ICE rounds up 25 illegal immigrants in area with criminal violations (Mercury News)

ICE rounds up 25 illegal immigrants in area with criminal violations

By ISAIAH GUZMAN - Sentinel Correspondent
Article Launched: 05/21/2008 04:25:24 PM PDT
Updated 5:45 p.m.

WATSONVILLE - Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested 25 illegal immigrants throughout the Bay Area Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, including five in Watsonville and two in Capitola, an ICE spokeswoman reported Wednesday.

A San Francisco-based ICE fugitive operations team arrested illegal immigrants who failed to comply with a court order for deportation, according to Lori Haley, an ICE spokeswoman in Laguna Niguel.

Six of the people arrested had criminal convictions, said Haley, and three were sexual predators. Haley could not immediately identify those arrested.

"Our priority is to enforce the immigration laws as they are," she said. "People who are living in the country illegally and have been ordered to be deported are breaking the law."

Fifteen illegal immigrants were arrested in Seaside, two in Salinas and one in San Jose, said Haley. She did not provide specifics on how the arrests were made, but said fugitive operations teams normally go to residences and serve administrative, rather than criminal, warrants, meaning agents cannot enter the homes without the occupants' permission.

Local law enforcement agencies from Watsonville, Capitola and Monterey County said Wednesday they did not participate in the raids. It is not usually the habit of local law enforcement to assist federal agents in immigration raids.

So far, in fiscal year 2008, the three San Francisco-area fugitive operations teams have made 1,620 arrests, 300 of which are "criminal aliens." According to ICE, fugitive operations teams give top priority to aliens who pose a threat to national security and community safety, including members of street gangs, child sex offenders and aliens with convictions for violent crimes.

There are currently 75 fugitive operations teams nationwide. They made 30,408 arrests during fiscal year 2007.

"As you can see from the arrests we made, a lot of these people, in addition to being in the country illegally, are actually criminals and they have no business being here," said Haley.
But local immigrant rights advocates responded angrily to the raids Wednesday, saying the raids cause people to live in fear, affect the local economy and don't just target criminals. Some advocates said plain-clothes agents arrived at houses in unmarked cars.

Karen Mallory, an organizer with Communities Organized for Relational Power in Action, or COPA, said she was working Wednesday with the wife of one of the men who was arrested in Capitola. Mallory said agents weren't looking for the woman's husband, but took him because he was undocumented and living where the wanted man had lived previously.

"It makes it hard to be proud to be an American the way we're taking people out of their homes, away from their families," said Mallory.

Santa Cruz City Councilman Tony Madrigal, meanwhile, said the raids go against the values of the community. Resolutions have been passed in Santa Cruz and Watsonville opposing immigration raids and directing police to not cooperate with ICE agents.

"I'm just concerned that there's going to be panic again amongst parents, workers, families and children," said Madrigal, a member of a countywide committee called Stop the Raids. "Our local economy can't continue to take these kinds of hits."

This is the second string of raids to occur in the area in less than two years. Raids in September of 2006 resulted in the arrest of 107 illegal immigrants in Santa Cruz, Watsonville and Hollister.