Mass Immigration Raids in CA, San Jose has an ICE

Billing a series of raids as the largest sweep of its kind in
> California, federal immigration authorities Monday announced more than
> 1,100 arrests throughout the state this month, part of a three-week
> effort that saw teams from the Bay Area and beyond knocking on doors
> in search of fugitive immigrants.
>
> U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested 1,157 men
> and women — 436 in Northern California — the latest splash in a
> five-year push targeting immigrants who have ignored deportation
> orders or returned to the United States illegally after being
> deported. The sweep, which concluded Saturday, also produced 420
> arrests in the Los Angeles area and 301 in the San Diego area. Those
> arrested came from 34 countries.
>
> And although ICE officials hailed the sweep as a success, particularly
> because of the number of arrests, they said it was only the scale of
> the effort that was remarkable.
>
> "This is something we do on a daily basis," said Craig Meyer, ICE's
> assistant field office director in San Francisco. "This was just a big
> surge to get as many boots on the ground as we could."
>
> Teams from Northern and Southern California worked together to rove
> the state, turning up 595 immigrants with outstanding deportation
> orders and 346 with criminal convictions. In Northern California,
> which includes the Bay Area, 185 were fugitives and 92 had criminal
> convictions, ranging from petty theft to more serious crimes. A
> breakdown of
> Advertisement
>
> arrests by municipality and county was not available, Meyer said.
>
>
> In one case, ICE agents apprehended a Fremont woman who had been
> ordered deported after convictions for voluntary manslaughter and
> threatening a witness. The onetime legal resident, whom authorities
> did not identify, was sent back to her native Portugal shortly after
> her arrest, officials said.
>
> The sweep marked the first large-scale operation for ICE's months-old
> San Jose team, one of a handful added this year in California, as ICE
> continues its five-year crackdown against immigrants who ignore
> deportation orders. In patrolling Northern California, it joins two
> teams in San Francisco and one each in Sacramento, Fresno and
> Bakersfield.
>
> "It spreads us out a little more, gives us a little more reach," Meyer
> said of the new South Bay crew. "They know the area better and they
> can get out there quicker and be on the ground more often."
>
> Nationwide, there are now 95 teams in operation, ICE officials said,
> with more than 100 expected by the end of the year. In 2003, when
> ICE's Fugitive Operations Program was created, only 17 teams were in
> place.
>
> That expansion, along with the establishment of a federal
> investigation center in Vermont, has led to a surge in arrests. Last
> year there were 30,407 arrests nationwide, nearly double the year
> before. This year, ICE agents are well on their way to topping that
> number, with 26, 945 arrests logged as of Aug. 1.
>
> The crackdown has continued to cut into the number of immigrants
> nationwide who have standing deportation orders. In 2007, for the
> first time, the suspected number of fugitive immigrants in the United
> States declined. The backlog is now down to fewer than 560,000, about
> 34,000 fewer than on Oct. 1, 2007.
>
> But for Basil Robledo, director of programs for the Services,
> Immigrant Rights and Education Network in San Jose, the latest arrests
> are one more step on a disturbing path following last year's failure
> by Congress to reform the nation's immigration laws.
>
> He said federal officials have instead turned to heavy-handed
> enforcement — a strategy that Robledo says has led to fear and broken
> families.
>
> "It is a scary situation for folks in the community," he said. "People
> keep their kids home from school. It creates less of a willingness to
> talk to police. They see ICE agents and they see a uniformed person,
> and that blends into all of law enforcement."
>
> Meyer acknowledged the complaints his agency receives, particularly
> those concerning children and families, stressing that "when children
> are involved, we're very careful with that."
>
> Still, he said, "these are the laws that are in place. And we're just
> following through, doing our job."

Horrifying....

Once they find an undocumented immigrant, they automatically assume you have no rights.

Which is BULLSHIT. excuse my language, but it is.

"All men are created equal, they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness"

What the fuck are these guys doing that thinks they can take this away from another human being?!

They have enough of a right to be here as I do.
My thoughts go out to anyone affected by this, or any other raid there's been.

my mom keeps saying how she thinks that ICE is basically trying to round up as many undocumented as they can before they pass another law that benefits us (DREAM maybe?).

idk, i think it's just her hopes talking.

^I hope your mom's right...

Unfortunately thats Fiction Dood.

I too wish that rabid anti-immigrants would focus on this once in a while but, shrug its futile.

Yeah my parents think so too. kinda like, "they gotta look like they cleaned house before they pass anything" ideology.

I hope so cause if not we're in for a bumpy ride now that the economy is sputtering.

Anybody know any single gueras that need a hard working latino engineer? hit me up

my mom says the same exact thing!.. lol

Looks like the crackdown is on fugitive / criminal people, as well as the ones with deportation orders against them.

I wouldn't worry too much unless you're into shady stuff.

I cant believe this is happening in San Jose.. which is where I live close by..
Scary stuff..

^^^

well there is always reason to worry. i know they keep saying that they're focusing on arresting people who are criminals or who've ignored their deportation orders, but you know that they're gonna catch undocumented people who don't fit the bill as well. and if they catch them along with the others, you know they're not gonna let them go. because after all, they are just illegals in their eyes. never mind the fact that they're separating families ... =[