The Immigration Debate

THE STATE
Inland Latinos Alarmed by New Border Patrol Sweeps

BORDER PATROL U S ARRESTS ILLEGAL ALIENS

By Janet Wilson and Sandra Murillo, LA Times Staff Writers

submmitted by Carmen Camacho, corresponsal de Coloquio en Montgomery Co. Maryland

U.S. Border Patrol agents have arrested more than 150 suspected illegal immigrants during a major sweep in Riverside and San Bernardino counties that has caused panic in some heavily Latino neighborhoods.

The sweeps, which began Friday, came after a change in policy at the Border Patrol and will continue indefinitely, agency officials said. Similar "interior checkpoints" and related activities have occurred in parts of Texas and elsewhere in the Southwest, said Mario Villarreal, a spokesman with the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection in Washington.

In August, Border Patrol officials rescinded a 4-year-old policy prohibiting agents from pursuing or arresting suspected illegal immigrants except near the border and at highway checkpoints. The recent sweeps in Ontario and Corona, two cities far from the border, are the first such action in Southern California since the policy shift.

"U.S. Customs and Border Protection is committed to preserving the integrity of our nation's border, and interior checkpoints are a critical enforcement tool to our priority mission," Villarreal said.

"This is kind of new I guess for most folks, but it is within the mission of the Border Patrol to detain, arrest and apprehend illegal aliens," said Angel Santa Ana of the Border Patrol's San Diego office.

Federal agents said they were relying on intelligence to identify places with suspected illegal immigrants, stopping people as they stepped off buses and walked along the streets.

Agents are questioning and arresting people based on their nationality only, said Tomas Jimenez, senior patrol agent in San Diego. He declined to elaborate, but said these types of operations are usually based on information from local residents or law-enforcement officials.

"All of our operations are based on intelligence. We did not just decide one morning to go to this place for no reason," Jimenez said. "And basically all the decisions we make when arresting a person are based on nationality only."

Jimenez insisted the arrests "are not raids" and said that churches, schools and homes would not be targeted. More than 90% of the people arrested were Mexican, and a few others were from El Salvador or other Latin American countries, Jimenez said.

Police in both Ontario and Corona said they had been informed that Border Patrol agents would be within their jurisdictions, but that they were not part of the sweeps.

The arrests are causing anger and panic among some Latino residents and activists. Abel Medina, director of Hermandad Mexicana Nacional in Ontario, accused Border Patrol agents of racial profiling, which he said is improper and discriminatory.

"It's one thing to arrest people, it's another thing when they are targeting by race," Medina said. "This is harassment and totally aggressive. And who are they stopping? They're stopping Latino people, people with brown skin, that's who."

The phone at the Ontario office of the nonprofit agency, which assists immigrants, is ringing incessantly, he said, with reports from people who have endured stops and questioning, and from concerned business owners. One woman, who gave her first name as Elidia, said Wednesday that her husband, Lucas Lagunas, 20, and his brothers were arrested a few blocks from their Ontario apartment Friday as they were driving to work at a nearby warehouse and deported to Mexico. Lagunas' 19-year-old wife said she is three months pregnant and has been in the country about five months. She has no family here and is relying on friends for support.

"Right now I'm just sad and scared," she said in a near-whisper. "I'm just here waiting, hoping that my husband comes back."

Although she said she was too scared to leave the small apartment she shares with three friends and four of their children, she said she promised her husband that she'd raise the money to bring him back across the border. The family wanted to work here and buy a house, she said. On Friday, about eight Border Patrol cars pulled up in front of their apartment complex. Residents yelled "La Migra!" warning that immigration agents were in the area, said apartment manager Rosa Covarrubias.

"Some people thought it was a joke," she said. "But when they saw the patrol cars, people started running. One woman hid in her closet."

Some Ontario residents were warning others to avoid intersections where Border Patrol agents had stopped immigrants. Trips to the market, work or even school were considered risky, Covarrubias and others said.

"They're holed up, they don't want to be outside, because the Border Patrol is everywhere," said Covarrubias, who said five tenants were arrested Friday on the street just outside the complex. "They're just upset because they come here to work and be progressive, and look what happens to them. Why aren't they out arresting the gangsters and drug dealers?"At a nearby market that caters to Latinos, manager Raul Chavez said he had seen immigration agents arrest a handful of people as they stepped off a bus, and he'd heard of several other locations where people had been arrested.

"I know the government has the right to do this, but I remember all the suffering and sacrifice that you go through when you first come here, and it's just wrong to arrest them," said Francisca Granero, 47, of Ontario, a customer who was busy selecting a watermelon outside the market. "They're working. They're not doing anything wrong. I've been here 23 years and I have my papers, but I sympathize with them because you never forget those early days."

The San Diego Border Patrol office was the subject of intense criticism last summer from Mexican consular officials and some residents after sweeps and arrests within a block of the consulate in San Diego, and on San Juan Capistrano streets. In the latter sweep, a father was separated from his young children and sent back to Mexico without them.

At the time, William Veal, the chief agent in San Diego, who has since retired, wrote a memo ordering his agents not to arrest or question suspected illegal immigrants except along the border or at highway checkpoints. Veal said he based his memo on what he said was a 1999 policy from Washington that stemmed from court rulings limiting the Border Patrol's authority to question people about their legal status.

Many local agents were upset and frustrated by the order, which also was criticized by Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach), chairman of the House Select Committee on Homeland Security.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner William Bonner ordered Veal to rescind the memo shortly after he wrote it.

Letters request illegals action
By Robert Redding Jr.
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Two Maryland lawmakers from Baltimore County have asked the federal government to withhold funding from state and local agencies that ignore federal laws aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration.
"Especially since 9/11, it is everyone's duty to protect the integrity of U.S. borders the best we can," said Delegate Pat McDonough. Mr. McDonough and Delegate Rick Impallaria, both Republicans, sent letters to President Bush, Attorney General John Ashcroft and other high-ranking federal officials asking them to cut funding from agencies that "flagrantly" violate U.S. immigration laws.

They say, for example, that funding should be cut from the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration if it issues driver's licenses to illegal aliens and from law-enforcement agencies that refuse to help the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency carry out its mission of deporting illegal immigrants.
"This would not be a new policy for the federal government," Mr. Impallaria said. "This is the same principle as cutting federal funds from jurisdictions that do not comply with federal fair housing regulations. ... Our intention is to encourage state and local jurisdictions to shoulder their part of the responsibility for preventing terrorist activity. The feds cannot do it all."
The lawmakers submitted five bills in the 2004 General Assembly to crack down on illegal aliens, though none was approved.
One bill called for incarcerating illegal aliens as soon as they are discovered, and another would have punished U.S. residents who allow illegal aliens to use their cars while committing crimes. A third bill focused on cracking down on foreign embassies that issue identification cards to illegal aliens. The other two bills called for a study on the effect of illegal aliens on the state economy.
The delegates have vowed to resubmit the bills in the next session.
Mr. McDonough and Mr. Impallaria say they are most concerned about Montgomery County because Executive Douglas M. Duncan, a Democrat, has defended the police force for not detaining illegal aliens for deportation.
In February, Mr. Duncan said deportation was a federal issue.
"We [also] don't have the manpower or the resources," he said. "We are trying to build trust between the community and police department."
Mr. Impallaria said, "I don't want to see the state lose federal dollars, but I do want to see it do the right thing."
Erin Healy, a Bush administration spokeswoman, said Friday that the lawmakers' letter had not been received. She had no comment.
A spokesman for Mr. Ashcroft said the attorney general's office will review the letter "as we do all these types of requests."
The letter also was sent to Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a Republican, but his office declined to comment. "While the state received a copy of the letter, it is addressed to federal officials and it is about a federal issue," said Henry Fawell, an Ehrlich administration spokesman. "We will let Maryland's federal delegation address it."
Delegate Victor R. Ramirez, a Prince George's County Democrat, called Mr. McDonough and Mr. Impallaria hypocritical. "These are the same folks who cry separation between the state and [federal] government. And when it does not please them, they go running to the federal government."
Mr. McDonough and Mr. Impallaria's public opposition of illegal aliens has caused them trouble with immigrant communities.
Community leaders have called for a state inquiry into a purported assault on four activists outside a State House hearing room

OP-ED COLUMNIST of the New York Times
Workers in the Shadows
By DAVID BROOKS

Imagine a person 10 times as determined as you are. Picture a guy who will wade across rivers, brave 120-degree boxcars and face vicious smugglers and murderous vigilantes — all to get a job picking fruit for 10 hours a day. That person is the illegal immigrant. Let's call him Sam. This whole immigration debate is about him, the choices he faces and the way he responds.

One thing we know about Sam: he will get here. Between 1986 and 1998, Congress increased the Border Patrol's budget sixfold. Over that time the number of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. doubled, to eight million. Getting across that border is Sam's shot at a decent future. Maybe his whole family depends upon him. He will not be herded away like a lamb.

At the moment, Sam lives in the shadows of society. But this week, President Bush proposed an immigration reform plan that would offer him a new set of choices.

Under the Bush plan, Sam could become a visible member of society with legal documentation. He could get a driver's license. He could benefit from worker protection laws, and possibly see his wages rise. He could open a bank account, which would let him ship money back home without having to pay huge fees. As Dan Griswold of the Cato Institute has shown, he would be much more likely to invest in himself through worker training.

More seriously, his stay in the U.S. would be limited. For up to six years, Sam would be legal, but at the end of that time, he would probably face deportation. Then what would his family do for money?

Sam might decide, all things considered, that it was better not to be in the Bush system, and to remain, as he is now, in the shadows. Or he might decide to enroll in the Bush system for a few years, then return to the shadows. If Sam is going to cooperate, if the U.S. is going to have the labor force it needs to prosper, if the cloud of gangsterism and exploitation is to be finally removed from the lives of immigrants, then Congress is going to have to take the Bush plan and add a component that addresses the immigrants' long-term dreams.

There are several ways to do this. Some have proposed a point system. Sam could earn a point every time he did something that would make him a better citizen. A point for learning English. A point for a high school equivalency degree. With enough points he could earn a green card. He would be on a rigorous path to citizenship, which would still be longer than the one legal immigrants would take.

The Bush plan also needs that long-term component to have any chance of passage in the Houseof Representatives. There are about 70 Republicans who will never vote for any immigration reform but prohibition. To get a majority, the administration has to take the rest of the Republicans and win over a big chunk of Democrats.

The Democrats' present position is that Sam has to get full legalization — which is politically impossible — or he gets nothing. This week, most Democrats, led by Howard Dean, dismissed the president's plan contemptuously.

But if Democrats were offered a reasonable way to regularize Sam's life and give him hope for the future, I can't believe that they would really be so hardhearted that they would turn that down.

Bush has moved the Republicans a long way on this issue, and he will probably have to move a little more. The Democrats haven't budged, but if they do, then we will finally be able to see Sam emerge into the sunlight, and we'll be able to take advantage of all the work and drive and creativity that he and millions like him bring to this country.

La Raza president: Bush immigration proposal 'falls far short'

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush's announcement Wednesday of new immigration guidelines, including a new temporary worker program, drew mixed reactions.

One person who expressed disappointment was Raul Yzaguirre, president of the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic advocacy group. He spoke to CNN's Heidi Collins shortly after Bush's speech.

YZAGUIRRE: I thought the president was brilliant and magnificent in terms of defending our tradition of immigration. He was compassionate and compelling.

Unfortunately, the proposals that he is making to the Congress don't embody that compassion. When you strip it down, what he's saying, it amounts to nothing more than a warmed-over Bracero program, unfortunately.

COLLINS: Why do you say that?

YZAGUIRRE: Well, what we're talking about is simply giving temporary work permits to either people who are already here or people who will come in. And that is not very different than what we had in the '40s, '50s and '60s, a program called Bracero program, where we imported temporary workers and abused their rights. And we saw endemic patterns of abuses that we all are ashamed of.

COLLINS: You say that this also exposes the worker to possible deportation when the green card or the temporary card runs out.

YZAGUIRRE: Precisely.

You are asking people who are undocumented to come forward, declare the fact that they're undocumented, and then expose themselves to possible, perhaps even probable, deportation after a period of time. It is no pathway to legalization, to earned legalization, to regularization of their status. And it falls far short of what we had talked about before the September the 11th incident.

COLLINS: But the plan does provide incentives to go back to their home country, possibly starting their own business and supporting their families in their own country. It offers them retirement benefits and some new tax savings accounts. Isn't that different than what was offered before?

YZAGUIRRE: No. As a matter of fact, the Bracero program also had a savings provision, which, in fact [was] not lived up to.

But it still amounts to sugarcoating what is not a particularly generous proposition. It's not one that's likely to attract a lot of people coming forth.

COLLINS: Mr. Yzaguirre, what were you hoping the president would offer?

YZAGUIRRE: We were hoping that he would keep his promises to offer comprehensive immigration reform that would include, indeed, perhaps a temporary worker program, but that the heart of it would be earned legalization, a pathway, so that people who are currently paying taxes, subsidizing our Social Security system, improving our standard of living, would have an opportunity to do what millions of other Americans -- other immigrants have done, become American citizens.

COLLINS: What will happen now, in your eyes?

YZAGUIRRE: It's hard to tell.

You know, we don't have a specific proposal. We have a series of concepts and broad strokes. The fact that it comes so late in the legislative calendar makes it very difficult to expect that it will pass Congress this year. So, it may be no more than a political gesture to earn the vote of the Hispanic community.

NCLR STRONGLY CRITICAL OF WHITE HOUSE IMMIGRATION PROPOSAL

[Washington, D.C. — Raul Yzaguirre, President of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the nation’s largest Latino civil rights organization, offered this reaction today to President Bush’s announcement on immigration policy:]

Hispanic Americans are extremely disappointed with the President’s announcement today on immigration policy, which appears to offer the business community full access to the immigrant workers it needs while providing very little to the workers themselves. This represents a major departure from the Administration’s posture when they initiated this debate in 2001. This is a bitter disappointment to Latinos who were excited by the President’s apparent willingness two years ago to consider creating a path to permanent legal status for undocumented immigrants living and working in the United States.

The President’s proposal is limited to creating a potentially huge new guestworker program for immigrant workers with no meaningful access to permanent visas or a path to citizenship for those working, paying taxes, and raising their families in the United States. Immigrants would be asked to sign up for what is likely to be second-class status in the American workforce, which could lead to their removal when their status expires or is terminated. Labor rights for temporary workers have historically been weaker than those afforded to workers in the domestic labor force. Under this proposal, workers would be vulnerable during their temporary status, and even more vulnerable when it expires, which would also have a negative impact on wages and working conditions for their U.S.-born co-workers.

The timing of this proposal at the beginning of an election year after more than two years of silence on the issue suggests that the White House intends to appeal to Latino voters by purporting to establish broad and generous access to legal status. The details of the proposal, however, reveal that this is at best an empty promise, and at worst a political ploy aimed at vulnerable immigrants and those of us who care deeply about them. If President Bush is serious about moving a reform agenda forward, we are prepared to work with him, but we will insist on reforms that fully respect the many contributions that immigrants make to this country by putting immigrants on a path to permanent status. Until then, we believe that Latinos will judge the President on his actions, not simply his words.