Controversy in new round of immigrant marches; raids continue

On Sept. 2, about 5,000 immigrant-rights supporters marched through downtown Los Angeles to City Hall as part of a series of events planned through Labor Day weekend. The march was organized by the March 25th Coalition. (CBS2.com, Los Angeles, Sept. 2)

In Chicago, at least 400 supporters of immigrant rights kicked off a four-day march from the city’s Chinatown at noon on Sept. 1. The marchers will end their 45-mile journey, dubbed the Immigrant Workers Justice Walk, on Sept. 4 at the office of US House Speaker Dennis Hastert in Batavia, a suburb west of the city. The march demands include legalization for undocumented immigrants and a moratorium on raids and deportations. Catherine Salgado of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights said she expects a few hundred supporters will walk the entire distance, and thousands more would show up at the route’s various rallies. (Chicago Tribune, Sept. 2) Marches are also planned for Sept. 4, the Labor Day holiday, in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Phoenix, Arizona, and a national march is scheduled for Sept. 7 in Washington, DC. (San Jose Mercury News, Sept. 2)

On Sept. 1, Miller Brewing Co. denied reports in that day’s Chicago Tribune that it had contributed over $30,000 to “a planning convention, materials and newspaper ads” for the Chicago march. Miller isn’t sponsoring the march and didn’t authorize use of its trademarks in association with the event, said Miller spokesperson Peter Marino. “The money supported a recent convention on immigration issues in Chicago, which provided attendees with information on how to become legally naturalized citizens of the US,” Marino claimed. A coalition of Midwestern Latino community organizations had threatened to boycott Miller because the company’s political action committee made $2,000 in campaign contributions to Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI), sponsor of anti-immigrant bill HR 4437, which the House passed last December. The boycott was canceled after the two sides met in Chicago, and Miller agreed to run newspaper ads against the bill and help the group fight it. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Sept. 1)

The presence of the “Miller Girls,” the company’s public relations ambassadors and a display of Miller logos at a welcoming reception the day before the Aug. 12-13 planning convention in Chicago was defended by some of the organizers. “We would love to have 20 corporate logos. It doesn’t mean we are selling the movement out,” said Jorge Mujica, a member of the March 10 Committee. “The principles and demands remain the same. They are helping out this movement and we are happy with that.” (CT, Sept. 1)

Multiple raids in Florida
On Aug. 26, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested 55 immigrants from Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala who were working as janitors in state government buildings in Tallahassee, Florida. All 55 were employed by General Building Maintenance, Inc. (GBM), a janitorial services company contracted by the state of Florida. The US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida will criminally prosecute three of the workers, two for illegally re-entering the US after being deported and one for document fraud.

Another 21 workers have accepted “stipulated orders of removal” and will be deported. The other 30 workers have been charged administratively for being in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Six were released under orders of supervision because they were juveniles or “families with young children,” ICE said; the rest are detained. “A potential vulnerability has been neutralized,” said Robert Weber, special agent-in-charge of ICE investigations in Tampa. Agencies assisting the operation included the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Florida Department of Management Services, the Tallahassee Police Department, the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General, the US Marshals Service and Leon County Sheriff’s Office. (ICE News Release, Aug. 30)

A federal judge ruled on Aug. 25 that ICE agents had probable cause in arresting six men the previous week in Tallahassee on a criminal complaint that they were carrying fake immigration papers. Five men were arrested at a trailer park; the sixth was picked up at a Wal-Mart. William Clark, a federal defender representing the man arrested at Wal- art, said it was rare to see such cases where a person was “picked up on the street for being illegal, you don’t ordinarily see that.” In the courtroom, Clark grilled an ICE agent on what criteria was used to identify his client as a suspected undocumented immigrant. US Magistrate Judge William Sherrill cut short Clark’s questioning and ruled the agents had probable cause for the arrest. (Tallahassee Democrat, Aug. 26)

ICE arrested another 82 immigrants–all but three of them described by an ICE news release as “fugitives” who had ignored deportation orders–in Miami, Jacksonville, Orlando and Tampa over a two-week period ending Sept. 1. (ICE press release, Sept. 1) Over the weekend of Aug. 26 in Apopka, 12 alleged Mexican gang members and “associates” were arrested in a joint operation between ICE, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office and the City of Apopka Police Department. The arrests were part of “Operation Community Shield,” targeting “criminal street gangs with foreign-born members.” Since the operation was launched in March 2005, ICE claims to have arrested more than 3,450 alleged “street gang members and associates” nationwide. In the same news release, ICE reported six “non-gang related” arrests over the same weekend (presumably in the same area), of Mexican nationals who were detained and charged administratively for violating immigration laws. (ICE press release, Aug. 28)

Raid at Arkansas country club
On Aug. 23, ICE agents arrested 11 employees of the Country Club of Little Rock, Ark., as part of an identity-theft investigation. US Attorney Bud Cummins said the workers were to be arraigned in federal court on Aug. 25. Social Security investigators and the US Marshals Service assisted in the operation. Cummins said the club’s management had cooperated with authorities in the investigation. (AP, Aug. 24)

From Immigration News Briefs, Sept. 2

See our last posts on the immigration crackdown and the struggle in Chicago.

  1. Mexican Protests
    HEY;

    MEXICANS…

    THIS IS THE “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” IF YOU DON’T LIKE OUR LAWS… THEN STAY THE HELL IN MEXICO!!

    IF YOU WANT TO BE HERE COME HERE LEGALLY!!

    IT PERTAINS TO THE SAME RULES THE IMMIGRANTS WENT THROUGH TO COME HERE FROM OTHER COUNTRIES THROUGH ELLIS ISLAND.

    FIRST SHOW YOUR INTENT OF WANTING TO COME TO THIS COUNTRY!!.

    SHOW INTENT OF GETTING A JOB!!

    SHOW INTENT OF LEARNING AND SPEAKING OUR LANGUAGE “ENGLISH”!!

    SHOW INTENT OF LEARNING AND OBEYING “OUR LAWS!!

    IF SICK THEY WERE QUARANTINED!! IF A BAD DISEASE!! THEY WERE SENT BACK TO THEIR COUNTRY..

    IF NONE OF THE ABOVE COULD BE PROVEN.. THESE IMMIGRANTS WERE SENT BACK TO THEIR COUNRTRIES THEY WERE TRYING TO IMMIGRATE FROM!!

    MEXICANS THIS APPLIES TO “YOU” TOO!!

    DON’T WANT TO DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!! THEN STAY THE HELL IN MEXICO.. AND DRAIN YOUR COUNTRIES SERVICES!!!

    I DO “NOT” LIKE “PRIVILEDGED CHARACTERS” COMING TO THIS COUNTRY ILLEGALLY.. FLYING THEIR NATIONS FLAG… AND BREAKING OUR LAWS!!!

    NOT EVEN ON A REAL GOOD DAY!!!!

    I PROTEST THE PROBLEMS THE MEXICANS ARE CAUSING TO THIS COUNTRY.. MOST OF THE CRIME!!!!.. IS BY MEXICANS….DRIVE BY SHOOTINGS AND GANGS…..IT’S OUT OF CONTROL CRAP PERPETRATED BY THE MEXICANS!!!! AND SO FORTH AND SO ON!!

    LIKE WHAT IS SAID…. OR STAY IN MEXICO!! MAYBE THEY ACCEPT THIS TYPE OF BEHAVIOR..

    THE “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA LEGAL PEOPLE” ..”DO NOT”!!!

    COME HERE LEGALLY MEXICANS… OR STAY THE HELL IN MEXICO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    “THE FREE RIDES “STOPS HERE”!!!!!

    1. Amen. California and the
      Amen. California and the country as a whole are being ruined by the Mexican invasion. If only our elected leaders were as concerned about the welfare of our country as they are with getting votes!

      1. Excuse me?
        I happen to like my city, New York, better with 200,000 Mexicans. Who do you think picks the lettuce on your greasy shitburger? It is kneejerk xenophobes who are ruining our country, not Mexicans. And who are we gringos to complain about being “invaded”? Ever hear of Iraq? D’oh!

    2. i’m sorry to have to say
      i’m sorry to have to say this, but your comment shows a huge amount of ignorance. now, i am not for illegals to be over here. i agree with you that they should come here through the correct avenues and all that, but we cannot blame illegal mexicans for all of our problems. there are black and white gangs as well none of which are contributing to society. and, in case you didn’t know, illegal immigrants unfortunately are the legs that we stand on. they take the dirty jobs. the jobs that people like you wouldn’t dain to take. so instead of blaming them for all of our problems why don’t you blame the companies that hire them without looking at their papers or not caring when they get letters stating that the social security numbers don’t match up. yes, thye are wrong for coming over here illegally, but it is the large corporations exploiting their cheap labor that are the real villian here.