steve Turza.
In a 13-page ruling issued Oct. 21, Immigration Judge John W. Davis suppressed all collected evidence and dismissed the deportation cases against sisters Isabel and Citlali Guerrero, both housekeepers at the Aspen Square Condominium Hotel at the time of the raid, and Mario Alberto Soto-Gutierrez.
Judge Davis ruled that the warrantless, consentless raid was illegal.
Such rulings based on the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment are rare in immigration cases, and Hess said Friday that it was the first of its kind in Colorado.
Only if a search is found to be an “egregious” violation of search and seizure rights as defined in the Fourth Amendment, immigration judges have the authority to throw cases out.
“While interpretations of ‘egregiousness’ may vary,” Judge Davis wrote, “the decisions made by the ICE agents, particularly Special Agent Turza, who led the investigation, were beyond what a reasonable officer could or should have believed was lawful ... The court finds that the agents’ pre-dawn entry compiled with blatant misrepresentations to sleeping residents, conveying terrifying news of an accident is, in fact, egregious.”
Hess praised the judge’s ruling. “He could not in good conscience, uphold the raid,” Hess said.
Agent Turza testified that ICE received an anonymous tip in November 2008 that residents of the Lazy Glen cabin were in the U.S. illegally, and may have been involved in the theft of a television from the Aspen Square. The raid occurred five months later.
“The plan was simple: knock on the door and get consent to speak to the aliens,” Turza is quoted by the judge as testifying.
He testified that they conducted the operation in the pre-dawn hours because the residents were known to commute to work early in the morning. He said they did not get consent before entering because their knocks on the door went unanswered and his team feared the residents may have been poisoned by a carbon-monoxide leak, as an Aspen family had several months earlier.
The judge referred to this reasoning as a “ruse” and wrote that Turza also testified that the door was open when they arrived, which would diminish any possibility of a carbon monoxide problem.
“Generally,” Judge Davis wrote, “the Court found the agents’ testimony to be unreliable.”
Hess characterized it more bluntly: “This is one of the few times you will actually get an immigration judge saying that they [the ICE agents] lied.”
The judge wrote of the detainees: “All of the witnesses testified credibly that they were awoken in the pre-dawn hours and that the agents were identifying themselves as ‘police’ and yelling about an accident as they knocked on the various bedroom doors in the house.”
Citlali Guerrero testified at a July hearing in Denver that she had been sleeping in a room with her 5-year-old son when the ICE officers woke them. “The biggest mistreatment was psychological,” the judge quotes her as testifying.
As their deportation cases have proceeded, all seven local respondents have been released from detention facilities, either on immigration bonds or under ICE monitoring.
Hess said the Aspen area raid was part of an ongoing and largely unchecked trend of improper ICE operations, in which agents illegally enter homes, seize residents there who are not targets of the investigation, and then detain them based only on their racial or ethnic appearance. It was documented in a recent Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law study, titled, “Constitution on ICE.”
“They are just going freaking crazy,” Hess said, “and because this is a distinct and insular and disenfranchised minority, they are getting away with it ... I’m not going to go as far as calling them Nazis but these are Gestapo tactics. They are running roughshod over fundamental rights.”
Most cases of this kind do end in deportation, Hess said, because the individuals do not hire lawyers or fight the legality of such raids. “I was really happy when this particular group decided to stand up and resist,” he said.
A spokesman for ICE was reviewing Judge Davis’s ruling Friday, but did not respond with any comments before press time.
The deportation proceedings are still pending against four of the Lazy Glen residents. Hess is asking to have those cases dismissed under the same grounds as the case Judge Davis threw out. Those hearings are in court in on Apr. 25 and June 20, 2011.
http://www.aspendailynews.com/section/home/143412
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
DREAM Act backers go door to door to blast Buck, boost Bennet
By Taran Volckhausen
The Colorado Independent
10/25/10
Student DREAM Act backers and immigration reform activists took to the streets over the weekend, knocking on doors to talk Boulder residents into voting for candidates who favor comprehensive immigration reform.
“We as folks who are interested in the DREAM Act and comprehensive immigration reform, we need to be showing our faces at the door,” said Jessie Ulibarri, Colorado State Director of the Mi Familia Vota Civic Participation Campaign. “That is how we’ll get the Colorado that we want.”
Republican Senate candidate Ken Buck took a hard line against illegal immigration as Weld County district attorney. In 2006, Buck played a key role in the investigation that led to an ICE raid at the Colorado Swift meatpacking plant. While the raids were successful in netting 262 undocumented workers, critics, including former Greeley Mayor Tom Selders, pointed out that the raids also left 200 Greeley families with no income.
A year after the raid, in the Greeley Tribune, Buck responded to criticism that the law enforcement agencies conducted the raids without regard for the families.
“We are constantly arresting people who commit crimes and there are consequences to family members because of those arrests. So it’s not something that resonates very strongly with us because we feel in law enforcement that if someone commits a crime, they are the ones responsible for the effect on their family members,” Buck said at the time.
At Saturday’s canvassing event, Ulibarri contrasted the two Colorado Senate candidates.
“Ken Buck has been no friend of the immigrant community at all,” said Ulibarri. “While Bennet has been one the strongest and most vocal freshman senators on comprehensive immigration reform in the country … When people stand up for us; we are going to stand up for them.”
News that undocumented immigrants are canvassing in the upcoming elections in Washington State has upset anti-illegal immigration activists.
Ulibarri reportedly received a death threat via email on Saturday.
“I got a death threat this morning that said that I, and the canvassers I work with, should be lined up and shot,” said Ulibarri. “And it’s just because we are trying to get our voice heard.”
Mi Familia Vota’s message of civic participation for Latinos runs in stark contrast to a Nevada radio ad on Spanish-language station Univision earlier this week by The Republican group Latinos for Reform that encouraged Latinos not to vote. The controversial ad was pulled shortly after it hit the airways.
President Barack Obama blasted the ad as “a cynical political ploy to try to drive Latino votes to benefit a Republican candidate in Nevada who would never vote for immigration reform.”
Latino turnout in the upcoming election – as with other key Democratic demographics such as women and young voters – is expected to be weaker than in 2008 election. But volunteer Sonia Marquez argues that the damage could be minimized by a strong get-out-the-vote campaign.
“Every door we knock on, we are opening eyes and making people hear us,” said Marquez. “We’re getting people to think about these issues and this election, even if they don’t want to.
http://coloradoindependent.com/64678/dream-act-backers-go-door-to-door-to-blast-buck-boost-bennet
The Colorado Independent
10/25/10
Student DREAM Act backers and immigration reform activists took to the streets over the weekend, knocking on doors to talk Boulder residents into voting for candidates who favor comprehensive immigration reform.
“We as folks who are interested in the DREAM Act and comprehensive immigration reform, we need to be showing our faces at the door,” said Jessie Ulibarri, Colorado State Director of the Mi Familia Vota Civic Participation Campaign. “That is how we’ll get the Colorado that we want.”
Republican Senate candidate Ken Buck took a hard line against illegal immigration as Weld County district attorney. In 2006, Buck played a key role in the investigation that led to an ICE raid at the Colorado Swift meatpacking plant. While the raids were successful in netting 262 undocumented workers, critics, including former Greeley Mayor Tom Selders, pointed out that the raids also left 200 Greeley families with no income.
A year after the raid, in the Greeley Tribune, Buck responded to criticism that the law enforcement agencies conducted the raids without regard for the families.
“We are constantly arresting people who commit crimes and there are consequences to family members because of those arrests. So it’s not something that resonates very strongly with us because we feel in law enforcement that if someone commits a crime, they are the ones responsible for the effect on their family members,” Buck said at the time.
At Saturday’s canvassing event, Ulibarri contrasted the two Colorado Senate candidates.
“Ken Buck has been no friend of the immigrant community at all,” said Ulibarri. “While Bennet has been one the strongest and most vocal freshman senators on comprehensive immigration reform in the country … When people stand up for us; we are going to stand up for them.”
News that undocumented immigrants are canvassing in the upcoming elections in Washington State has upset anti-illegal immigration activists.
Ulibarri reportedly received a death threat via email on Saturday.
“I got a death threat this morning that said that I, and the canvassers I work with, should be lined up and shot,” said Ulibarri. “And it’s just because we are trying to get our voice heard.”
Mi Familia Vota’s message of civic participation for Latinos runs in stark contrast to a Nevada radio ad on Spanish-language station Univision earlier this week by The Republican group Latinos for Reform that encouraged Latinos not to vote. The controversial ad was pulled shortly after it hit the airways.
President Barack Obama blasted the ad as “a cynical political ploy to try to drive Latino votes to benefit a Republican candidate in Nevada who would never vote for immigration reform.”
Latino turnout in the upcoming election – as with other key Democratic demographics such as women and young voters – is expected to be weaker than in 2008 election. But volunteer Sonia Marquez argues that the damage could be minimized by a strong get-out-the-vote campaign.
“Every door we knock on, we are opening eyes and making people hear us,” said Marquez. “We’re getting people to think about these issues and this election, even if they don’t want to.
http://coloradoindependent.com/64678/dream-act-backers-go-door-to-door-to-blast-buck-boost-bennet
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Decorated War Vets Face Deportation; Colorado Brothers Born In Mexico, Raised In U.S.
By Lance Hernandez
7NEWS
September 22, 2010
DENVER -- Valente and Manuel Valenzuela can’t believe the Department of Homeland Security wants to deport them. The two brothers, who were born in Mexico but grew up in the U.S., are decorated war veterans, whose mother was a U.S. citizen.
Valente, 62, of Colorado Springs, told 7NEWS that he volunteered for the Army to avoid having to repeat 10th grade.
“They sent me to Vietnam,” he said, “after telling me they wouldn’t.”
Valente was awarded a Bronze Star for his bravery. He still has the scars to prove how difficult his job was.
“I have been dealing with post traumatic stress disorder for 42 years. I have Agent Orange on my hands,” he said. “My skin is discolored from Agent Orange from burying the canisters. I have bullet burns on my belly and have undergone three surgeries.”
Valente’s brother, Manuel, said he joined the Marines to avoid being drafted into the Army.
“We were in the jungle. It was hard,” Manuel said. “All you want to do is forget it.”
The brothers were stunned when they received letters from the Department of Homeland Security in 2009 informing them that they would face deportation hearings.
“It made me angry,” Valente said. “At first I wanted to go back to the International Bridge and burn an American flag and throw my medals back across the river. I was that angry.”
Then he and his brother decided to fight for their rights.
When asked why the government wanted to deport them, Valente said he had a domestic violence charge on his record from years ago.
Manuel said he too got into trouble and resisted arrest.
Both brothers believe their behavior may have been related to PTSD, which they are now receiving counseling for.
“I feel sick to my stomach that they’re going through this,” said attorney Mariela Sagastume. “They bravely served their country. They are war heroes. Who’s going to stand up for them?”
The attorney said that if the brothers are deported, “They will be stripped of all these resources, all the help, and they will be sent to a country they haven’t been to in decades.”
Sagastume told 7NEWS that both brothers crossed over to the U.S. as legal permanent residents in 1955.
“Because their mother was a U.S. citizen born in the U.S., they should have been issued citizenship,” she said. “I believe that an error was made.”
Immigration law was slightly different from 1941 to 1952 when the brothers were born.
The law then required the American parent to have resided in the U.S. for at least 10 years, five of those after the age of 16.
Sagastume said the brother’s mom met that requirement. “They lived along the border and she crossed over frequently,” Sagastume said. “We believe we can prove continuous presence here.”
“We are veterans and we are proud of what we did,” Manuel said. “It was hard during the war, but this is worse.”
Valente said he feels his government is being treasonous toward him.
“I feel my government has stabbed me in the back,” he said.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities declined to comment for this story, saying they have very strict privacy policies for individual cases.
Speaking generally, a public affairs officer with the Executive Office for Immigration Review said there are a variety of reasons why a deportation hearing might be initiated against an individual and that breaking the law is one of them.
Members of the American G.I. Forum in Denver believe the brothers are getting a raw deal.
The Latino veterans group is backing the Valenzuelas in their battle against Homeland Security.
“We have a good cause here and we’re not going to stop until everything is resolved,” said Vice Commander Russell Lopez of the Skyline chapter.
Fellow veterans will lead a rally in support of the Valenzuela brothers at 9 a.m., Wednesday, Sept. 29 in front of the new Immigration Court at 621 17th St.
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/25107233/detail.html
7NEWS
September 22, 2010
DENVER -- Valente and Manuel Valenzuela can’t believe the Department of Homeland Security wants to deport them. The two brothers, who were born in Mexico but grew up in the U.S., are decorated war veterans, whose mother was a U.S. citizen.
Valente, 62, of Colorado Springs, told 7NEWS that he volunteered for the Army to avoid having to repeat 10th grade.
“They sent me to Vietnam,” he said, “after telling me they wouldn’t.”
Valente was awarded a Bronze Star for his bravery. He still has the scars to prove how difficult his job was.
“I have been dealing with post traumatic stress disorder for 42 years. I have Agent Orange on my hands,” he said. “My skin is discolored from Agent Orange from burying the canisters. I have bullet burns on my belly and have undergone three surgeries.”
Valente’s brother, Manuel, said he joined the Marines to avoid being drafted into the Army.
“We were in the jungle. It was hard,” Manuel said. “All you want to do is forget it.”
The brothers were stunned when they received letters from the Department of Homeland Security in 2009 informing them that they would face deportation hearings.
“It made me angry,” Valente said. “At first I wanted to go back to the International Bridge and burn an American flag and throw my medals back across the river. I was that angry.”
Then he and his brother decided to fight for their rights.
When asked why the government wanted to deport them, Valente said he had a domestic violence charge on his record from years ago.
Manuel said he too got into trouble and resisted arrest.
Both brothers believe their behavior may have been related to PTSD, which they are now receiving counseling for.
“I feel sick to my stomach that they’re going through this,” said attorney Mariela Sagastume. “They bravely served their country. They are war heroes. Who’s going to stand up for them?”
The attorney said that if the brothers are deported, “They will be stripped of all these resources, all the help, and they will be sent to a country they haven’t been to in decades.”
Sagastume told 7NEWS that both brothers crossed over to the U.S. as legal permanent residents in 1955.
“Because their mother was a U.S. citizen born in the U.S., they should have been issued citizenship,” she said. “I believe that an error was made.”
Immigration law was slightly different from 1941 to 1952 when the brothers were born.
The law then required the American parent to have resided in the U.S. for at least 10 years, five of those after the age of 16.
Sagastume said the brother’s mom met that requirement. “They lived along the border and she crossed over frequently,” Sagastume said. “We believe we can prove continuous presence here.”
“We are veterans and we are proud of what we did,” Manuel said. “It was hard during the war, but this is worse.”
Valente said he feels his government is being treasonous toward him.
“I feel my government has stabbed me in the back,” he said.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities declined to comment for this story, saying they have very strict privacy policies for individual cases.
Speaking generally, a public affairs officer with the Executive Office for Immigration Review said there are a variety of reasons why a deportation hearing might be initiated against an individual and that breaking the law is one of them.
Members of the American G.I. Forum in Denver believe the brothers are getting a raw deal.
The Latino veterans group is backing the Valenzuelas in their battle against Homeland Security.
“We have a good cause here and we’re not going to stop until everything is resolved,” said Vice Commander Russell Lopez of the Skyline chapter.
Fellow veterans will lead a rally in support of the Valenzuela brothers at 9 a.m., Wednesday, Sept. 29 in front of the new Immigration Court at 621 17th St.
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/25107233/detail.html
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Deportation fears plague locals
By J. Adrian Stanley
Colorado Springs Independent
August 5, 2010
In past years, Sandra Hernandez, executive director of the Colorado Springs nonprofit Centro de la Familia and a licensed clinical social worker, spent her days helping Hispanic and immigrant families with run-of-the-mill issues: parenting skills, marital problems, children struggling in school.
But recently, Centro has given its free or low-cost counseling to families with bigger troubles. Hernandez is seeing depressed kids, even suicidal kids, regularly. And they all have something in common: a parent or loved one who's been deported.
The trend began several years ago, after Colorado enacted several laws to crack down on illegal immigration, and it hasn't eased since. Hernandez says that now, she's worried about some politicians' campaign-trail promises to bring Arizona's rigid new immigration law to Colorado.
Were that to happen, she says, the stories she hears weekly will only get worse. And they're bad enough already.
In one recent case, a father was facing deportation, to the horror of his two young sons — both American citizens.
"You could tell that dad was very nurturing, spent a lot of time with his boys, played a lot of soccer with his boys, took them to the movies, that they went fishing ... and when dad was in jail for three months, these kids really deteriorated," Hernandez says. She adds, "The one little boy, the oldest one, he became suicidal; he was making suicidal threats. I think he was about 9 or 10 — 9 or 10 — and he was basically saying, 'I'm going to kill myself. I'm going to hurt myself. I don't want to live.'"
Imagine, Hernandez says, being a child afraid that someone would invade your home and take your mom or dad — or even you — away to some strange place. Mexico. A place you've heard about on the news, where heads show up without bodies, and young women are found in mass graves.
Most often, she says, kids she sees are worried about a father who's facing deportation, a process that can take months. (Hernandez only helps families facing deportation if the undocumented worker has not committed any crime.)
"What we're dealing with here is that there's no resolution to 'What's going to happen with my dad?'" she says. "'Are they going to come in the middle of the night and pick up my dad? Is my dad going to be taken while I'm in school, like happened last time? What's going to happen at the hearing? When my dad goes to the hearing, is he going to be allowed to come back home? Are we going to have to move to Mexico?'"
The ordeal leaves kids depressed, anxious, aggressive and unable to concentrate in school. They have nightmares, and self-esteem issues. Hernandez is currently working with an 8-year-old who stopped speaking when her father was picked up by authorities.
And there's another case that haunts her: an English-speaking 18-year-old girl, raised in America, who is stranded in Juarez. The girl's request for citizenship was denied. Not because she did anything wrong, but because the petition her parents filed on her behalf is no longer valid.
"This little girl comes to the United States," Hernandez explains. "She's 6 years old. The mom marries an American citizen, so mom becomes an American citizen and they petition for the little girl. Well, this takes forever, these things sometimes. So she hits the age of 18, and ... the hearing occurs after her 18th birthday, so they have to go to Ciudad Juarez [where the hearing is held]. And the judge said no. He said no to the petition because it's after her 18th birthday. So, they have to leave this 18-year-old girl in a boarding house in Juarez, where all the killings are going on with the women. You can imagine how these parents feel."
Hernandez sighs.
"We can do better than this."
Mood swings
The law of unintended consequences often plays out spectacularly when it comes to immigration enforcement.
But that hasn't stopped the laws from coming, as anger about immigration grows. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, in 2005, 300 bills were introduced by state legislatures nationwide; 38 laws were enacted. In 2009, that number ballooned to about 1,500 bills introduced, 222 enacted and 131 resolutions adopted.
Back in 2006, long before Arizona required police to question anyone they suspect of being in the U.S. illegally — a law whose most controversial elements are now tied up in the courts — Colorado was already passing some of the country's strictest immigration policy.
That year, one law required all state workers and contractors to prove their citizenship. Another required police officers to report any arrestee suspected of being an illegal immigrant to the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) for possible deportation. (Domestic violence cases were excepted from the law since it's common for both the perpetrator and the victim to be arrested.) It also stated that all local law enforcement must cooperate with ICE.
While the current Legislature has been easier on immigrants, Gov. Bill Ritter is considering signing the state up for a federal program called Secure Communities. It would mandate a fingerprint check of anyone booked into any jail, to see if they are in the country illegally and if they have committed any crimes. Since first being implemented in Harris County, Texas in October 2008, Secure Communities has been adopted by portions of 27 states, and has screened about 3 million people.
The program has led to the deportation of more than 47,000. Of those, 9,800 were found to have committed Level 1 crimes (including the most serious crimes like homicide and rape), more than 19,000 committed Level 2 offenses (crimes like arson and vehicle theft), and more than 5,600 were convicted of Level 3 crimes (such as public drunkenness and property damage). About 12,300 had not been convicted of a crime.
Even if Ritter decides against Secure Communities, Republicans are promising that, if elected, they will bring ever-stricter immigration law to Colorado. Conservative gubernatorial candidates Scott McInnis, Dan Maes and Tom Tancredo have all spoken fondly of Arizona's tactics. Locally, both candidates for sheriff like Arizona's law, and both support a current program that the sheriff's office runs with ICE.
Of course, it wasn't so long ago that big-name Republicans and Democrats wanted "comprehensive immigration reform." Most envisioned this as providing a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants already in the United States, and creating a more logical process for immigrants to come to the country — legally — in the future.
These days, few are willing to stick their necks out. Even Arizona Sen. John McCain, one of the Republican Party's most vocal proponents of reform in past years, has changed his mind.
What's going on?
"I think that race is very heightened now, along with economic insecurity," says Eric Popkin, Colorado College associate professor of sociology. "If you perceive that lots of people coming from another country are here and taking jobs, when the unemployment rate is as high as it is, that fear of the other can be manipulated."
In reality
Of course, attitudes and realities don't always align.
Even as concerns about immigration spike, Popkin notes, immigration (as measured by border apprehensions) is down. In fact, in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2009, there were 556,041 border apprehensions. In 2008, there were 723,825. In 2000, there were 1,675,438.
Yes, some people say the decrease is due to increased border security. But Popkin isn't buying it.
"What some real noted studies have said is that it's the economy," he says. "When there's an upsurge of jobs, those apprehension rates go way up; when there are less jobs, they go way down. This has occurred cyclically for years."
Another note: Studies have shown that immigrants don't often compete with natives for jobs. To put it bluntly, immigrants work jobs Americans don't want. (To illustrate this point, the United Farm Workers of America launched their Take Our Jobs campaign, takeourjobs.org, wherein undocumented farm workers invite citizens and legal residents to replace them in the fields.)
Many economists, Popkin says, have long maintained that immigrants are necessary for the economy, especially as Baby Boomers age. They work lower-paying jobs. They pay into Social Security. And they buy things, including cars and houses.
Earlier this year, the Center for American Progress and the American Immigration Council released studies estimating that comprehensive immigration reform, as described above, would increase the U.S. gross domestic product by at least $1.5 trillion over 10 years.
In Colorado, immigrants keep tourism going in small mountain towns with pricey real estate; they often drive hours each day to and from minimum-wage positions in ski towns. Migrants also work the fields and grunt construction jobs.
It's a similar story elsewhere. In Arizona, for instance, Popkin says many migrants work as home health care aides, assisting the huge population of senior citizens. In 2007, Forbes named the profession one of the worst paid in America.
Illegal immigrants also usually live in, and often support, households in which some members are legal. Take away the breadwinner, Popkin notes, and those left behind could be forced to turn to welfare and other social programs.
Popkin acknowledges that the overall benefit most of America derives from immigration may not exist in the most crowded border counties, where large numbers of immigrants can drain resources.
"I understand the anger at the lack of federal response to the immigration issue," he says. "I understand where it comes from. Those costs are real. And if you're a rancher whose land straddles the border and people are crossing, and then you have the drug [smuggling] issue — which I separate from the immigration issue — yeah, I understand that people see it as a problem. And the answer, of course, is to regulate that flow through comprehensive immigration reform."
Feeling the impact
While it seems much of the country is screaming for deportations, there is resistance.
Before Arizona's law was put on hold by a judge (when the U.S. Department of Justice questioned its constitutionality), opponents hit the street in full force. Brown-skinned citizens left their homes without identification, daring police to arrest them for suspicion of being here illegally.
Locally, the response has been more muted. But state Rep. Dennis Apuan says he's hearing worries.
"District 17 is largely made up of communities of color," he says. "So I have a lot of Hispanics in my district, so I understand that they would be against something like Arizona [has]."
The American Civil Liberties Union has launched a campaign against that law. Colorado ACLU legal director Mark Silverstein says if it's allowed to stand, or even spread to other states, Americans would be living in something akin to a police state, afraid to take their dog for a walk without identification for fear of being swept up and deported. That's especially true, he says, since local law enforcement don't go through the special training that federal immigration agents must undergo.
"There's a tremendous chance that [police] will rely on their own biases," he says, adding, "It's the kind of policy that we've traditionally abhorred when its carried out in totalitarian countries."
— stanley@csindy.com
Immigration nation
State laws related to immigration have ballooned in recent years. Here's how the National Conference of State Legislatures has tallied them up.
http://www.csindy.com/colorado/barbed-ire/Content?oid=1800727
Colorado Springs Independent
August 5, 2010
In past years, Sandra Hernandez, executive director of the Colorado Springs nonprofit Centro de la Familia and a licensed clinical social worker, spent her days helping Hispanic and immigrant families with run-of-the-mill issues: parenting skills, marital problems, children struggling in school.
But recently, Centro has given its free or low-cost counseling to families with bigger troubles. Hernandez is seeing depressed kids, even suicidal kids, regularly. And they all have something in common: a parent or loved one who's been deported.
The trend began several years ago, after Colorado enacted several laws to crack down on illegal immigration, and it hasn't eased since. Hernandez says that now, she's worried about some politicians' campaign-trail promises to bring Arizona's rigid new immigration law to Colorado.
Were that to happen, she says, the stories she hears weekly will only get worse. And they're bad enough already.
In one recent case, a father was facing deportation, to the horror of his two young sons — both American citizens.
"You could tell that dad was very nurturing, spent a lot of time with his boys, played a lot of soccer with his boys, took them to the movies, that they went fishing ... and when dad was in jail for three months, these kids really deteriorated," Hernandez says. She adds, "The one little boy, the oldest one, he became suicidal; he was making suicidal threats. I think he was about 9 or 10 — 9 or 10 — and he was basically saying, 'I'm going to kill myself. I'm going to hurt myself. I don't want to live.'"
Imagine, Hernandez says, being a child afraid that someone would invade your home and take your mom or dad — or even you — away to some strange place. Mexico. A place you've heard about on the news, where heads show up without bodies, and young women are found in mass graves.
Most often, she says, kids she sees are worried about a father who's facing deportation, a process that can take months. (Hernandez only helps families facing deportation if the undocumented worker has not committed any crime.)
"What we're dealing with here is that there's no resolution to 'What's going to happen with my dad?'" she says. "'Are they going to come in the middle of the night and pick up my dad? Is my dad going to be taken while I'm in school, like happened last time? What's going to happen at the hearing? When my dad goes to the hearing, is he going to be allowed to come back home? Are we going to have to move to Mexico?'"
The ordeal leaves kids depressed, anxious, aggressive and unable to concentrate in school. They have nightmares, and self-esteem issues. Hernandez is currently working with an 8-year-old who stopped speaking when her father was picked up by authorities.
And there's another case that haunts her: an English-speaking 18-year-old girl, raised in America, who is stranded in Juarez. The girl's request for citizenship was denied. Not because she did anything wrong, but because the petition her parents filed on her behalf is no longer valid.
"This little girl comes to the United States," Hernandez explains. "She's 6 years old. The mom marries an American citizen, so mom becomes an American citizen and they petition for the little girl. Well, this takes forever, these things sometimes. So she hits the age of 18, and ... the hearing occurs after her 18th birthday, so they have to go to Ciudad Juarez [where the hearing is held]. And the judge said no. He said no to the petition because it's after her 18th birthday. So, they have to leave this 18-year-old girl in a boarding house in Juarez, where all the killings are going on with the women. You can imagine how these parents feel."
Hernandez sighs.
"We can do better than this."
Mood swings
The law of unintended consequences often plays out spectacularly when it comes to immigration enforcement.
But that hasn't stopped the laws from coming, as anger about immigration grows. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, in 2005, 300 bills were introduced by state legislatures nationwide; 38 laws were enacted. In 2009, that number ballooned to about 1,500 bills introduced, 222 enacted and 131 resolutions adopted.
Back in 2006, long before Arizona required police to question anyone they suspect of being in the U.S. illegally — a law whose most controversial elements are now tied up in the courts — Colorado was already passing some of the country's strictest immigration policy.
That year, one law required all state workers and contractors to prove their citizenship. Another required police officers to report any arrestee suspected of being an illegal immigrant to the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) for possible deportation. (Domestic violence cases were excepted from the law since it's common for both the perpetrator and the victim to be arrested.) It also stated that all local law enforcement must cooperate with ICE.
While the current Legislature has been easier on immigrants, Gov. Bill Ritter is considering signing the state up for a federal program called Secure Communities. It would mandate a fingerprint check of anyone booked into any jail, to see if they are in the country illegally and if they have committed any crimes. Since first being implemented in Harris County, Texas in October 2008, Secure Communities has been adopted by portions of 27 states, and has screened about 3 million people.
The program has led to the deportation of more than 47,000. Of those, 9,800 were found to have committed Level 1 crimes (including the most serious crimes like homicide and rape), more than 19,000 committed Level 2 offenses (crimes like arson and vehicle theft), and more than 5,600 were convicted of Level 3 crimes (such as public drunkenness and property damage). About 12,300 had not been convicted of a crime.
Even if Ritter decides against Secure Communities, Republicans are promising that, if elected, they will bring ever-stricter immigration law to Colorado. Conservative gubernatorial candidates Scott McInnis, Dan Maes and Tom Tancredo have all spoken fondly of Arizona's tactics. Locally, both candidates for sheriff like Arizona's law, and both support a current program that the sheriff's office runs with ICE.
Of course, it wasn't so long ago that big-name Republicans and Democrats wanted "comprehensive immigration reform." Most envisioned this as providing a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants already in the United States, and creating a more logical process for immigrants to come to the country — legally — in the future.
These days, few are willing to stick their necks out. Even Arizona Sen. John McCain, one of the Republican Party's most vocal proponents of reform in past years, has changed his mind.
What's going on?
"I think that race is very heightened now, along with economic insecurity," says Eric Popkin, Colorado College associate professor of sociology. "If you perceive that lots of people coming from another country are here and taking jobs, when the unemployment rate is as high as it is, that fear of the other can be manipulated."
In reality
Of course, attitudes and realities don't always align.
Even as concerns about immigration spike, Popkin notes, immigration (as measured by border apprehensions) is down. In fact, in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2009, there were 556,041 border apprehensions. In 2008, there were 723,825. In 2000, there were 1,675,438.
Yes, some people say the decrease is due to increased border security. But Popkin isn't buying it.
"What some real noted studies have said is that it's the economy," he says. "When there's an upsurge of jobs, those apprehension rates go way up; when there are less jobs, they go way down. This has occurred cyclically for years."
Another note: Studies have shown that immigrants don't often compete with natives for jobs. To put it bluntly, immigrants work jobs Americans don't want. (To illustrate this point, the United Farm Workers of America launched their Take Our Jobs campaign, takeourjobs.org, wherein undocumented farm workers invite citizens and legal residents to replace them in the fields.)
Many economists, Popkin says, have long maintained that immigrants are necessary for the economy, especially as Baby Boomers age. They work lower-paying jobs. They pay into Social Security. And they buy things, including cars and houses.
Earlier this year, the Center for American Progress and the American Immigration Council released studies estimating that comprehensive immigration reform, as described above, would increase the U.S. gross domestic product by at least $1.5 trillion over 10 years.
In Colorado, immigrants keep tourism going in small mountain towns with pricey real estate; they often drive hours each day to and from minimum-wage positions in ski towns. Migrants also work the fields and grunt construction jobs.
It's a similar story elsewhere. In Arizona, for instance, Popkin says many migrants work as home health care aides, assisting the huge population of senior citizens. In 2007, Forbes named the profession one of the worst paid in America.
Illegal immigrants also usually live in, and often support, households in which some members are legal. Take away the breadwinner, Popkin notes, and those left behind could be forced to turn to welfare and other social programs.
Popkin acknowledges that the overall benefit most of America derives from immigration may not exist in the most crowded border counties, where large numbers of immigrants can drain resources.
"I understand the anger at the lack of federal response to the immigration issue," he says. "I understand where it comes from. Those costs are real. And if you're a rancher whose land straddles the border and people are crossing, and then you have the drug [smuggling] issue — which I separate from the immigration issue — yeah, I understand that people see it as a problem. And the answer, of course, is to regulate that flow through comprehensive immigration reform."
Feeling the impact
While it seems much of the country is screaming for deportations, there is resistance.
Before Arizona's law was put on hold by a judge (when the U.S. Department of Justice questioned its constitutionality), opponents hit the street in full force. Brown-skinned citizens left their homes without identification, daring police to arrest them for suspicion of being here illegally.
Locally, the response has been more muted. But state Rep. Dennis Apuan says he's hearing worries.
"District 17 is largely made up of communities of color," he says. "So I have a lot of Hispanics in my district, so I understand that they would be against something like Arizona [has]."
The American Civil Liberties Union has launched a campaign against that law. Colorado ACLU legal director Mark Silverstein says if it's allowed to stand, or even spread to other states, Americans would be living in something akin to a police state, afraid to take their dog for a walk without identification for fear of being swept up and deported. That's especially true, he says, since local law enforcement don't go through the special training that federal immigration agents must undergo.
"There's a tremendous chance that [police] will rely on their own biases," he says, adding, "It's the kind of policy that we've traditionally abhorred when its carried out in totalitarian countries."
— stanley@csindy.com
Immigration nation
State laws related to immigration have ballooned in recent years. Here's how the National Conference of State Legislatures has tallied them up.
• In 2005, 300 bills were introduced; 39 laws were enacted and six vetoed.
• In 2006, 570 bills were introduced; 84 laws were enacted and six vetoed.
• In 2007, 1,562 bills were introduced; 240 laws were enacted and 12 vetoed.
• In 2008, 1,305 bills were introduced; 206 laws and resolutions were enacted and three vetoed.
• In 2009, approximately 1,500 bills were introduced; 353 laws and resolutions were enacted and 20 vetoed.
http://www.csindy.com/colorado/barbed-ire/Content?oid=1800727
Saturday, July 24, 2010
ICE Raids U.S. Citizen
Carbondale Man Handcuffed, Threatened With Deportation
By Jaclyn Allen
ABC 7 News (Denver)
July 21, 2010
CARBONDALE, Colo. -- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agents raided a Carbondale man's home and threatened to deport him last week.
The problem is, he is a U.S. Citizen.
"It was six in the morning, and I was still sleeping and I heard the knocking," said Marco Guevara.
When he opened the door, immigration agents quickly offered him a one-way ticket back to Ecuador.
"I was pretty sure they didn't want my family to know. They just wanted to take me in and make me disappear," said Guevara.
He said when he turned to call to his parents, he was tackled and handcuffed.
Carbondale police and sheriff's deputies teamed up with ICE agents last week for a series of gang sweeps. But in at least one case, their information was apparently wrong.
Guevara said he is a U.S. citizen with a valid U.S. passport which he's used to leave the country and return twice.
He said agents wouldn't listen to him, though, and his stepmother had to step in.
"I'm white. I speak fluent English," said Laurie Guevara-Stone. "There's just a lot of prejudice and racism and most people don't have someone like me in the house who can actually talk to these agents and make them calm down."
An ICE spokesman would not comment on the raid but released a statement to 7NEWS saying, "The ICE agent and sheriff's deputies on site acted appropriately and professionally. The incident is under investigation."
Brendan Greene with Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition said ICE agents "didn't have a leg to stand on."
"By act of law, if you're under the age of 18 when your parents become a citizen, you automatically become a citizen," said Greene.
He said Marco's father became a naturalized citizen in 2003 when Marco was 17.
"Unfortunately, it's something we see all too often with some of the ICE enforcement operations because of faulty databases that ICE uses to identify immigrants," said Greene. "In any other database a five to ten percent error rate would be unacceptable."
Guevara said the agents came to his home because they said he had a deportable offense -- a 2008 felony drug charge.
"I was hanging out with the wrong people," he said. "But I paid my fines, did my time, and never tried to justify it. I was held responsible for my actions."
Since then, he said he has found a job and been born again as a Christian. He said his favorite apostle, Paul, turned his life around, too.
"Just have faith and do the right thing, and you'll be alright," said Guevara.
Still, he said he lives in fear ICE will find something wrong with his papers and come knocking again.
"How many people have been deported, and then they could have been like, 'Oh, we made a mistake.' But who's going to bring them back? Who's going to help them out?" he said.
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/24346394/detail.html
By Jaclyn Allen
ABC 7 News (Denver)
July 21, 2010
CARBONDALE, Colo. -- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agents raided a Carbondale man's home and threatened to deport him last week.
The problem is, he is a U.S. Citizen.
"It was six in the morning, and I was still sleeping and I heard the knocking," said Marco Guevara.
When he opened the door, immigration agents quickly offered him a one-way ticket back to Ecuador.
"I was pretty sure they didn't want my family to know. They just wanted to take me in and make me disappear," said Guevara.
He said when he turned to call to his parents, he was tackled and handcuffed.
Carbondale police and sheriff's deputies teamed up with ICE agents last week for a series of gang sweeps. But in at least one case, their information was apparently wrong.
Guevara said he is a U.S. citizen with a valid U.S. passport which he's used to leave the country and return twice.
He said agents wouldn't listen to him, though, and his stepmother had to step in.
"I'm white. I speak fluent English," said Laurie Guevara-Stone. "There's just a lot of prejudice and racism and most people don't have someone like me in the house who can actually talk to these agents and make them calm down."
An ICE spokesman would not comment on the raid but released a statement to 7NEWS saying, "The ICE agent and sheriff's deputies on site acted appropriately and professionally. The incident is under investigation."
Brendan Greene with Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition said ICE agents "didn't have a leg to stand on."
"By act of law, if you're under the age of 18 when your parents become a citizen, you automatically become a citizen," said Greene.
He said Marco's father became a naturalized citizen in 2003 when Marco was 17.
"Unfortunately, it's something we see all too often with some of the ICE enforcement operations because of faulty databases that ICE uses to identify immigrants," said Greene. "In any other database a five to ten percent error rate would be unacceptable."
Guevara said the agents came to his home because they said he had a deportable offense -- a 2008 felony drug charge.
"I was hanging out with the wrong people," he said. "But I paid my fines, did my time, and never tried to justify it. I was held responsible for my actions."
Since then, he said he has found a job and been born again as a Christian. He said his favorite apostle, Paul, turned his life around, too.
"Just have faith and do the right thing, and you'll be alright," said Guevara.
Still, he said he lives in fear ICE will find something wrong with his papers and come knocking again.
"How many people have been deported, and then they could have been like, 'Oh, we made a mistake.' But who's going to bring them back? Who's going to help them out?" he said.
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/24346394/detail.html
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Protect citizens caught in illegal immigration proceedings
Times-Call Editorial (Colorado)
Publish Date: 4/22/2009
Right to a speedy trial before a jury of peers. Access to a lawyer. Ability to call someone if arrested. Protections against warrantless searches of homes and businesses.
The innocent among us know that these are more than simply a safety net. They are assured to citizens of the United States.
Unless, of course, citizens happen to be caught up in an illegal immigration sweep.
Then, all bets are off. The process used to deport illegal immigrants does not necessarily take into account that hidden among the guilty are American citizens wrongly accused.
The rights guaranteed to citizens are meant to protect the innocent who are wrongly accused.
The Associated Press last week released a report documenting more than 55 cases of U.S. citizens improperly caught up in immigration law enforcement. Homes were searched without warrants. People were imprisoned far away from friends and family who might have otherwise been able to help them. Contact with lawyers and others on the outside was restricted or denied. Access to documents that could have proven identity was restricted.
In short, all of the things that citizens count on to protect themselves in cases where they’ve been wrongly accused were short-circuited.
In some cases, people were deported before family members knew.
The immigration system is fraught with problems — no surprise there. It is overloaded and those working within it are under intense political pressure to perform. Judges charged with making determinations are overworked — 214 judges handled 350,000 cases in one year. It’s little wonder errors occur.
Immigration officials say errors involving U.S. citizens are extremely rare, although no one keeps a record of how many times people caught up in immigration raids claim to be U.S. citizens and how often it turns out to be true.
Immigration reform is long overdue. Reform should start with protecting U.S. citizens from the unintended consequences of existing law.
http://www.timescall.com/editorial/editorial.asp?ID=15758
Publish Date: 4/22/2009
Right to a speedy trial before a jury of peers. Access to a lawyer. Ability to call someone if arrested. Protections against warrantless searches of homes and businesses.
The innocent among us know that these are more than simply a safety net. They are assured to citizens of the United States.
Unless, of course, citizens happen to be caught up in an illegal immigration sweep.
Then, all bets are off. The process used to deport illegal immigrants does not necessarily take into account that hidden among the guilty are American citizens wrongly accused.
The rights guaranteed to citizens are meant to protect the innocent who are wrongly accused.
The Associated Press last week released a report documenting more than 55 cases of U.S. citizens improperly caught up in immigration law enforcement. Homes were searched without warrants. People were imprisoned far away from friends and family who might have otherwise been able to help them. Contact with lawyers and others on the outside was restricted or denied. Access to documents that could have proven identity was restricted.
In short, all of the things that citizens count on to protect themselves in cases where they’ve been wrongly accused were short-circuited.
In some cases, people were deported before family members knew.
The immigration system is fraught with problems — no surprise there. It is overloaded and those working within it are under intense political pressure to perform. Judges charged with making determinations are overworked — 214 judges handled 350,000 cases in one year. It’s little wonder errors occur.
Immigration officials say errors involving U.S. citizens are extremely rare, although no one keeps a record of how many times people caught up in immigration raids claim to be U.S. citizens and how often it turns out to be true.
Immigration reform is long overdue. Reform should start with protecting U.S. citizens from the unintended consequences of existing law.
http://www.timescall.com/editorial/editorial.asp?ID=15758
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Immigrant raids mark start of years of limbo
Immigrant raids mark start of years of limbo
The Associated Press
Monday, February 9th 2009
GREELEY, Colo. — Ernesto Garcia counted himself lucky after he was swept up in a 2006 immigration raid on a northern Colorado meatpacking plant: Unlike hundreds of co-workers here illegally, he was allowed to stay in the U.S.
Two years later, he's jobless and barely getting by while he waits for his immigration case to be resolved.
The 34-year-old Guatemalan is among hundreds of people across the country stuck in limbo while their cases inch their way through immigration courts.
A favorable ruling would get them a green card. But in the meantime — and the meantime can be years — they are barred from working.
Julien Ross, director of the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, calls it a "sadistic" way to get immigrants to give up and go home.
"This is another example of why the raids don't work," Ross said. "It's almost salt on the wound to have them wait for years for their cases to be resolved. And the government knows they can't work."
Immigration cases do not have the same "speedy trial" requirements as criminal cases.
Denver's four immigration judges each have up to 2,000 cases at a time, so delays are inevitable, said Christina Fiflis, an attorney who has represented some of the workers detained in the federal raid on the Swift & Co. plant in Greeley on Dec. 12, 2006.
Some can apply for work permits, but often there is an "extraordinary delay" in getting them, she said.
Unable to work, many rely on friends, family and charity.
"In many cases, the families will exhaust all options to see if they can remain in the country, especially families who have been here for a long time," said Rosa Maria Castaneda, a researcher with the Urban Institute, a Washington-based group that tracks the impact of workplace raids.
Carl Rusnok, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the agency does not know how many people arrested in raids are still in the United States waiting for immigration court hearings.
"Although this is their right, there are limits on what they can and cannot do in the meantime. There is no provision in law to give work authorization to those who have been found working illegally in the United States," Rusnok said.
Elaine Komis, spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Justice's Executive Office for Immigration Review — the immigration court system — said it is common for immigration cases to take years when people appeal a decision by the immigration judge.
Castaneda's group doesn't have an exact count of pending cases from recent work-site raids.
http://www.nydailynews.com/latino/2009/02/09/2009-02-09_immigrant_raids_mark_start_of_years_of_l-2.html
The Associated Press
Monday, February 9th 2009
GREELEY, Colo. — Ernesto Garcia counted himself lucky after he was swept up in a 2006 immigration raid on a northern Colorado meatpacking plant: Unlike hundreds of co-workers here illegally, he was allowed to stay in the U.S.
Two years later, he's jobless and barely getting by while he waits for his immigration case to be resolved.
The 34-year-old Guatemalan is among hundreds of people across the country stuck in limbo while their cases inch their way through immigration courts.
A favorable ruling would get them a green card. But in the meantime — and the meantime can be years — they are barred from working.
Julien Ross, director of the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, calls it a "sadistic" way to get immigrants to give up and go home.
"This is another example of why the raids don't work," Ross said. "It's almost salt on the wound to have them wait for years for their cases to be resolved. And the government knows they can't work."
Immigration cases do not have the same "speedy trial" requirements as criminal cases.
Denver's four immigration judges each have up to 2,000 cases at a time, so delays are inevitable, said Christina Fiflis, an attorney who has represented some of the workers detained in the federal raid on the Swift & Co. plant in Greeley on Dec. 12, 2006.
Some can apply for work permits, but often there is an "extraordinary delay" in getting them, she said.
Unable to work, many rely on friends, family and charity.
"In many cases, the families will exhaust all options to see if they can remain in the country, especially families who have been here for a long time," said Rosa Maria Castaneda, a researcher with the Urban Institute, a Washington-based group that tracks the impact of workplace raids.
Carl Rusnok, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the agency does not know how many people arrested in raids are still in the United States waiting for immigration court hearings.
"Although this is their right, there are limits on what they can and cannot do in the meantime. There is no provision in law to give work authorization to those who have been found working illegally in the United States," Rusnok said.
Elaine Komis, spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Justice's Executive Office for Immigration Review — the immigration court system — said it is common for immigration cases to take years when people appeal a decision by the immigration judge.
Castaneda's group doesn't have an exact count of pending cases from recent work-site raids.
http://www.nydailynews.com/latino/2009/02/09/2009-02-09_immigrant_raids_mark_start_of_years_of_l-2.html
Friday, July 18, 2008
Help set up for families after ICE raid
Coloradoan.com
July 18th, 2008
LOVELAND - At least five families connected to Wednesday's immigration raid that led to 18 arrests at a Loveland concrete form company have contacted a "help line" set up by an immigrants advocate group.
Kim Medina, an attorney for Fuerza Latina, a social justice organization in Fort Collins and Loveland that set up the phone line, said her office was still assessing how the raids have affected the families.
Medina said such raids tend to have a devastating effect on the community.
"They separate parents from children and husbands and wives and leave employers without workers," she said. "It's certainly not the solution to the immigration issue that we face."
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers served a search warrant Wednesday morning at Colorado Precast Concrete Inc. in Loveland after receiving a tip that the company was employing illegal immigrants.
Company official Penny Hayward on Wednesday said the company would comment about the raid Thursday; but plant owner, Scott Hayward, didn't return phone calls Thursday requesting an interview.
ICE spokesman Carl Rusnok said Thursday that the company didn't know it was employing illegal immigrants and will likely not face criminal charges.
The 18 men who were "administratively arrested" were taken to the Park County Jail in Fairplay, which had available beds. The men could be there for weeks before being deported, Rusnok said.
The office does not release the names of the people arrested, though Rusnok said 17 are from Mexico and one is from El Salvador.
"One of the most frustrating and harmful impacts ... is that ICE is unwilling to release the names," said Julian Ross, director of the Colorado Immigrants Rights Coalition, who also is trying to help the families affected.
He added that sometimes legal immigrants are swept up in raids and are later released when their proper identification is verified. He suspected that could be the case in Loveland.
But Rusnok confirmed Thursday that all 18 of the men arrested were in the United States illegally and will be deported.
"These people are scab labor, that's how I view people coming in and undercutting the labor wage," said Stan Weekes, the director of Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform.
Weekes said the real victims in illegal immigration are American citizens who lose out on jobs given to someone working illegally in the country.
Immigration raids and deportations indeed break up families, Weekes said, but that's a choice illegal immigrants make. Such an argument is rarely made when people are prosecuted and jailed for common criminal offenses.
"I think people who are here illegally in this country should be charged with child neglect for putting their child at that risk," he said.
The last major immigration raid by ICE officers in Northern Colorado occurred in December 2006 when agents raided a Swift & Co. meatpacking plant in Greeley and arrested 260 people as part of a nationwide sweep of a half dozen plants.
After that incident, many Greeley city and health and human service officials said the raid hurt the community.
Helen Somersall, director of Catholic Charities Northern in Fort Collins, worked with 120 families connected to the deported illegal immigrants from the Greeley raid, with help from United Way and the Our Lady of Peace Church in Greeley.
She said the families had basic financial problems and needed help paying rent, making car payments and getting food. Many of the people the agency helped were women with young children.
None of the children connected to the Swift raid were without a guardian, and Somersall believes that's because the families had prepared for a possible deportation.
http://www.coloradoimmigrant.org/article.php?id=200
July 18th, 2008
LOVELAND - At least five families connected to Wednesday's immigration raid that led to 18 arrests at a Loveland concrete form company have contacted a "help line" set up by an immigrants advocate group.
Kim Medina, an attorney for Fuerza Latina, a social justice organization in Fort Collins and Loveland that set up the phone line, said her office was still assessing how the raids have affected the families.
Medina said such raids tend to have a devastating effect on the community.
"They separate parents from children and husbands and wives and leave employers without workers," she said. "It's certainly not the solution to the immigration issue that we face."
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers served a search warrant Wednesday morning at Colorado Precast Concrete Inc. in Loveland after receiving a tip that the company was employing illegal immigrants.
Company official Penny Hayward on Wednesday said the company would comment about the raid Thursday; but plant owner, Scott Hayward, didn't return phone calls Thursday requesting an interview.
ICE spokesman Carl Rusnok said Thursday that the company didn't know it was employing illegal immigrants and will likely not face criminal charges.
The 18 men who were "administratively arrested" were taken to the Park County Jail in Fairplay, which had available beds. The men could be there for weeks before being deported, Rusnok said.
The office does not release the names of the people arrested, though Rusnok said 17 are from Mexico and one is from El Salvador.
"One of the most frustrating and harmful impacts ... is that ICE is unwilling to release the names," said Julian Ross, director of the Colorado Immigrants Rights Coalition, who also is trying to help the families affected.
He added that sometimes legal immigrants are swept up in raids and are later released when their proper identification is verified. He suspected that could be the case in Loveland.
But Rusnok confirmed Thursday that all 18 of the men arrested were in the United States illegally and will be deported.
"These people are scab labor, that's how I view people coming in and undercutting the labor wage," said Stan Weekes, the director of Colorado Alliance for Immigration Reform.
Weekes said the real victims in illegal immigration are American citizens who lose out on jobs given to someone working illegally in the country.
Immigration raids and deportations indeed break up families, Weekes said, but that's a choice illegal immigrants make. Such an argument is rarely made when people are prosecuted and jailed for common criminal offenses.
"I think people who are here illegally in this country should be charged with child neglect for putting their child at that risk," he said.
The last major immigration raid by ICE officers in Northern Colorado occurred in December 2006 when agents raided a Swift & Co. meatpacking plant in Greeley and arrested 260 people as part of a nationwide sweep of a half dozen plants.
After that incident, many Greeley city and health and human service officials said the raid hurt the community.
Helen Somersall, director of Catholic Charities Northern in Fort Collins, worked with 120 families connected to the deported illegal immigrants from the Greeley raid, with help from United Way and the Our Lady of Peace Church in Greeley.
She said the families had basic financial problems and needed help paying rent, making car payments and getting food. Many of the people the agency helped were women with young children.
None of the children connected to the Swift raid were without a guardian, and Somersall believes that's because the families had prepared for a possible deportation.
http://www.coloradoimmigrant.org/article.php?id=200
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