Immigration agency detains 4 Latinas in fast food restaurant (La Conexión) *English version*

Immigration agency detains 4 Latinas in fast food restaurant
By Paola Jaramillo / Translated by ICERaidReport
Although they remain free for humanitarian reasons, they all face deportation

DURHAM- The cross that the undocumented latino community bears does not seem to let up. This past Ash Wednesday, March 19th, agents from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in the fast food restaurant Taco Bell on Duke Street in Durham, detained four latinas whose only crime was not having fixed their immigration situation in the United States.

They suspected it
"Everything began a month ago. The manager of the restaurant gave us a paper to verify our information, because there were some incomplete dates on our original application. The majority of us have worked here between five and seven years in the same restaurant. It seemed strange to us and we asked if it was something related to immigration, but they told us no. Soon after, managers from higher up at Taco Bell sent us some papers and said that we had a meeting with them on Wednesday the 19th at 9:00 am. The paper that they gave us asked if we were residents or American citizens. The manager from the store told us that to avoid complications we should put that we were citizens. When we arrived on Wednesday, we entered the store to work before 9:00 am and the higher-ups were there filling out some papers with some black men from the afternoon shift. We began to work and when we realized, they called us and the people from ICE were with them. There were seven agents and they all wore jackets that said ICE, except for one. There were two trucks waiting for us. The people from Taco Bell turned their backs on us and they knew that ICE was going after us, because they opened the door for them. When the restaurant is closed it can only be opened from inside without having key. I don't understand why they did this to us," said Josefina*, who spoke with La Conexión, with tears in her eyes. "For my part, I have been in the United States for more than 10 years. I have two kids. One was born here and the other arrived here when he was two years old. My house, my things, my husband, everything. All my life is here. Now what am I going to do?"

Intimidated
The women don't leave the shadows, and they don't understand why the managers of the business gave them up. "Maybe in order to avoid paying fines. The truth is that nobody knows."
After being arrested, the four latinas were carried to the general headquarters of ICE in Cary. There, it was different. "They intimidated us the whole time. They told one of my friends that if she didn't collaborate and continued to ask to speak to a lawyer they would send her directly to Atlanta or Charlotte, that she should collaborate and make things easier. There they interrogated us and asked us about our children, spouses, how much we earned, how long we had worked at Taco Bell, where we lived. Additionally, when we would ask to make a call, they said 'later'." They never told us that we couldn't, but they postponed and postponed the call. They became very upset when we all said that we were single mothers. None of us had prior criminal records. The only crime that we had committed was being withotu papers and working for more than six years in the same restaurant. They told one of my friendsthat they were going to notify the Mexican Consulate about her deportation." However La Conexión communicated with that entity and, as of Thursday the 27th, they had no idea of what had occurred.

Some have already left
After an interregation that lasted the whole morning, the agents returned the latinas to their work place. Now they face cetain deporatation. "Three of us have court on April 9th and the other on the 29th." However some of the women have already left for Mexico and another is thinking of doing so this week. "I looked for a lawyer, but he told me that he can't do anything. And that the most he could do would be to extend the deportation for a year at most.
But I am already packing," said Josefina. "I think that when the kids finish school we'll go. My husband stays here because his papers being processed. But I feel lost, without direction. My son is destroyed. Now we will be moved away from my husband for who knows how long."
On the other side, La Conexión communicated with the ICE office in Cary where they confirmed the detentions but did not offer more details about the case. They asked us to send them a written petition by fax, soliciting information and although the petition was sent more than a week ago, as of the close of this edition we have not received a response. Also, the Taco Bell headquarters in Raleigh declined to give a statement.