Immigration raid rattles Arlandria-Chirilagua neighborhood (Alexandria Times)

Immigration raid rattles Arlandria-Chirilagua neighborhood
THURSDAY, JULY 28 2011 > UPDATED MONDAY, AUGUST 1 2011
By David Sachs

Elena Flores rapped her hands helplessly against an Immigration and Customs Enforcement van, crying as it pulled away from Lillian's restaurant, a popular rendezvous in Arlandria-Chirilagua, around sundown on July 14.

Her 31-year-old son, Herlin Flores, sat inside just as helpless. He had gone from family provider to federal detainee in a matter of minutes during a raid that has rattled residents and hushed the streets of the usually bustling Latino neighborhood.

Authorities arrested Herlin, a native of Honduras, after he failed to produce government-issued identification, according to Elena. But she wonders why he was asked in the first place; socializing outside a restaurant with neighbors is no crime, and Herlin is a painter who would rather juggle a soccer ball than cause trouble, she said.

Herlin was not the only one taken. Elena says her nephew, 21-year-old Erick Carbajal, also was arrested.

"ICE arrested the two individuals on immigration violations as part of a targeted law enforcement action aimed at taking known gang members and associates off the streets in our communities," ICE spokeswoman Cori Bassett said in a statement.

Neither man had a criminal record, according to the Alexandria Circuit Court.

"My son and nephew, all they do is work, and in their free time play soccer," Elena said through an interpreter. "My son was basically my support system for me and my daughter. Now that the rent and the bills are coming, and are high, I don't know what to do."

She maintains temporary protected status and a work permit.

Rumors of the raid pervade the neighborhood. Between five and eight people were arrested, according to witnesses, though one estimate put the figure at 57 — a perilous exaggeration, according to Esteban Graces of Tenants and Workers United, a community center in Arlandria-Chirilagua.

"That's the dangerous part of this — the panic — because when the rumors grow, the streets become more and more empty," Graces said. "And the community feels like they can't come outside of their homes."

Details of the raid could not be released until after the Times' deadline, ICE officials said.

Elena said her son was profiled — not targeted individually but asked to show an ID "out of nowhere." He's at a detention center in Virginia where his lawyer will soon visit.

"I am afraid, and I say it's not fair what they're doing … picking up people who work for a living," Elena said. "Sometimes they take workers and they're not taking gang members — they're taking decent people. They just go around picking up whoever."

She hopes the court will free her son so her family can stay together, "otherwise I don't have help and I'm not sure where I'm going to live," she said.

The case could be similar to a pending trial in Baltimore, according to immigration lawyer and former Alexandria resident Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg. He points to a 2009 raid during which ICE agents arrested 24 Hispanic day workers but ignored the black and white laborers gathered at a 7-Eleven.

"On the one hand, if [authorities] are looking for a specifically named individual and have credible evidence against him, then it's a legitimate law enforcement tactic to go to that place and make an arrest," Sandoval-Moshenberg said. "On the other hand, if [agents] were literally just rolling by and saw a bunch of brown guys sitting on a wall and said, 'Hey, let's see what's going on here,' that smacks of collective punishment, which is really an anathema to our constitutional system."

Businesses like TU Communications on Mount Vernon Avenue have suffered from sparse foot traffic since the arrests. The prepaid cell phone store has seen a marked decrease in business, said manager Roberto Pérez.

"Nobody comes in, and everyone is still talking about [the arrests] all the time," Pérez said.

Next door, El Pulgarcito has seen a 90 percent drop in business, according to Maria, a chef there who would not give her last name. One of her best customers was taken in the raid, she said.

The arrests have deadened the streets of Arlandria-Chirilagua but activists like Graces, who is frustrated with stagnate immigration reform, believe it could be a spark for the community.

"We're advocating on behalf of people who aren't criminals, who maybe have come into the country undocumented and are existing without status," he said. "Mixed-status families get torn apart during raids. That's what we're advocating against."

Guatemalan man sentenced to illegally returning to U.S. (Globe Gazette)

Guatemalan man sentenced to illegally returning to U.S.

Posted: Thursday, July 28, 2011 10:24 am

SIOUX CITY - A man who served jail time in Wright County on a drunken driving charge has been sentenced to nine months in federal prison after illegally re-entering the United States from Guatemala.

Pedro Alvarado-Huinac, 27, from Guatemala, pleaded guilty in April to one count of illegal re-entry as an aggravated felon.

At the guilty plea hearing, Alvarado-Huinac admitted he was deported from the United States on Jan. 4, 2007. Alvarado-Huinac came into the custody of Homeland Security Investigations on Feb. 28, 2011, while incarcerated in Wright County for operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated and providing false information to a police officer.

Alvarado-Huinac was previously convicted on Oct. 15, 2001, of forgery in Jasper County, Mo.

Alvarado-Huinac was sentenced in Sioux City by United States District Court Judge Mark W. Bennett. Alvarado-Huinac was sentenced to nine months in prison.

He will serve a two-year term of supervised release after the prison term.

There is no parole in the federal prison system.

Alvarado-Huinac is being held in the custody of United States Marshals Service until he can be transported to a federal prison.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kevin C. Fletcher and investigated by HSI and the Enforcement and Removal Office of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Bureau.

Guatemalan man sentenced to federal prison for illegally returning to the United States

South African family fighting deportation (WXIA-GA)

South African family fighting deportation
1:12 PM, Jul 29, 2011
Written by Devin Fehely

ATLANTA -- A South African family living in Atlanta is fighting deportation, fearing their lives would be in jeopardy if they returned to their homeland.

"We were receiving death threats," said 19-year-old Malcolm Mathe.

The family entered the country on tourist visas in 2007 but immediately requested political asylum when they arrived at the airport.

Mathe says they were victims of an escalating pattern of violence and threats from a group who may have been targeting his stepfather, a refugee from Rwanda.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement denied the family's petition for asylum. Two appeals have also been unsuccessful.

An appellate judge ruled in May of last year that the family "failed to demonstrate that there was a real possibility that she will be persecuted upon return to South Africa."

On Tuesday, Malcolm's older brother Andy Mathe was deported to South Africa. The family says they are concerned they will be next.

ICE Arrests 30 Men In Milwaukee (WISC-WI)

ICE Arrests 30 Men In Milwaukee
Arrests Are Part Of Anti-Gang Operation
Posted: 2:41 pm CDT August 1, 2011

MILWAUKEE -- Federal officials have arrested 30 men in Milwaukee as part of an anti-gang operation.

According to a news release by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the arrests last week targeted foreign-born gang members and their associates throughout the Milwaukee area.

Six were arrested on criminal warrants or charges, and 24 were arrested on immigration violations and have been placed into deportation proceedings. Five men arrested had been previously deported.

The news release said that 17 are documented gang members and 13 are gang associates from local street gangs. Gang affiliations include the C14 SureInos, Mexican Posse, Latin Kings and Brown Pride.

Family Claims They Were 'Terrorized' By Federal Agents (KTLA-CA)

Family Claims They Were 'Terrorized' By Federal Agents
VIDEO: Watch Dave Mecham's Report
KTLA News
5:29 p.m. PDT, August 1, 2011

NORCO, Calif. (KTLA) -- A family claims they were beaten by federal agents during a 'botched' drug raid and now, they're fighting for their rights to stay in the U.S.

On July 19, agents with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSE) went to Carmen Bonilla's residence on Corona Avenue in Norco, armed with a search warrant related to a drug-trafficking investigation.

Carmen Bonilla and seven other relatives, including a two-year-old and a 17-year-old were at the house when the agents showed up.

Bonilla claims they were terrorized by the agents who allegedly forced them to lay face down on the ground with guns pointed at their heads.

In addition, the family says they were beaten, kicked, scratched and yelled at by the agents.

ICE has not confirmed or denied the discovery of any drugs, but the family says no drugs were found.

During the incident, agents learned that eight of the home's occupants were in the country illegally and now they're fighting deportation.

The Coalition for Humane Immigration Rights of Los Angeles has since stepped in to help.

The family now has an immigration lawyer -- Jessica Dominguez -- who will be representing them in court on Tuesday to fight deportation charges.

The allegations made against the agents are being investigated by ICE's Office of Professional Responsibility.