Metro Detroit area deportations climb 45% in one year
Customs officials expel record number of illegal immigrants, creating fear in some areas.
By Gregg Krupa
The Detroit News
Thursday, December 4, 2008
DETROIT -- A sharp escalation in enforcement of immigration laws is yielding a spike in deportations of illegal immigrants and rampant fear in some Metro Detroit neighborhoods that are home to longtime, undocumented residents.
The Office of Detention and Removal Operations in Detroit increased deportations about 45 percent -- from 5,057 to more than 7,500 -- in the year ending Sept. 30, establishing a new 12-month record.
Federal officials say they are well ahead of that pace for next year, deporting about one-fourth of that record number in October and November alone.
"It might have been a safe bet for them to be here in the years past, but no longer," said Brian Moskowitz, the agent in charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Detroit. "Not as long as Congress gives us more resources.
"Now, were some of them good people otherwise? Probably yes. But we have the absolute right to control who comes into the country, and just because it wasn't done before doesn't mean it isn't being done now."
Much has changed since the failure of immigration reform in Congress in 2005 and the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The fault line in the debate on immigration runs directly through Latino and Arab neighborhoods in Metro Detroit. Immigrants who entered the country illegally or who overstayed their work and student visas are now routinely deported.
Two decades ago, the old Immigration and Naturalization Service may have had two or three investigators in Metro Detroit for such cases, officials say. Now, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has more than 400.
The vigorous enforcement leaves some neighborhoods fearful. Longtime residents who established southwest Detroit as a stable, active neighborhood suddenly flee, leaving their American-born children with family and friends or taking them to poorer lives in lands the children never have known. Neighbors check with neighbors to determine if federal officials are operating in their area. There is fear of a knock at the door. Amid a surge in crime, residents say they are afraid to report incidents, fearful police will ask them for documentation.
Catholic nuns pray in vigil at a Wayne County jail, where many immigrants are detained. Every Friday, about a dozen demonstrators gather at Clark Park in Detroit to protest the crackdown.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081204/POLITICS/812040411
Showing posts with label Expulsions in Mich. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Expulsions in Mich. Show all posts
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
Group forms in response to Lansing-area ICE raids
Group forms in response to Lansing-area ICE raids
Members hope to raise awareness, funds for families
Kevin Grasha, kgrasha@lsj.com
November 21, 2008
Lansing State Journal
EAST LANSING - During four days last month, federal officers conducted raids in the Lansing area, arresting 64 people suspected of being in the U.S. illegally.
A group calling itself the No Human Is Illegal Network formed after the raids in part to help the families affected.
That group wants more people to know what's happening, and that families of undocumented workers are being torn apart.
"They come here because they just want to work," said Maximo Anguiano, a retired Lansing firefighter and member of the No Human Is Illegal Network. "And most of them pay taxes."
Anguiano was one of about 25 people who gathered Thursday at the East Lansing Public Library night for an event partly intended to raise money for the families.
"A lot of times, the main breadwinner of the family is arrested," said Nikhil Sonnad, who heads Amplifx, a social change advocacy organization that helped put together Thursday night's event. "The rest of the family, even if they are legal, they rely on that money."
Organizers showed "Crossing Arizona," which depicts how people risk their lives to find work in this country.
During last month's raids, authorities said 40 of the total arrested were fugitives, meaning a judge had ordered that they be returned to their home country, but they fled. They now are being detained and awaiting deportation, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Mike Gilhooly.
The other 24 are believed to be in the U.S. illegally, Gilhooly said.
Anguiano described how one of the 64 people arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers last month was taken as he played with his 12-year-old son. Anguiano said the man, who was reportedly working, was arrested on suspicion of being an undocumented immigrant.
He is still being held in a detention facility in Detroit, Anguiano said.
http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20081121/NEWS01/811210325/1001/NEWS
Members hope to raise awareness, funds for families
Kevin Grasha, kgrasha@lsj.com
November 21, 2008
Lansing State Journal
EAST LANSING - During four days last month, federal officers conducted raids in the Lansing area, arresting 64 people suspected of being in the U.S. illegally.
A group calling itself the No Human Is Illegal Network formed after the raids in part to help the families affected.
That group wants more people to know what's happening, and that families of undocumented workers are being torn apart.
"They come here because they just want to work," said Maximo Anguiano, a retired Lansing firefighter and member of the No Human Is Illegal Network. "And most of them pay taxes."
Anguiano was one of about 25 people who gathered Thursday at the East Lansing Public Library night for an event partly intended to raise money for the families.
"A lot of times, the main breadwinner of the family is arrested," said Nikhil Sonnad, who heads Amplifx, a social change advocacy organization that helped put together Thursday night's event. "The rest of the family, even if they are legal, they rely on that money."
Organizers showed "Crossing Arizona," which depicts how people risk their lives to find work in this country.
During last month's raids, authorities said 40 of the total arrested were fugitives, meaning a judge had ordered that they be returned to their home country, but they fled. They now are being detained and awaiting deportation, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Mike Gilhooly.
The other 24 are believed to be in the U.S. illegally, Gilhooly said.
Anguiano described how one of the 64 people arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers last month was taken as he played with his 12-year-old son. Anguiano said the man, who was reportedly working, was arrested on suspicion of being an undocumented immigrant.
He is still being held in a detention facility in Detroit, Anguiano said.
http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20081121/NEWS01/811210325/1001/NEWS
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