Chicano Veterans Organization Seeks Clarification of DHS Policies

Longtime friend to this blog, Jaango, of the Chicano Veterans Organization has alerted us in the comments that they have received a response from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) regarding inquiries related to the tone and scope of work within the Department of Homeland Security; specifically the role of Joe Leiberman, who is supposed to provide oversight [cough] and investigate the violations of human rights that have been experienced by our families during the workplace and home raids across the country.

Senator Reid writes:

Dear Mr. ____________________ [Chicano Veterans Organization]

Thank you for contacting me with your concerns. I appreciate hearing from you.

I appreciate your concern about the manner in which U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has conducted worksite raids and other enforcement actions. While ICE must enforce our immigration laws, ICE also has the responsibility to exercise this authority in ways that are effective, humane, and minimize potential disruption to American communities and vulnerable populations. ICE officials must conduct themselves in a manner consistent with the Constitution, our laws, and our great American tradition of treating all people–regardless of race or national origin–with respect and humanity.

You may be pleased to know that Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, has asked that the Department review the conduct and policy regarding worksite raids. Please be assured that I will keep your thoughts in mind as this review takes place or if any related matters come before the full Senate.

Again, thank you for your taking the time to share your thoughts with me. For more information about my work for Nevada, my roles in the United States Leadership, or to subscribe to regular e-mail updates on the issues that interest you, please visit my web site http://reid,senate.gov. I look forward to hearing from you in the near future. My best wishes to you.

Sincerely,

Harry Reid
United States Senate

Jaango plans on following up with Secretary Napolitano. I know I’d love to hear her thoughts on the raids now that she oversees DHS. She loved to kick the reponsibility can in Washington’s direction when she was Governor of Arizona. That tactic is no longer applicable.

Read more about the advocacy work of the Chicano Veterans Organization at this Cactus Juice Commentaries link, including the full correspondence between them and Sen. Reid’s office.

 

Secure The Hawaiian Border

Hawaii’s borders are broken, therefore the United States must defend its sovereignty by deploying bazooka-wielding dolphins along the shores of the 50th state of the union.

Federal agents arrested 21 illegal immigrant workers early Monday morning at a Honokowai condominium construction site, the second such raid at the same site in a little more than a month, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.

The arrests were for “administrative immigration violations,” particularly for entering the country without authorization, said agency Special Agent in Charge Wayne Wills.

The workers were at the Honua Kai project site where 23 alien workers from three different companies were taken into custody on Aug. 20.

The Maui News

In case the dolphin idea doesn’t fly (swim?), perhaps the Washington imperialists can erect a giant wall around the island chain. It would help with tsunami deflection. Kupua forbid Congress actually pass legislation that brings these workers out of the shadows…

 

I Was ThisClose To Finding A Pony

I’ve been waiting for a news story to flash across my screen that doesn’t involve human beings of the brown persuasion getting rounded up like cattle at their places of employment.

“Finally!!!” I exclaimed a moment ago. I thought that I had, at long last, gotten lucky with a tag line that mentioned employees of an Italian restaurant. Alas…

The workers, who were escorted into a van after their arrest, are from Indonesia, Mexico and Guatemala, authorities said. The workers’ names and the charges they face have not been released.

ICE spokesman Richard Rocha said the individuals will go before an immigration judge who will consider deportation. He said their immigration status is not public record.

The daughter of one woman arrested said her mother had worked at the restaurant for eight years. Adriana Sanchez said her mother, 56-year-old Amalia de la Cruz, was from Mexico.

linkage

Sleep well, América. Your wine goblets are becoming safer from the brown menace, everyday.

 

ICE Gestapo Strikes Long Island

Another workplace raid, another example in the endless list of examples of ICE agents shoving policies and procedures into the circular file.

GARDEN CITY, N.Y. – Federal agents displayed a “cowboy” mentality while running roughshod over local police officers _ at times pointing their weapons at cops _ and ensnared more suspected illegal aliens than targeted gangsters in raids on Long Island last week, officials said Tuesday.

“There were clear dangers of friendly fire,” Nassau County Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey said. “We did have members that were actually drawn upon.”

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Also, true to form, they racially profiled people as they cast their nets.

In one case, Mulvey said, “ICE sought a 28-year-old defendant using a photograph taken when he was a 7-year-old boy.”

Any guesses on how they kinda sorta perhaps i think so maybe indentified their target? If skin color didn’t have anything to do with it, then call me Pancho Clause and get me ready for La Navidad.

 

Employer Background Checks?

Oh, this should be good.

A government program that is stymied by data errors and isn’t designed to stop fraud is the keystone of enforcing the nation’s laws against employing undocumented workers.

The online system, called the Basic Pilot Program, automatically matches names and Social Security numbers when people apply for jobs. But the 11-year-old system is hardly foolproof.

A congressional audit last year found that the system erroneously identified people 4 percent of the time. Given the vast trove of computerized government records, that meant 18 million people were incorrectly flagged as being ineligible for work because of data mismatches. The error rate has improved, but Basic Pilot is still fallible.

linkage (emphasis mine)

So what we have now is a Democratic Governor caving to pressure exerted by folks like vigilante leader Chris Simcox, who is overjoyed at her decision to sign the employer sanctions bill, and putting the fate of Arizona workers’ status in the loving embrace of an online/hackable database that is already proven to be flawed.

Since the current round of workplace raids have yet to net any sizable percentage of racial groups outside of those with brown skin, I think the level of outrage felt is justified.

 

Janet Signs Employer Sanction Bill

Further proof that neither party can be trusted to deal with immigration in a comprehensive manner

Gov. Janet Napolitano signed a bill Monday which experts say will create the toughest sanctions in the county for companies that “knowingly” hire illegal immigrants, breaking from some political allies in the business community who have opposed the measure.

In a statement Napolitano said, “Immigration is a federal responsibility, but I signed HB 2779 because it is now abundantly clear that Congress finds itself incapable of coping with the comprehensive immigration reforms our country needs.

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This sets us further down a dangerous path of immigration becoming a state-enforced issue instead of the traditionally national way of going about it. Of course, this is also a calculated political move – she is afraid of the hardliners who are out for blood.

Meanwhile some of the hardest working people in this country’s borders will be shat upon. Again. This action is vile without any corresponding action to help set laborers on a pathway to legalized status. It’s only going to increase the volatility of an already volatile situation.

Brace yourselves, Arizona. Things are going to get ugly.

 

Georgia Inmates Now Plucking Your Chickens

This seemed like a notable piece of info.

The Crider poultry-processing plant in Stillmore, Ga., lost two-thirds of its work force last year after a federal immigration agency raid.

Since then, Crider has scrambled to replace the employees. It has staged job fairs, boosted starting pay and even contracted for Georgia prison inmates to work on its production line. In an unusual experiment, Crider has also recruited a small group of Laotian Hmong refugees to move from Minnesota to Georgia, hoping they’ll start a new community.

linkage (emphasis mine)

A trial balloon had already been floated in Colorado regarding this innovative way of making sure corporate profits remain ‘full-speed ahead’.

Ever since Colorado passed tough immigration laws last year, farmers have worried that the immigrant laborers they depend on to plant and harvest their crops will not show up in the fields this season. So, a state legislator has proposed a novel idea: Send in the prisoners.

In a pilot program officials hope to roll out before the May planting season, minimum-security prison inmates will work five farms in southeastern Colorado to fill in for migrant workers. The inmates will earn the state’s standard prison pay of 60 cents per day.

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I guess that’s one way to make sure Americans™ fill the job void after the Brown Menace is eradicated. [/cynical sarcasm]