Delftsman

Old Article, Same Bad Feelings

MIAMI (AP) - Thousands of illegal immigrants stayed home this week amid rumors of immigration roundups that federal officials say were unfounded, leaving some industries scrambling for workers.

Yes, and thousands of anchor babies were conceived during this time while their tax payer funded satellite tv was blaring in the background..

Len Mills, executive vice president of Associated General Contractors of South Florida, estimated at least 50 percent of workers on construction jobs in the region had not shown up for work.

The 50% that did stay was still 250% less than the percentage of workers from the “legal” populous.

"This is costing millions of dollars a day, and I don't know who is going to pay for it," he said.

Rumors of random sweeps were rampant from coast to coast Friday, prompting many immigrants to stay home from work, take their children out of school and avoid church. Their absences added to immigrants' fears, as some thought their friends and co-workers had been arrested.

Don’t worry if they were in fact arrested, we all know they’ll just be cut loose again in a few days.

Mills said he believed even some legal workers were afraid.

"Everybody's edgy," said Chris Ruske, owner of a southern New Jersey nursery. "There's an awful lot of rhetoric, and you wonder what's true. You wonder if the immigration Gestapo are coming to get you."

Typical New Joysee resident. This meme is getting old, eh?

Construction and agriculture were among the industries most affected.

Yep, it takes commitment to an ESL class and learning our culture in order to get those pesky out-of-reach blue collar jobs.

Katie A. Edwards, executive director of Florida's Dade County Farm Bureau, said nearly a third of farmworkers did not come to the fields this week.

Hence, the popularity of the “distressed” jean this season, uses less cotton.

Mari Ramos, a Peruvian nanny whose tourist visa ran out in 2003, listened when friends warned her not to take public transportation or risk arrest.

"That's when I became nervous. I stopped going to my night job," the 36-year-old Miami woman said.

I’m sure she was as nervous to go to her night job as a liberal is to the Bell Curve.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Dean Boyd said the agency has received hundreds of calls about immigration raids in recent days. Such rumors are typical after a raid like the one last week in which more than 1,000 employees of pallet manufacturer IFCO were arrested at more than 40 company sites nationwide, he said.

"However, we don't conduct random sweeps," he said. "All our arrests are the result of investigations, evidence and intelligence."

Methinks the word “intelligence” is quite oxymoronic when it comes to INS or ICE.

ICE officials acknowledged they have stepped up arrests under their "Operation Phoenix," an existing program to find and deport fugitive illegal immigrants with criminal backgrounds.

Uh, I didn’t see that happen to the fellow in court who was pulled over for the third time with no insurance, license, registration, etc. You know, the pesky things us AMERICANS have to have in order to drive our vehicles in a manner consistent with the law.

Many wondered whether the rumors would deter people from national immigration protests planned for Monday.

Ah, THOSE protests. The ones where they were going to decimate retailers by boycotting? The ones that retailers noted a 4.6% drop in profits and a close to a 70% drop in shoplifting rates in some areas?

The National Immigration Law Center called on organizations nationwide to sign a petition urging ICE to assure the public it won't make any immigration arrests during the protests.

Last time I checked, first Amendment rights only applied to US CITIZENS, please, arrest away.

The agency said its policy is not to discuss potential operations. "ICE will continue to operate as it does every day of the year," Boyd said.

The rumors affected a wide variety of businesses. In New Jersey and New York, day-laborer gathering sites drew only a trickle of workers.

These poor people had to worry about which gas station to loiter for day labor while we are only concerned about whether the movie theater we frequent has Fatkins approved popcorn?!?! Well, woe is me.

"It is the ugliest of rumors because it has intimidated people who are already afraid. They are living in the shadows of society, wondering who is going to knock on the door," said the Rev. Allan Ramirez, pastor of the Brookville Dutch Reform Church in Long Island, N.Y.

Afraid? Are you fuckin’ serious? Ask the LND nurses at the ER in Yuma, AZ if they are AFRAID! Certainly not afraid to strut in, without insurance, without the ability to speak English, without a concern for the fact that our president is gargling Fox’s testicles at the moment, and squat out an anchor baby.

Elias Bermudez, an activist and talk show host for a Spanish-language radio station in Phoenix, said many believe they are being punished for participating in recent protests in favor of legalizing the status of many illegal immigrants.

Suuuuuurrrrre. The illegals that work at a well-known Phoenix resort are really feeling harsh retribution while collect their tips, paychecks with fraudulent SS numbers and pick up their 6 kids from government funded daycare that is too overcrowded for MY children to attend.

In the rural town of Homestead, Fla., more than a dozen parents lined up early to take their kids out of Redondo Elementary School on Wednesday for fear of a raid, said activist Jonathan Fried, who heads the nonprofit "We Count!"

What are the odds that they’re all anchor babies? Hmmm? Anyone? Bueller.. Bueller..

"It's caused tremendous fear in our community, like I've never seen before," Fried said.

Two words: Emotional Scarring- the gift that keeps on giving. Don’t worry sweetie, it’s Florida, they only deport 7 year old boys back to communist countries.

On Friday, ICE announced the arrests of 106 illegal immigrant fugitives and 19 immigration status violators throughout the Midwest over the last 10 days. Of those, 46 had criminal records, according to the department. Earlier this week, ICE announced the arrest of 183 fugitives in Florida alone.

Shhh.. don’t tell anyone the following statistics: the criminal alien populous is the largest growing segment in the prison system. Of the 35,000 illegals that were released, instead of deported, 11,000 went on to commit further crimes. In 2001, thanks to a decision by the Supreme Court, the INS was forced to release into our society over 3,000 criminal aliens (who collectively had been convicted of 125 homicides, 387 sex offenses, and 772 assault charges)[from the Bereau of Justice Statistics] Yes, please take the time to say thank you to our Black Robes for that last one.

The American Immigration Lawyers Association said Friday it believes some of the concerns may have been fueled by confusion over a widespread fugitive roundup by the U.S. Marshals Service. That roundup lead to more than 9,000 arrests of people wanted for a number of crimes, and ICE assisted in the effort but it said most of those detained were U.S. citizens

See, our offensiveness is equal opportunity!

Posted by LC Serena at July 28, 2006 02:20 AM | TrackBack