US agents arrest local immigrants
by Dustin Lemmon
(563) 383-2493 or
dlem...@qctimes.com

http://www.qctimes.net/articles/2006/11/16/news/local/doc455abb531753...

Sixteen local immigrants, including with citizenship,
were arrested in the Illinois Quad-Cities by agents
with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement,
and it's possible more will be arrested before the
end of today.
Gail Montenegro, a spokesman for ICE in Chicago,
confirmed that an operation in the Quad-Cities was
to end today. She would not confirm how many were
arrested but said more information will be released
when the operation is finished.
Assistant Rock Island County State's Attorney Norma
Nunez said 14 men and two women were detained at
the Rock Island County Jail on Tuesday afternoon by
federal order and that they are to be transported today
to Springfield for hearings. She said local authorities
were not involved in the arrests.
Montenegro said ICE was arresting people with enough
criminal convictions to make them eligible for deportation,
including some who already are legal citizens.
Local officials with advocacy groups that help immigrants
said several people were arrested at their homes and
places of work Monday and Tuesday and were taken
to the Rock Island County Jail.
Connie Barrett, a representative from Casa Guanajuato
in Moline, said  several people who are the sole means
of financial support for their   families were taken into
custody.
She said she referred four families to a local attorney
who handles immigration issues. The four families
represented a mix of both legal and nonlegal immigrants.
Barrett said one of the women was trying to get her
husband, a legal citizen, released from jail. She said
the family has lived here for 15 years, has five children
and is in the process of buying a new house. She said
the husband had prior convictions from for drinking
and driving.
"We're trying to figure out if they want a lawyer," Barrett said Tuesday, noting she
was expecting to hear from more people. "They're looking at anyone with DUIs because
of the political climate, because people think all Mexicans are illegal, and that's
not true."
Some advocates said Tuesday that it appeared any immigrant in the Illinois
Quad-Cities with three DUI or misdemeanor convictions was being arrested regardless
of their legal status. Montenegro could not comment on what specific criminal
convictions qualify an immigrant for arrest.
Gilbert Sierra, a representative of the League of United Latin American Citizens in
Iowa, said it was too early Tuesday to start organizing a protest to the arrests as
immigrants and their advocates did following a similar raid 1997 in which nearly 100
immigrants were arrested at the former IBP Inc. plant in Joslin, Ill., now Tyson
Foods.
"We have to talk to all of our LULAC leadership and see what can be done," he said.
Like Barrett, Sierra thinks the arrests are politically motivated and seemed
skeptical about what good a rally would do.
"It'll just blow over," he said. "Who cares who comes if they leave the children
behind unattended? They don't understand the social impact it has."
Montenegro said the arrests are not politically motivated.
"ICE is responsible for enforcing over 400 immigration statutes," she said. "We
conduct all of our investigations based on information we gather. (Investigations)
sometimes take months or years."
While they are considering how to react, local advocates said the raids this week are
different from the one that occurred in 1997.
"This is being done more insidiously, more quietly, but families are being affected,"
Barrett said.
About the arrests
Sixteen local immigrants were arrested Monday and Tuesday by agents with the U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The 14 men and two women were being held in the Rock Island County Jail on Tuesday
and will be transported to Springfield for court hearings, assistant Rock Island
County State's Attorney Norma Nunez said.
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I intend to last long enough to put out of business all COck-suckers
and other beneficiaries of the institutionalized slavery and genocide.

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