[July 15, 2008]

DOZENS ARRESTED IN RAIDS AT COURTHOUSES

Federal immigration agents and state police raided six Rhode Island courthouses on July 15, 2008, arresting dozens of people, all believed to be maintenance workers, employed by two contractors hired by the state. The raid led to a noisy demonstration by at least 100 people outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office at 200 Dyer St.    Some in the crowd were relatives of the arrestees. Others included clergy and at least one state representative, Grace Diaz, and members of immigrant advocacy groups.

            Craig N. Berke, spokesman for the Rhode Island judiciary, said the raids occurred simultaneously at 5 p.m. at all six Rhode Island courthouses. He said a "substantial" percentage of employees of two contractors hired by the state were taken into custody.            "The investigation was initiated by the judiciary," Berke said. "In early June, we forwarded evidence to the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Rhode Island State Police. The judiciary has been cooperating with that investigation on a daily basis since then." Berke declined to say what the evidence was.

"I also know that there was at least one courthouse - I'm not sure if there was more than one - in which no employees of the vendor were taken into custody," Berke said. "They were screened but not taken into custody."

Asked who will clean the courthouses that day, Berke said, "They'll be cleaned. Not every employee of the vendor was taken into custody today. And we also have daytime maintenance staff who will have to do double duty".  He said that as of last night, the two contractors were still employed by the judiciary.

The courthouses that were raided are: the Garrahy Judicial Complex and the Licht Judicial Complex, both in Providence; the McGrath Judicial Complex in Wakefield; the Murray Judicial Complex in Newport; Kent County Courthouse in Warwick, and the Rhode Island Traffic Tribunal in Cranston.

Paula Grenier, an ICE spokeswoman in Boston, said an enforcement action had been carried out "as a result of a joint investigation by federal and state authorities." Grenier said the action "is part of an ongoing criminal investigation." She would not confirm that the courthouses were raided, or say how many people were detained.

The raids occurred during the first meeting of a governor's advisory panel, charged with monitoring any "unintended consequences" of Governor Carcieri's executive order cracking down on illegal immigration. The order issued in March requires that state police be deputized with certain immigration enforcement powers.

News of the raids spread rapidly as courthouse workers phoned relatives, friends and community leaders. Demonstrators assembled outside the ICE building in Providence. As police arrived, the group divided and people rushed to doors at the front and rear of the building.

ICE ARRESTS 18 ILLEGAL ALIENS AT A COLORADO CONCRETE PLANT

            18 men were administratively arrested by ICE last July 16, 2008 at Colorado Precast Concrete Inc., located in Loveland, Colorado, for being in the United States illegally. One is from El Salvador; the rest are from Mexico. 

            Colorado Precast manufactures pre-cast concrete forms for various industrial construction projects. The company fully cooperated with ICE during the operation; no criminal charges are anticipated against the company.

            ¡°ICE worksite enforcement operations like this help maintain the integrity of the immigration system," said Jeffrey Copp, special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in Denver. "When supported by the evidence, ICE also actively pursues criminal charges against employers who knowing hire illegal aliens." Copp oversees a four-state area which includes: Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming.

            In fiscal year 2007, ICE secured more than $30 million in criminal fines, restitutions, and civil judgments in worksite enforcement cases. ICE arrested 863 people in criminal cases and made more than 4,000 administrative arrests. That is a tenfold increase over just five years before.

In fiscal year 2008 through May, ICE made more than 850 criminal arrests tied to worksite enforcement investigations. Of the 850 individuals criminally arrested, 75 are owners, managers, supervisors or human resources employees facing charges including harboring or knowingly hiring illegal aliens. The remaining 775 workers criminally arrested are facing charges including aggravated identity theft and Social Security fraud.  ICE has also made more than 2,900 administrative arrests for immigration violations during worksite enforcement operations.

PUSH TO LIFT HIV TRAVEL/IMMIGRATION BAN

Lifting the HIV travel/immigration ban is critical to ensuring that foreign nationals are not barred from entering the U.S. solely because of their HIV status. Singling out HIV as the only statutory medical ground of inadmissibility stigmatizes those who are living with this treatable disease and diminishes the international legitimacy of the United States as it leads the global fight against HIV/AIDS.

The United States currently has one of the world's harshest immigration policies for individuals who are HIV-positive: the U.S. is one of only 12 countries including Iraq, Libya and Syria that ban travel for individuals with HIV. This ban was enacted at a time of rampant fear about the HIV virus and how it is spread. While the Department of Health and Human Services evaluates all other diseases to determine if a travel ban is appropriate, only HIV has been designated as a ground of inadmissibility in the U.S. code.

PUSH FOR IMMIGRATION REFORM

            The U. S. Conference of Mayors adopted a resolution in June 2008 as follows:

            CALLING FOR COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM WHICH PROMOTES THE REUNIFICATION OF FAMILIES, PROVIDES LEGAL STATUS WITH A PATH TO EARNED CITIZENSHIP, AND A PLAN FOR CURRENT                                                        AND FUTURE IMMIGRANT WORKERS

WHEREAS, The U.S. Conference of Mayors recognizes the economic, social and cultural contributions immigrants bring to their communities; and

WHEREAS, the responsibility of municipal leaders is to protect the wellbeing and safety of all the people residing in their cities; and

WHEREAS, many local governments have passed resolutions, ordinances and policy directives reaffirming non-participation in the enforcement of civil immigration law by city officials and agencies to promote immigrant trust in its police and avert racial profiling and civil rights violations; and

WHEREAS, The International Association of Chiefs of Police Guide to Immigration Issues concludes that local police leaders face a growing set of immigration related duties in the face of scarce and narrowing resources; and

WHEREAS, raids and deportations are increasing in scope and number in recent weeks and months, separating families and spreading terror in our communities; and

WHEREAS, The U.S. Conference of Mayors opposes the separation of families by the enforcement of our current immigration laws and supports the reunification of families that have been so separated, especially those ¡°mixed status¡± families with U.S. citizen children of which there are an estimated four million children currently in this country; and

WHEREAS, the national political debate on immigration reform has tended to polarize our communities; and

WHEREAS, it is the duty of local governments to respect the rights of and provide equal services to all individuals regardless of national origin or immigration status,

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by The U.S. Conference of Mayors acting on behalf of its constituents to call on the President of the United States to issue an executive order to cease and desist in the execution of all raids and deportations that do not relate to our national security or to criminal activity until comprehensive immigration reform is completed and to suspend immediately all deportations of parents with U.S. citizen children; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the U.S. Conference of Mayors supports comprehensive immigration reform which promotes the reunification of families, provides legal status with a path to earned citizenship to the estimated 12 million undocumented workers and designs a plan for current and future immigrant workers.