Protecting illegal immigrants to catch criminals

By PAUL McENROE
Minneapolis Star Tribune
28 October 2011

AUSTIN, Minn. - It was after 1 a.m. when the policeman arrived at Patricia Sanchez's house, and he understood in a glance why she had dialed 911. Her face was streaked with scratches and her neck bore the red imprint of a man's hand.

"You're lucky to be alive," he said. He arrested her husband for domestic violence with intent to strangle and told the young woman to get an order for protection as soon as the courthouse opened.

The next morning, before returning to work at her packinghouse job, Sanchez stood at a court clerk's window, filling out a piece of paper supposedly strong enough to stop abuse.

While Sanchez waited at the courthouse, though, police were at her home, searching for evidence that her husband was an illegal immigrant. Rummaging through drawers and bedding, an officer noticed a framed photograph on the living room wall. It depicted a woman identified as Lisa Salazar in her white work uniform and hard hat, honored as Quality Pork Processors' Employee of the Month.

Except that Salazar looked exactly like Patricia Sanchez. Police also found documents suggesting Sanchez had committed identity fraud to get work and receive benefits for her children.

A week later, Sanchez sat bewildered in the Mower County jail, facing immigration charges and the threat of deportation back to Mexico. The victim had become a suspect.

The frightening June night in 2009 transformed Sanchez's life -- and now it has thrust Mower County into the vanguard of a national struggle over illegal immigration, policing and crime.

Today, after more than a year of soul-searching over law and justice, Mower County has a striking new policy: Illegal immigrants who become victims of violent crime will not be charged with document offenses, giving them immunity to aid the prosecution of more serious, violent felonies.

In Austin, a storied meatpacking town of 24,700 near the Iowa border, the issue has been pushed to the fore by an unlikely voice: Jeremy Clinefelter, the tough-minded assistant prosecutor who helped deport Sanchez's husband and then charged her with felony fraud.

"It didn't feel right morally," Clinefelter said. "We're prosecutors. But more that, we're here to be fair and just."

Mower County may be unique in the Upper Midwest, according to Rice County Attorney Paul Beaumaster, president of the Minnesota County Attorneys Association. But its new approach, he said, could have wider repercussions by removing a form of blackmail used against illegal immigrants.

"The abuser says, 'You can't go to the police, or I'm going to tell them you're here illegally,' " Beaumaster said. "It's a legitimate use of prosecutorial discretion in assuring that a defendant doesn't get to use our immigration laws as a weapon."

Since Congress created a program called Secure Communities in 2007, local police and prosecutors across the country have been playing an ever-larger role in enforcing federal immigration law. Tens of thousands of illegal immigrants have been arrested and deported, often in a process that started with a routine traffic stop or a set of fingerprints taken at a county jail.

But one question keeps arising: How can police and prosecutors build trust in growing ethnic communities when illegal immigrants who are otherwise law-abiding fear they will face arrest and deportation if they step forward to report crime?

Secure Communities places a priority on catching dangerous illegal immigrants convicted of violent felonies, yet federal documents show that one-fourth of the immigrants deported under the act had no criminal convictions.

At least five states have dropped out of the program in the past year, amid concerns about the potential for abusive and counterproductive tactics.

In Minnesota, however, some influential lawmakers are eager to have the state participate, even though that's not mandatory until 2013.

Sen. Julianne Ortman, R-Chanhassen, who pressed the legislation last spring, says the issue has been unfairly politicized. "I agree we should have amnesty programs for victims and witnesses who report crimes," she said. "But if we're going to house them in our jails or in our custody, we want to find out whether they're here illegally."

But civil liberties lawyers -- and some prominent lawmen -- disagree.

"You're going to put the community in an adversarial position with their police," says John Harrington, a state senator and former St. Paul police chief. "You're taking out the people who are in the best position to tell us about dangerous people in our community."

He soon found that, geographically and emotionally, Austin sat at the center of an immigration wave roiling southern Minnesota. The big meatpacking plants across the state's southern tier required an endless supply of workers willing to do grueling, dangerous jobs for modest wages. People willing to travel thousands of miles from the Texas-Mexico border for low wages satisfied it.

But there was a hidden cost to the boom. Austin had hundreds of residents with two, sometimes three, different names. They had purchased stolen IDs from brokers along the Mexican border or once they arrived in the Midwest. That meant there were also hundreds of victims of identity theft somewhere -- crime victims who suffered because of immigrants seeking work.

From 2000 to 2009, the Hispanic population in Mower County more than doubled, to nearly 3,500, part of a larger immigration wave statewide. Clinefelter's stolen-identity caseload was running at 50 to 70 files per year by 2005, most of them illegal immigrants. He'd become the office expert on document crimes.

As a teenager, Patricia Sanchez had risked her life crossing the Mexican border and the treacherous Sonoran Desert to get to the United States for a better life. Now, in the summer of 2009, she found herself in a Sherburne County jail cell leased by federal immigration authorities. Her sister in California had taken the children.

"People at immigration see us as criminals," she recalled. "I told them: 'I came here to work. I don't use drugs, I don't drink. I am not a bad person."

Meanwhile, her case had been taken up by a St. Paul attorney, former Ramsey County District Judge Alberto Miera. He argued that the police had conducted an illegal search of Sanchez's purse and wanted the fraud case dismissed.

Finally, the attorneys agreed to go to trial on a charge of simple forgery, still a felony. A judge found Sanchez guilty. She received a year's stay, marked down to a misdemeanor if she obeyed the law.

Then, satisfied with a finding of guilt, Clinefelter and Nelsen took a step on Sanchez's behalf -- the crucial step that could save her from deportation. They supported her application for a special visa granted to victims of domestic violence, a document known as a U-Visa. It worked.

By that fall, Sanchez was released from federal custody, reunited with her children, and back at work on the cutting line at Quality Pork.

http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/immigrant-protect102811/immigrant-protect102811/

Minnesota governor scales back ICE collaboration

Immigrant rights movement declares a victory, pushes forward effort to stop deportations
By Brad Sigal
Fightback News
April 19, 2011

St. Paul, MN - On April 14, immigrant rights activists in Minnesota celebrated a victory as Governor Mark Dayton announced he would not pursue an Executive Order collaborating with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on deportations and enforcement programs.

Earlier on April 5, Governor Dayton announced he would let two Executive Orders concerning immigration enforcement left over from former Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty expire and that he would spend about a week deciding whether to pursue any new executive orders regarding immigration.

The first order he let expire was Pawlenty’s order mandating employers with state contracts to check new employees using the E-Verify federal immigration database. The second order was one that directed state agencies to pursue cooperation with ICE to carry out deportations and other punitive enforcement wherever possible, including the Criminal Alien Program (CAP) and 287g agreements with the Department of Public Safety, among other things. CAP is responsible for many deportations in Minnesota and is implemented in the county jails. 287g is a program that trains police officers to act both as local police and as Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents.

When former Governor Pawlenty, who is now running for the Republican presidential nomination, announced the immigration enforcement executive orders in January 2008, it touched off a firestorm of protests and criticisms. Most considered the executive orders to be little more than divide-and-conquer political grandstanding in an election year, yet the orders had a real effect in making life more difficult for immigrants in Minnesota.

The Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAc) is waging a No More Deportations campaign which aims to stop Minnesota and its counties from collaborating with ICE deportation programs like CAP, 287g and Secure Communities. MIRAc put out a statement encouraging people to call Governor Dayton to demand that he not pursue any further collaboration with ICE on deportation or enforcement programs.

According to Niger Arevalo of MIRAc, “It’s good that Governor Dayton didn’t renew Pawlenty’s anti-immigrant executive orders. But this is just the beginning - immigrant workers are still being deported and families are being separated at an alarming rate in Minnesota and this has to stop now. The No More Deportations campaign wants to make sure that Governor Dayton does not implement the so-called Secure Communities deportation program. And we’re calling on the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners to vote to stop cooperating with ICE through the Criminal Alien Program. We encourage people to join our campaign to stop deportations in Minnesota.”

http://www.fightbacknews.org/2011/4/19/minnesota-governor-scales-back-ice-collaboration

Local advocate for immigrants faces deportation

Mariano Espinoza hasn't been hiding. But a recent arrest has him facing removal.
By JAMES WALSH and ALLIE SHAH
Star Tribune
March 9, 2011

A vocal and visible Twin Cities advocate for immigrant rights and immigration reform is himself facing deportation -- to the surprise of those who have worked with him for years.

Mariano Perez Espinoza, 41, executive director of the Minnesota Immigrant Freedom Network, is in jail awaiting deportation for allegedly being in the country illegally after a previous deportation.

Espinoza, a native of Mexico, has advocated openly on immigration issues for years.

Shawn Neudauer, a spokesman for the local U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office, on Wednesday confirmed that Espinoza is in custody. As of Wednesday afternoon, he had not been returned to Mexico.

"He's not leaving today," Neudauer said. "Mariano Espinoza is currently being held by ICE pending additional review of his case for violating a previous removal order. He had filed a request for a stay of removal with ICE, which was subsequently denied."

The news of the well-connected Espinoza's possible deportation surprised friends and colleagues.

State Rep. Carlos Mariani, DFL-St. Paul, has known Espinoza for years. He described his friend as a self-taught organizer and inspirational leader.

He said the two worked together on a proposal for the Minnesota Dream Act, which would provide in-state tuition rates for high school students, regardless of their parents' immigration status.

"Mariano was the point person in charge of leading that effort and organizing students," Mariani said.

Until recently, Mariani did not know about his friend's immigration status. Then, two weeks ago, Espinoza didn't show up for a meeting to discuss creating a statewide series of leadership conferences of young Latinos. Mariani called the next day and learned that Espinoza was in custody and facing deportation.

He visited Espinoza a few days ago at the Ramsey County jail.

"He was very sad and emotional, but he was also trying to keep himself focused," Mariani said.

Not exactly hiding

Despite his illegal status, Espinoza hasn't kept a low profile. He's been a frequent speaker at rallies and meetings and has been quoted in news stories dealing with immigrant issues. In April 2004, he was featured in a Star Tribune story focusing on his transformation from immigrant to community organizer.

The Minnesota Immigrant Freedom Network's website notes he was recently recognized by the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Minnesota as one of its "25 on the rise."

The organization's mission is to "fix the broken immigration system in this country. We do this by empowering and engaging new Minnesotans and their allies through access to education, civic engagement and leadership development."

Espinoza's absence has not stopped the work.

"He's been an important part of the work of the Freedom Network for a long time, but Mariano is not the organization," said Jorge Saavedra, a Minneapolis attorney and a network spokesman. "What the organization hopes for is that this process can be resolved quickly and justly and that Mariano can return to his family."

That someone as visible as Espinoza can be here without documentation is a sign of the times, Mariani said.

"What I think is happening is that so many people live here undocumented. At some point you reach a tipping point where you are so much a part of society. Yeah, you can live in the underground, but ... what we're talking about is folks who are really becoming a part of the very visible broader community -- they own businesses, they own homes, they take their kids to school, they attend parent-teacher conferences and they're involved in local block clubs."

Trouble last summer

The most recent trouble for Espinoza apparently began last July. Several sources say he got into a dispute regarding a rental car at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

A spokeswoman for the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office said an incident at the airport led to a felony warrant for Espinoza's arrest last month. Hennepin County jail records confirm that he was booked into the jail on Feb. 14. ICE regularly checks jail records in Hennepin and Ramsey counties for people in this country illegally who have been arrested for other alleged crimes. Espinoza's immigration status apparently was discovered.

Espinoza's attorney, John Keller, declined to comment on details of the case. He did say that he hopes Espinoza has a chance to present his case to an immigration court here.

Keller said the original deportation stemmed from Espinoza being the victim of fraud by a "notario," or a person who is not an attorney who gave him legal advice.

James Walsh • 612-673-7428 Allie Shah • 612-673-4488

Uproar Over ‘Mass Firings’ At Minn. Chipotle Restaurants

CBS News, Minnesota
December 9, 2010

ICHFIELD (WCCO) – A Minnesota immigration rights group is protesting what it calls “mass firings” of Chipotle workers. According to the group, around 50 of the restaurant’s Latino workers have been fired in the last week.

The Minnesota Immigration Rights Action Committeee (MIRAC), a local group that fights for the legalization of undocumented workers, says employees at local Chipotle stores came forward, saying they were fired over questions about their immigration status.

“We started to piece together there was something larger going on than a few people fired at one store,” said MIRAC member Brad Sigal. “It appears to be a statewide attack on immigrant worker who are longtime employees most of them been working there for years.”

Brad Sigal says his group confirmed that more than a dozen workers at the Chipotle store on Grand Avenue in St. Paul were let go, along with nearly dozen more at a Richfield Chipotle. He also heard from fired employees at locations in downtown Minneapolis (Skyway and Seven Corners), Golden Valley, Coon Rapids, Stillwater and Hudson, Wis.

Sigal says he suspects it’s the result of a federal immigration audit.

“It is an I-9 audit,” said Sigal. “They check the paperwork and fire anyone who can’t immediately prove they have the right to work. An action like this on a mass scale before the holidays is not consistent with the image they have cultivated.”

In a statement, Chipotle said, “We are fully cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in Minnesota in connection with a document request they have made.”

ICE officials have not yet made a statement.

Customers leaving Grand Avenue Chipotle offered conflicting views.

“I happen to be someone who is struggling to look for a job and I believe in fair practice,” said Tasha Scott, a St. Paul resident. “If I am eligible to work, and I have all the status and things required by law, I should have a job here.”

“I am an ethical vegan, I care about animals and humans,” said Melissa Swanson, a St. Paul resident who says she hopes she learns the truth. “If it doesn’t fit my ethics, we won’t be coming back.”

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2010/12/09/uproar-over-mass-firings-at-minn-chipotle-restaurants/#

Franken introduces bill to aid children of ICE raids

By Andy Birkey
The Minnesota Independent
6/24/10

Sen. Al Franken introduced legislation Tuesday to ensure that the children of undocumented workers caught up in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids are not left abandoned. In a press release about the bill, Franken and fellow sponsor Sen. Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, offered several stories from Minnesota raids where children were left to fend for themselves — at times for a week or more — after their parents were arrested.

“One second-grader in Worthington came home that night to find his two-year old brother alone and his mother and father missing,” the senators wrote. “For the next week, the second-grader stayed home to care for his brother while his grandmother traveled to Worthington to meet them.”

Franken said that those children are often U.S. citizens and deserve to be looked after.

“Four million U.S. citizen children in our country have at least one undocumented immigrant parent,” said Franken. “Forty-thousand of those children live in Minnesota. They should not have to live in fear that one day their parents will simply not come home. They deserve much better than being abandoned without explanation.”

The HELP Separated Children Act would beef up a response system for state agencies in the event of a raid, to allow nonprofits to locate at-risk children, to give detainees confidential ways to communicate and make arrangements for their children and to ban the use of children’s testimony in ICE interrogations. It also directs ICE to look out for the best interests of children.


http://minnesotaindependent.com/60599/franken-introduces-bill-to-aid-children-of-ice-raids

When parents are detained in immigration raids, who thinks of the children?

By Lauren Knobbe
MinnPost.Com
Published Tue, Jun 22 2010 4:09 pm

WASHINGTON — Sen. Al Franken today introduced a bill aimed at helping the children of those swept up in immigration raids to avoid falling through the cracks as their parents face possible deportation.

The bill would require the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to create guidelines for dealing with children who have been separated from their parents and consider the children’s best interests in proceeding. Franken emphasized that immigration laws must be followed but enforcement has consequences for the children of illegal immigrants that also need to be addressed.

"Four million U.S. citizen children in our country have at least one undocumented immigrant parent," Franken said, with 40,000 of them in Minnesota. "They should not have to live in fear that one day their parents will simply not come home. They deserve much better than being abandoned without explanation."

The measure is a response to raids like a 2006 one at a Worthington meat-packing plant. Following that December raid, a second-grader and 2-year-old were left by themselves for a week until their grandmother arrived to care for them. Their parents had been detained.

According to Franken's office, more than 100,000 parents of U.S. citizen children were deported in the last 10 years. Upon deportation, these children have no way to find their parents and frequently experience neglect.

Franken’s legislation would establish the following guidelines for dealing with children who have been separated from their parents:

* Require enforcement authorities to inform state and local authorities of enforcement actions so they are aware of the children involved;
* Allow child welfare agencies to screen detainees to identify parents and locate at-risk children;
* Permit parents to conduct confidential phone calls to find care for their children;
* Protect children from seeing their parents interrogated;
* Entitle parents to have daily calls and "regular visits" with their children.

The bill is supported by the First Focus Campaign for Children and the Women’s Refugee Commission and co-sponsored by Sen. Herb Kohl of Wisconsin. A similar bill was introduced in the House last July but has so far failed to clear committee.

Lauren Knobbe is an intern in MinnPost's D.C. bureau.

http://www.minnpost.com/derekwallbank/2010/06/22/19145/when_parents_are_detained_in_immigration_raids_who_thinks_of_the_children

Support couldn’t stop Marshall teen from being deported

17-year-old sent back to El Salvador after family fled
By Deb Gau
Independent: Southwestern Minnesota's Daily Newspaper
March 1, 2010

He was more than a good person and a good friend, friends and acquaintances of Jairo Yanes said late last week - he was like family.

"He was like a brother to everybody," said Marshall High School student Jeremy Rodgriguez on Friday. "What I remember most about him is just how outgoing he is, he's always got a huge smile."

"I miss his smile," said student Kelsey Przymus. "The small things mean a lot."

But that support wasn't enough to keep Yanes, a junior at MHS, from being deported to El Salvador on Friday. Classmates and teachers said they learned Yanes had been flown to Miami at 5 a.m. Friday and back to El Salvador later that night.

Yanes had been in a detention center in Carver County since Monday.

"It was the single hardest thing I've ever done, was let them take him," said MHS choir teacher Caroline Przymus.

Yanes was a member of show choir, and had become close to the Przymus family. They maintained contact with him over the course of the week. Friends and classmates learned last week that Yanes and his mother and younger brother came to the U.S. illegally. When Yanes came home from a show choir tournament on Feb. 21, his family was gone.

"There was nothing there but a check and a letter that said 'we love you, but we have to leave,'" Caroline Przymus said.

The family had been scheduled to meet with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on Monday, Przymus said. Even though Yanes, 17, is a minor, she said I.C.E. could still deport him by himself. He was placed in detention at the Carver County Jail.

"He was treated very well there, he was not in a cell," Przymus said, but it was still very difficult to take.

Caroline Przymus said an immigration law specialist had been trying to help get Yanes' deportation stayed, but the stay was denied.

Classmates said they tried to help Yanes "any way we could." They, as well as community members, wrote letters in support of Yanes and even spoke with a reporter from KARE 11 News. But Friday morning, they learned it was too late.

Caroline Przymus said Yanes had a brother, 19, who lives in El Salvador, and they were trying to contact him.

Students said they were coming together to cope with the situation. Both Marshall teens and adults have left messages of support on a Facebook page created for Yanes. As of the weekend, the page had more than 400 members.

"It was really comforting to know we're not the only ones who see him as he really is," Kelsey Przymus said.

"We understand not everyone agrees with the immigration thing," Caroline Przymus said. "The students met outside school (Thursday) and I told them, you can't get upset with things people say."

A final message from Yanes posted on Facebook on Friday night read: "I have you all in the tip of my heart . . . stay strong. Don't be sad. And I love you all."

http://www.marshallindependent.com/page/content.detail/id/515363.html

1,200 janitors fired in "quiet" immigration raid

by Sasha Aslanian
Minnesota Public Radio

November 9, 2009

Minneapolis — One of the largest immigration crackdowns under the Obama administration to date took place in the Twin Cities last month, when 1,200 undocumented janitors were fired from their jobs, according to immigration lawyers.

The janitors worked for ABM, a San Francisco-based contract company that cleans many downtown office towers in the Twin Cities.

The Obama administration has shifted away from the dramatic workplace raids that were a hallmark of the Bush administration's enforcement strategy. Under President Obama, the Department of Homeland Security says it is putting pressure on employers who break the law.

One of the fired janitors has agreed to talk with MPR News about his situation. MPR has agreed not to use his name because he is undocumented and at risk of deportation. He has three U.S. born children, and a wife who is also undocumented.

His story begins in 1992, when he entered the country illegally from Mexico. He and his wife lived in New York and Chicago. He worked in car washes, restaurants, a McDonald's, and as a cleaner before coming to Minneapolis in 2001. He landed a job with ABM.

Fired janitor

"We cleaned the whole buildings, from bathrooms to kitchens, carpeting, offices," he said. "On the outsides we cleaned glass, whole floors at a time depending on the time we were given."

This janitor says he cleaned for the Plymouth Building in downtown Minneapolis. He says it was hard work, but the pay was good. He made nearly $13 an hour.

Then, in June, his supervisor handed him a letter.

"Letter said we had to bring in documents, our Social Security cards, green cards, state ID, or be immediately fired," he said.

The letter on ABM letterhead, obtained by MPR, informed the workers that Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, had found problems with their paperwork.

The nonprofit Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota was called in by the janitors' union, SEIU, to give legal advice to the frightened employees.

ABM letter

"There was a lot of fear that even showing up to talk about your documents that you were going to be arrested and detained by ICE," said the center's John Keller. "People thinking that they shouldn't go to work, extremely concerned about their children. Almost always the first concerns in these circumstances -- even when your children are US born -- is, what if I go to work and don't come back?"

"We have spent a lot of time working with people in these circumstances, and it is sometimes some of the best work we do -- just to inform people what is real, what is rumor," said Keller.

The most important rumor to dispel was that the workers were arrested. Unlike raids at the Swift meatpacking plant in Worthington in 2006, and the Postville, Iowa raid in 2008, the ABM janitors would not be rounded up or arrested.

The union worked with the company and ICE to give employees more time to show proper documents. They had until October. Then, each Monday, another batch of workers who failed to show correct papers was fired.

ABM won't reveal the total size of its Twin Cities workforce, or any information at all, but the scope seems large. This janitor says of the 120 workers who cleaned at the Plymouth building, only three were able to stay on the job.

Legal resident

Another janitor we spoke with is a legal resident who's still on the job, cleaning bathrooms at the Ameriprise building. She estimates 80 percent of her co-workers were let go.

ABM is a Fortune 1000 company traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Its headquarters is in San Francisco, and according to its Web site, it employs more than 100,000 people. In 2008, its revenues were $3.6 billion.

ABM would not make staff at the Minneapolis office or the corporate headquarters available for an interview. Tony Mitchell, ABM Industries vice president of corporate communications in New York, issued this two line statement via e-mail.

"Federal law prescribes specific procedures by which employers conduct employment verification activities. Our policy is full compliance with the law," Mitchell said.

The janitors' union, SEIU, is prohibited from talking about the enforcement action. The ABM janitor jobs make up one-quarter of SEIU's membership.

John Keller

Immigrations and Customs Enforcement also won't comment. Tim Counts, spokesman for the Bloomington Office, wrote via e-mail: "For operational security reasons, we don't discuss ongoing enforcement activity, including confirming or denying that we are looking at a particular person or entity."

Counts says ABM has not been fined.

"It's a sticky legal issue of, 'What did you know and when did you know it?'" said Counts.

Mark Cangemi is a retired ICE official. He used to do these kinds of workplace investigations and he's practiced immigration law.

Cangemi can't talk about this specific case or the employer involved, but Cangemi says the patterns in these workplace investigations are always the same.

"Could be a record-keeping error, civil or criminal in nature. We just don't know," he said.

Cangemi wrapped up his work with ICE in 2006. His last month on the job included the Swift meatpacking raids, including the one in Worthington. Cangemi says that style of enforcement is incredibly expensive, but the point is the same -- to bring employers into compliance with the law.

ABM has been a silent raid. But the number of workers involved is almost as large as all those arrested in the six Swift raids. And it's three times bigger than Postville.

Cangemi wonders how effective this enforcement will be, considering the workers are free to move into other jobs.

"Why give people an opportunity to leave the employment without taking any action against them as individuals?" said Cangemi. "Put them into proceedings. Let them argue their case. If they have a case that allows them to remain in the United States under the law, so be it. If they don't, then the law stands to be enforced."

The Obama administration has been aggressive in removing undocumented workers. In fiscal year 2009, which ended in September, ICE deported 6,300 people from the region represented by Minnesota, the Dakotas, Iowa and Nebraska. That's 1,000 more people than during the last year of the Bush administration.

As for the upheaval at ABM in the Twin Cities, the 1,200 jobs held by the janitors have apparently been filled.

The company posted job openings in late September, 10 days before the first 300 workers were fired. A message on its answering machine says in English and in Spanish that ABM is no longer hiring.

The janitor who spoke with MPR says he's found another job. He calls himself one of the lucky ones. He's got a driver's license, and a connection that led to another job cleaning houses for a smaller company. It's part time, pays less money, and gets no breaks. And he's still paying taxes.

The tougher immigration enforcement has prompted three of the janitor's four siblings to return to Mexico, taking their U.S. citizen children with them. But as crushed as he was to lose his janitor's job, he says he still won't return to Mexico.

The janitor says he's still afraid ICE agents could round him up because they have all his data from ABM. And he's frantic to find more work.

"I really want people to hear -- and if possible even get to the ears of President Barack Obama -- that we don't come here for anything other than to work" said the janitor. "And if anyone could see the places we come from and were in our shoes, they would do the same thing."

John Keller of the Immigrant Law Center says of the 1,200 fired janitors, about 10 might have a path to citizenship under existing laws. The rest, he says, will probably try to wait it out, hoping for the laws to change so they can work here legally.

ICE officials dispute appeals court ruling in Willmar raids

by Jessica Mador
Minnesota Public Radio
September 17, 2009

St. Paul, Minn. — Officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement are disputing a state appeals court ruling that ICE agents violated the constitutional rights of an illegal immigrant during a raid in Willmar two years ago.

The Minnesota Appeals Court earlier this week ruled that because immigration agents did not have a warrant when they searched her house and interrogated her, the evidence used to convict her later in Kandiyohi County violated the Fourth Amendment.

Iris Janeth Maldonado-Arreaga was arrested after immigration raids in Willmar and has since been deported to Honduras.

Tim Counts, spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, denied that ICE agents committed any Fourth Amendment violations. He says ICE officers received express permission to enter Arreaga's home before they searched it.

"It is absolutely legal to enter the house and search if you obtain permission from the occupant and this is something that is frequently and purposely confused by those who defend some of these individuals. They say there was no search warrant, therefore it was a constitutional violation," Counts said. "It's not - because we obtained permission from the occupant to enter the house before entering."

He says it's true that ICE officers did not have a search warrant to enter the home but that the Fourth Amendment allows officers to obtain express permission to search a home in the absence of a search warrant.

Immigration attorney Rachel E.B. Lang, who was not an attorney in this case, says the court's ruling makes clear that ICE agents violated the constitution.

"The reason for that is that you don't know what someone's immigration status is before you talk to them, so you can't break into someone's house to talk to them because you think they are an illegal immigrant because you don't know who is in the house," Lang said.

Lang had previously served as Arreaga's immigration attorney in a separate case

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/09/17/immigration-conviction-willmar/

Dakota and Immigrant Rights Activists Serve A Deportation Notice

Dakota and Immigrant Rights Activists Serve A Deportation Notice
Monday, June 01 2009 @ 10:29 AM CDT

On the morning of Friday, May 22, 2009 Immigrant and Indigenous Rights activists disrupted an event organized by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) held at Fort Snelling in St. Paul, MN. Present at the meeting were representatives of several local and federal law enforcement agencies including, but not limited to, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Minneapolis and St. Paul police, the FBI, and the ICE Office of Detention and Removal.

Also present were representatives from local human rights groups, immigration lawyers and other non-profit advocacy organizations. Members and supporters of the Dakota community and the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Coalition (MIRAc) demanded answers to human rights abuses perpetrated by ICE and the Department of Homeland Security. Among the abuses mentioned were the 92 documented deaths of detainees under ICE custody due to physical and psychological abuse and lack of medical attention, the deplorable and inhumane conditions at detention centers, the illegal deportation of U.S. citizens due to racial profiling, the separation of children from their parents as a direct result of ICE raids and deportations, and the lack of due process and legal representation.

Pointing out the hypocrisy of holding an event organized by an agency dedicated to deporting individuals considered “illegal,” representatives of the Dakota community accused ICE agents of occupying stolen ground where the Original Peoples were rounded up, forcibly removed, and murdered.

Public relations representatives from DHS’s Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (CRCL) office refused to address the civil rights concerns brought forth by members of the community. Activists refused to be silenced and continued their demands for answers and accountability by ICE. The meeting was terminated as members of the Dakota community presented the ICE agents with Notices of Deportation for the illegal occupation of Dakota land.

Activists demanded an immediate end to the meeting, and disallowed further proceedings with chants. The police then ended the meeting, forcing all attendees to vacate the building.

Activists made this statement:

ICE raids have torn children from parents whose only “crime” is to seek work and make a better life for their loved ones both here and in their home countries. These raids have terrorized and silenced workers who have attempted to organize their workplaces against wage theft, dangerous working conditions, and exploitation. Hundreds of detained immigrants have died in ICE custody and been denied essential medical care. Recent reviews conducted by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the Government Accountability Office have all found that the rights of detainees are regularly violated, and that the systems supposedly set up to allow detainees to lodge complaints are unreliable at best.

One can no more refute the destruction of families and communities by raids, and the deaths and denial of human rights in I.C.E. detention centers, than one can deny genocide, ethnic cleansing, and the concentration camp that existed right here at Fort Snelling. Yet we continue to ignore these facts in order to uphold the illusion that we live in a just society. The “Homeland” Security Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties claims to exist to uphold civil rights yet does little more than create a false image of attentiveness used to rationalize the continuing injustices.

Though it is rarely acknowledged in our history books, Fort Snelling was an army post for the U.S. military that presaged the invasion and colonization of Dakota lands and extermination and ethnic cleansing of Dakota people. It was a concentration camp site where the U.S. government imprisoned Dakota people, primarily women and children during the winter of 1862-63. It also served as a training ground for American soldiers to participate in other campaigns and wars of imperialism against indigenous peoples, such as the Spanish-American War of 1898 which resulted in further expansion of U.S. colonialism. For all these reasons and more, Fort Snelling stands as the most prolific symbol of colonialism and genocide in our state.

We find it indefensible that I.C.E. has the audacity to attempt to justify raids, deportations and the detention of so called "illegal immigrants" while on the site of a colonial concentration camp aimed at wiping out the original inhabitants of this land. We seek to expose this hypocrisy, and make it clear that I.C.E. cannot claim legitimate authority to detain or deport anyone, much less those indigenous to the continent.

Neoliberal restructuring and free trade agreements such as NAFTA have negatively affected indigenous peoples throughout Latin America. Many have lost their land and viable forms of employment and have been forced to migrate north in order to support their families. We believe that when capital and commerce are able to operate without borders, it is hypocritical and disingenuous to discuss civil rights and liberties which presuppose state recognition. As such, we ask that people’s human rights be respected.

Furthermore, there is evidence the raids aren’t even meeting their stated goals. In a study conducted by the Migration Policy Institute, it was found that only 18% of the nearly 90,000 immigrants arrested through home raids had any prior criminal record, not even for entering the country without documents or low-level crimes like trespassing. More than 400 of those with no criminal record had been incarcerated for at least a year. In total, over 30,000 immigrants are detained every day, triple the number detained just ten years ago. It should be clear that these raids and deportations are a form of terror and have sowed fear in the hearts of many immigrant men, women, and their children. They must stop.

These raids are undertaken in an increasingly racist and xenophobic environment where hate crimes against Latinos have dramatically skyrocketed. These raids have also encouraged the most bigoted and hate-filled vigilantism. We believe that those, regardless of nationality, who earn a paycheck and have mouths to feed understand that these necessities override lines drawn upon a map. One does not wait in the face of a rumbling stomach. The cry of a hungry mouth requires no translation.

Because of the abundant evidence demonstrating the lack of true willingness to uphold human rights and civil liberties by ICE and the gross disregard for the Dakota people, we reject the legitimacy of this event and demand that it stop at once.

http://news.infoshop.org/article.php?story=20090601102541172

Immigration officials raid southern Minnesota towns

Immigration officials raid southern Minnesota towns
by Sea Stachura
Minnesota Public Radio
October 24, 2008

Rochester, Minn. — Immigration and Customs Enforcement took 19 people into custody during an enforcement action in south central Minnesota Thursday.

ICE spokesman Tim Counts says six of the individuals were fugitives. Immigration courts had previously demanded their deportation.

"There were children involved. There were a couple of those encountered who were fugitives were juveniles. This was because the immigration judge had ordered the entire family deported because they had entered the country illegally," said Counts.

Counts says agents found 13 other undocumented immigrants during the course of the action.
Ten people were arrested in Madelia, five in St. James. The remainder were arrested in Windom, Butterfield and Lewisville. Most of the individuals were arrested at their homes.

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/10/24/ice_raid/

Immigration raids in Madelia, St. James

Immigration raids in Madelia, St. James
Associated Press
October 23, 2008

MADELIA, Minn. - Several people have been taken into custody in immigration raids in Madelia and St. James this week.

Agents from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency have been making sweeps through those southern Minnesota towns over the past two days with help from local law enforcement.

Officials say the raids are part of an ongoing, targeted search for specific individuals in violation of the law.

Authorities have not said exactly how many homes have been raided or how many people are in custody.
___
Information from: KNUJ, New Ulm, http://www.knuj.net
© 2008 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.

http://www.startribune.com/local/32858404.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aU7EaDiaMDCiUZ

ICE raids look like retaliation to protesters

By Sheila Regan,
TC Daily Planet

July 07, 2008

Young demonstrators at rally that some think sparked the immigration raids in Shakopee and the Jackson Park neighborhood.

On Sunday, June 22, federal officers raided homes in Jackson Heights and Shakopee, arresting between 12-20 people. The raids occurred nine days after a rally held by residents and organizers from the area in response to planned Highway 41 expansion.

"They came here. They looking for some people, and they took them," said Mauro Avango, a resident of Jackson Heights. "They took Felix."

Felix Diaz, who was a speaker at the June 13 demonstration, was arrested with his wife.

"I only know he will be deported," said another Jackson Heights resident, through an interpreter. "I think he's in a deportation center. I know because he's my neighbor."

Krystal Klein, of All Parks Alliance for Change, wrote in a press release:

"The couple answered their door at 6:00 a.m. on Sunday. According to the accounts of family members who were present during the raid, the couple was handcuffed and escorted to a van in their pajamas. ICE officials did not allow them to get dressed or even put on shoes. Their seven year old daughter, a US Citizen, was sleeping in the next room."

Klein received the information about the arrests from Diaz's family members, who were afraid to be quoted directly.

Klein said that six people from Jackson Heights, and six people from Shakopee were arrested, but she said it's possible that as many as twenty could have been taken. Klein, a community organizer, has been talking with people in the Jackson Heights community. "The public trust has been broken between the community and MnDOT," Klein said. "The community perceives that this is a retaliation for the protest."

Dennis Roof, of the East Chaska Citizens Organization, also was involved in the June 13 rally. Roof says that although he is very concerned about the citizens of Jackson Heights, he's "not supportive of people who are here illegally." Still, Roof says, "If MnDOT or Scott County made the call to [immigration officials], I think that was the lowest thing they could do." Roof said he "wouldn't be surprised if [local officials] had reached into the bag and pulled this out and used as a way for causing problems."

Gail Montenegro, the public relations representative from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said she didn't know anything about the raids, and that the U.S. Marshal might have conducted the searches. Justin Cline, from the U.S. Marshal's office, indicated that there was a nationwide sweep called "Operation Falcon" at the end of June. Cline noted that there were a number of men named Felix Diaz arrested in last week's national sweep, but he could not confirm whether any of them came from Shakopee.

Krystal Klein has no doubt that the raids were performed by ICE: "I went to some of the hearings, and glanced at the papers that had 'ICE' written on the top of them," she said.

Sheila Regan is a theater artist based in Minneapolis. When not performing or writing, she serves as educational coordinator for Teatro del Pueblo.

http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/article/2008/07/07/ice-raids-look-retaliation-protesters.html