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Wednesday, May 21, 2008
ACLU: Feds denying basic rights to workers caught in immigration raid
The American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday accused the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security of denying basic legal protections to workers arrested at a large immigration raid in Postville, Iowa, last week.
The raids have been controversial leading Hispanic lawmakers on Capitol Hill to denounce what they called “inhumane” tactics by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE.
ICE has denied the accusations.
“ICE conducts its law enforcement operations lawfully, professionally, and humanely,” said James Spero, deputy assistant director of ICE’s Office of Investigations.
Spero made the remarks at a House hearing Tuesday.
He also said that ICE takes “extraordinary steps to identify, document, and act appropriately” regarding humanitarian concerns of people encountered during the raids, including cooperation with public health and social service agencies.
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Immigration amendment dropped from Iraq bill
Foes of illegal immigration rejoiced Wednesday after word got out that Democratic senators dropped an amendment that would have given five year visas to agricultural workers who are in the United States illegally.
The amendment, by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., had been attached to a large spending bill to pay for the Iraq war. Feinstein said it would have provided emergency relief for farmers facing a critical labor shortage.
Majority Leader Harry Reid said that the Feinstein amendment and others were dropped in order to make the Iraq spending bill more acceptable to Republicans.
Georgia GOP Sens. Johnny Isakson, and Saxby Chambliss, as well as other lawmakers had urged Reid to drop the immigration provision from the bill.
“There’s no greater domestic issue in this country than illegal immigration, and I am pleased the Senate rejected this attempt to grant amnesty on a bill designed to give our soldiers the resources they need,” Isakson said, in a joint press release with Chambliss.
Chambliss added: “I’m pleased the Senate recognized that removing this bad provision was the right thing to do. We need to ensure that funding for our troops is approved and delivered as quickly as possible without getting bogged down in an unrelated immigration debate.”
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Hispanic lawmakers denounce immigration raids
Members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on Tuesday said that federal agents are conducting “inhumane” immigration raids that hurt children, including many U.S. citizens.
Rep. Joe Baca, D-Calif, chairman of the caucus, said that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency conducting the raids, is tearing families apart.
“It’s not ICE’s job to intimidate individuals, regardless. It’s not ICE’s job to humiliate individuals. It’s not ICE’s job to leave hundreds of children without parents,” he said, at a Capitol Hill press conference.
The event was prompted in part by a raid last week at Agriprocessors Inc., a meat packing plant in Postville, Iowa, where 389 workers were arrested on immigration violations and criminal charges. It is the latest in a string of enforcement operations around the country.
Kathy Thill, a nun with the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas who works with the Latino community in Iowa, spoke emotionally about the raid and its aftermath.
She said she found “hundreds of people in shock and distress” at a church which became a shelter for many who feared being arrested.
ICE denied the accusations.
“ICE conducts its law enforcement operations lawfully, professionally, and humanely,” said James Spero, deputy assistant director of ICE’s Office of Investigations.
Spero made the remarks at a House hearing earlier in the day. He also said that ICE takes “extraordinary steps to identify, document, and act appropriately” regarding humanitarian concerns of people encountered during the raids, including cooperation with public health and social service agencies.
He also said that ICE was “first and foremost a federal law enforcement agency with the mandate of protecting national security and public safety by enforcing the nation’s immigration and customs laws.”
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