California Latinos fearful after immigration raids

[Kagom]

California Latinos fearful after immigration raids

By Tim Gaynor

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Cook Rosa Maria Salazar's eyes dart anxiously to the door as customers file into the Salvadoran cafe in a heavily Hispanic neighborhood near downtown Los Angeles.

"We're terrified. The police could come for us at any time and deport us," she said in Spanish earlier this week as diners fingered maize tortillas stuffed with beans and pork scratchings and chatted softly.

The 55-year-old undocumented worker from Guatemala is among many Hispanics deeply shaken by recent immigration raids at the heart of Latino communities in southern California.

The-seven day Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sweep, dubbed "Operation Return to Sender," targeted jails across five counties in the Los Angeles area, where police took 423 of what they called "criminal aliens" into federal custody for deportation, after being held on charges unrelated to their immigration status.

Federal agents from seven teams also fanned out in local communities, where they nabbed 338 undocumented immigrants, more than 150 of whom were classed as "immigration fugitives" -- foreign nationals who ignored final deportation orders.

The raid was the latest in a series of get-tough enforcement measures by ICE in the United States, but the largest action of its kind in California, where more than a third of the population is Hispanic.

"We hadn't seen anything like this here before, and it came as a shock," said Antonio Bernabe, a community worker who runs a day labor program at the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles.

"The police didn't just take people with deportation orders, they took anybody ... guys who were just hanging out in the street and even from a Jack in the Box restaurant ... and now people are afraid to go out," he added.

RAIDS AS BUSH BACKS OVERHAUL

The high-profile sweep netted mostly Mexican nationals, but included people from 14 countries including Ukraine, Japan, Poland and Trinidad.

It culminated on Tuesday, when President George W. Bush gave a State of the Union address that ranked immigration legislation among his top domestic priorities.

Bush called for "comprehensive immigration reform," combining a guest-worker program with tougher workplace and border enforcement.

He remained vague, however, on the thorny issue of how to deal with the 10 million to 12 million undocumented immigrants living in the shadows, more than 2.5 million of whom live in California.

Some immigrants who followed the speech closely on Spanish-language television in Los Angeles remained hopeful of concessions in the aftermath of the sweep.

"I came here to work and help support my family, so obviously the raids were alarming," Salvadoran construction worker Remberto Flores told Reuters in Spanish as he waited for a bus in a neighborhood of taco stands and wire transfer shops.

"But we saw President Bush talk about reforms in the Senate, so maybe there will be some breaks for us as well," he added.

Others in the city believed that the only clear message from the raids and the speech was that the situation for immigrants in California had changed.

"We used to feel secure here," Nicaraguan electrician Manuel Salomon told Reuters as he sipped coffee in a Mexican bakery in the city. "But it looks like that honeymoon is over."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070125/us_nm/usa_immigration_raids_dc

Who'd've thunk it?

 

[90K]

I have a simple solution go back to Mexico or where ever home is and then do the proper work to come to the US legally! Pretty easy concept

 

[5stringJeff]

Who'd've thunk it?

Good. They should all be looking over their shoulders. Hopefully we'll have more deportations.

 

[Kagom]

Good. They should all be looking over their shoulders. Hopefully we'll have more deportations.

Hopefully.

 

[Little-Acorn]

What "immigration raids"?

I know of some where illegal immigrants were arrested. But none where just ANY immigrant was arrrested. Reuters couldn't have gotten it (gasp) wrong, could they?

BTW, why are all these latinos "fearful"? The cops are only arresting those who broke our immigration laws. Does that include all of these "Latinos"? Only then do they have any reason to be "fearful".

More misreporting by Reuters? Odd how it all goes in one direction: to stir up false fears among the law-abiding.

 

[90K]

How about this approach: Those poor hispanics working there asses off in that greedy America and they get deported. I feel so sad for them? That is another spin with miss information from the media. I'm all for legal immigration but draining our system isn't the answer, maybe the liberal/Pelosi approach but not mine.

 

[Avatar4321]

Why would you be afraid if you are legally here?

shouldnt those who are deported be grateful to take their new work ethic to their home to change things there?

 

[Roopull]

Who cares if they're deported? What does that change? They'll be back within days.


Until a wall is built & the laws regarding immigration are changed to reflect some reality & fairness, nothing is going to change.

Until then, the debate is pointless.

 

[Annie]

Why would you be afraid if you are legally here?

shouldnt those who are deported be grateful to take their new work ethic to their home to change things there?

We agree basically about illegal immigration. They didn't though 'get a new work ethic,' those that came to work, already had that. The opportunities to utilize that are absent because of corrupt government in Mexico, in particular. Until that is fixed, which is not solvable for the US, the problems will remain.

 

[trobinett]

Who cares if they're deported? What does that change? They'll be back within days.

Well, you'll certainly get no argument from me on THAT point.

Until a wall is built & the laws regarding immigration are changed to reflect some reality & fairness, nothing is going to change.

Your wrong Roo, the population of Mexican criminals in OUR country will continue to rise.

Until then, the debate is pointless.

Well, not pointless, unless nothing happens, and I still belive there will be action on this issue, as it is VERY important, and I belive one of the most pressing issues on our agenda.

 

[William Joyce]

The opportunities to utilize that are absent because of corrupt government in Mexico, in particular. Until that is fixed, which is not solvable for the US, the problems will remain.

What amazes me is that Bush & Co. can't figure out that the brand of human responsible for the glories of Mexican government, business and culture is the same brand streaming across the border and predicted to make the U.S. a brown utopia. The reality on the ground is that they're turning America into a shit fondue. Really, it's not corrupt government Mexico suffers from --- it's the inferior racial breed occupying the land. That's what's portable, unfortunately for us.

 

[Annie]

What amazes me is that Bush & Co. can't figure out that the brand of human responsible for the glories of Mexican government, business and culture is the same brand streaming across the border and predicted to make the U.S. a brown utopia. The reality on the ground is that they're turning America into a shit fondue. Really, it's not corrupt government Mexico suffers from --- it's the inferior racial breed occupying the land. That's what's portable, unfortunately for us.

The problems with Mexico have zero to do with 'color.' Now language for those entering US, I'll grant you.

 

[Roopull]

Your wrong Roo, the population of Mexican criminals in OUR country will continue to rise.

Who the hell are you & how dare you tell me I'm wrong!

Okay, in all seriousness, if there's a wall built & the immigration laws are changed to allow in a decent number of people with skills needed here (similar to requirements we have of other nations - thus all the Indian doctors) where are they going to come from?


BTW, nice forum, Trob... but the rugs don't go with the drapes. 'Round here, we got rid of the carpet. Much cleaner & no carpet burn.

 

[trobinett]

Roo posts:

in all seriousness, if there's a wall built & the immigration laws are changed to allow in a decent number of people with skills needed here (similar to requirements we have of other nations - thus all the Indian doctors) where are they going to come from?

No need to CHANGE the law, just enforce the ones we have. The rest will take care of itself. Just like it use too, when we had CONTROL of our boarders.

 

[Darwins Friend]

It’s at least hypocritical to refer to a border and not enforce its reality.

At the very worst it is a conveyance for those who’ll poison our infrastructure, while we fall back asleep.

Cheap lawn cutting will be our downfall.

 

[Gunny]

What amazes me is that Bush & Co. can't figure out that the brand of human responsible for the glories of Mexican government, business and culture is the same brand streaming across the border and predicted to make the U.S. a brown utopia. The reality on the ground is that they're turning America into a shit fondue. Really, it's not corrupt government Mexico suffers from --- it's the inferior racial breed occupying the land. That's what's portable, unfortunately for us.

So just which of the three actual races is it that you think Mexicans belong to?

 

[William Joyce]

So just which of the three actual races is it that you think Mexicans belong to?

They are a mixture of indigenous though removed Asian and, to a lesser extent, European. The best information is that the "Indians" of North and South America came from Asia many thousands of years ago, crossing over the Bering Sea land bridge, filtered down through the continents, and remained here. The 'Mestizo' ethny contains some admixture of European, or Spanish and Portuguese, from those colonizations later in history.

Throughout Latin America, you see varying degrees of mixture, with the whitest occupying the top slots of most societies (think of the blond-haired, blue-eyed Mexicans who anchor the news, run the banks, appear on telenovelas, etc.) to the purely indigenous brown-red peoples, some of whom don't even speak Spanish.

The ones coming over are closer to the latter. There's a thought that the whiter brands of Latin people are only too happy to dump them off on us (Vincente Fox, for instance, is happy to have the U.S. function as the welfare system for his cast-offs -- meanwhile, his own country gets whiter and richer!)

But I'll say it again: this is about as far from irrelevant "color" as you can get. These are racial distinctions burned into the DNA, and if they aren't everything, they are most things.

Here's a readable primer on this topic (one item may explain Gunny's question):

http://www.vdare.com/sailer/cavalli-sforza_ii.htm

America absorbed Italians and Irish after English and German because all those groups were genetically European and similar enough for life in the same harmonious society. We will not absorb Mestizos. We are -- and will become -- separate groups.

 

[Gunny]

They are a mixture of indigenous though removed Asian and, to a lesser extent, European. The best information is that the "Indians" of North and South America came from Asia many thousands of years ago, crossing over the Bering Sea land bridge, filtered down through the continents, and remained here. The 'Mestizo' ethny contains some admixture of European, or Spanish and Portuguese, from those colonizations later in history.

Throughout Latin America, you see varying degrees of mixture, with the whitest occupying the top slots of most societies (think of the blond-haired, blue-eyed Mexicans who anchor the news, run the banks, appear on telenovelas, etc.) to the purely indigenous brown-red peoples, some of whom don't even speak Spanish.

The ones coming over are closer to the latter. There's a thought that the whiter brands of Latin people are only too happy to dump them off on us (Vincente Fox, for instance, is happy to have the U.S. function as the welfare system for his cast-offs -- meanwhile, his own country gets whiter and richer!)

But I'll say it again: this is about as far from irrelevant "color" as you can get. These are racial distinctions burned into the DNA, and if they aren't everything, they are most things.

Here's a readable primer on this topic (one item may explain Gunny's question):

http://www.vdare.com/sailer/cavalli-sforza_ii.htm

America absorbed Italians and Irish after English and German because all those groups were genetically European and similar enough for life in the same harmonious society. We will not absorb Mestizos. We are -- and will become -- separate groups.

It isn't about race. Hispanics are considered part of the caucasian race.

This is about a clash of cultures. I will agree with you as far as their culture bringing ours down. Any city in the Southwest US is evidence of that. But it isn't due to any racial inferiority. It's due to introducing and perpetuating a Third World culture in the middle of ours.

 

[pegwinn]

Roo posts:
No need to CHANGE the law, just enforce the ones we have. The rest will take care of itself. Just like it use too, when we had CONTROL of our boarders.

Enforcing the existing law is fine, but it doesn't logically conclude that we will, or ever truly had, control of our borders.

 

[trobinett]

Enforcing the existing law is fine, but it doesn't logically conclude that we will, or ever truly had, control of our borders.

Well then, I guess we just see this differently then.

I believe we had control of our boarders into the late 20th century, from that point, the criminals from Mexico have grown from a trickle, to a 100 year flood.