Demonstration Held to
Protest ICE Raids in Southwest Detroit
Activists see this as escalation of
anti-immigrant backlash
Abayomi Azikiwe, Editor
Pan-African News Wire
May 15, 2006
DETROIT--A group of local activists rallied today outside the
Immigration offices in Detroit, located on East Jefferson at Mt.
Elliot, to protest a raid that was held Friday on the southwest side.
The raids were conducted by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Agency, a branch of the Department of Homeland Security. According to
witnesses anywhere between 16 and 30 people were arrested.
Activists claim that this was a direct response to the mass
demonstrations that have been held in recent weeks in support of the
civil rights of the immigrant community in the United States. The
local affiliate of National Public Radio (NPR) reported that 15 of
those who were arrested in the raid were released on bond. At least one
was immediately deported from the United States.
At today's event, several activists spoke out against the raids as well
as the Bush administration's plans to send 6,000 national guard troops
to the border with Mexico.
During the rally one man came into the crowd and began screaming about
the need to protect US borders and for all immigration to be legal.
David Sole of the Michigan Emergency Committee Against War &
Injustice (MECAWI) took the bullhorn and stated that "the only people
who are truly legal in this country are the Native Americans."
One slogan advanced by the crowd was "Build Levies, Not Walls". During
the demonstration an ICE official came out from the public relations
division to make a statement to the media. At the same time during the
demonstration, several federal police agents periodically walked around
the crowd with their guns visible in a holster. The crowd was also
monitored from an upstairs window at the building.
There have been two major marches in Detroit over the last several
weeks. The March 27 demonstration attracted tens of thousands of people
from the Latino community on the southwest side. The event was held in
opposition to the passage of HR 4437. This march and rally took place
in conjunction with similar actions across the United States.
Again on May 1, the Latino community held a rally and march in
connection with the "Day Without Immigrants" national
mobilization.
In Bush's adress on national television tonight, he confirmed plans to
further militarize the border with Mexico.
Below are announcement for today's demonstration as well as an article
that appeared on the front page of the Detroit Free Press.
------------------------------------------------------------
Dear friends:
On Friday, May 12th, there was a raid in our community and several
people were taken by Homeland Security (ICE). We understand that
several people were taken away in three unmarked vans, and the
witnesses stated that the agents told the people that no warrants were
needed. About 30 people are believed to have been taken.
While we do not have the experience here to know how to respond to such
atrocities, we know that we cannot stand idly by. This is a terrifying
time in our history in Detroit; not since the repatriation of the 1930s
has our community been under such siege.
Please join us at Jefferson and Mt Eliot tomorrow at 12:00 noon to
protest the raids and strategize on how to protect our community from
further aggression.
Latinos Unidos
Elena Herrada
Elenaherrada@comcast.net
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LOCAL REACTION: Activists say troops
not answer
BY NIRAJ WARIKOO
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
May 15, 2006
Presidential address
At 8 tonight, President George W. Bush will address the nation from the
Oval Office.
The president will highlight his plans to curb illegal immigration and
improve border security.
The major networks are expected to carry the speech live.
Rally in Detroit
A rally is planned for noon today outside the federal immigration
office at 333 Mt. Elliott St., off Jefferson Avenue in Detroit. The
demonstrators plan to protest the raids Friday in southwest Detroit
that resulted in the arrests of 17 immigrants suspected of living in
the United States illegally.
The Canadian border
The border between Canada and the United States is often called the
world's longest undefended border between two countries.
The Detroit-Windsor connection is its busiest point. The two main
crossings locally are the Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit-Windsor
Tunnel. About 9.4 million vehicles crossed the bridge last year.
Since the September 2001 terrorist attacks, officials have taken a
closer look at security along the border. In his speech tonight,
President George W. Bush is expected to focus on security at the border
with Mexico. But the Bush administration previously has called for a
plan that would require people to have passports to cross the
U.S.-Canada border. Some say that would greatly decrease tourism on
both sides, because only 22% of Americans and 38% of Canadians have
passports.
The U.S. Coast Guard is beefing up security on the waterways along the
U.S.-Canada border. Over the past year, it has conducted security and
terrorism exercises with Canadian law enforcement.
Most undocumented immigrants come through the United States' southern
border, but over the past year, enforcement agents have caught people
trying to smuggle immigrants from Asian countries into Detroit from
Canada.
Associated Press, Free Press staff
Concerned about immigration raids in metro Detroit, activists are
planning to rally today in front of a federal immigration office in
Detroit as the Bush administration considers the deployment of troops
along the Mexican border to stem the flow of undocumented immigrants.
The arrests Friday of 17 immigrants in southwest Detroit suspected of
living in the country illegally has unnerved the local Hispanic
community and underscored tensions over what to do about the country's
millions of undocumented immigrants.
At noon today, people protesting the raids plan to rally outside the
federal building on Mt. Elliott Street, off Jefferson. Tonight,
President George W. Bush may announce in a televised speech that he
plans to ask the Pentagon to deploy National Guard troops along the
U.S. border with Mexico.
But immigrants and their advocates in metro Detroit say that in
addition to border security, Bush should announce plans to help
undocumented immigrants become U.S. citizens.
"The country has a right to a safe border, but let's do it in a smart
way," said Juan Escareno, an immigrant organizer with the Detroit-based
coalition MOSES, or Metropolitan Organizing Strategy Enabling Strength.
"If we focus only on border security and don't look at the whole
picture, we're doomed to commit the same mistakes. ... Every time you
increase border security, there is an increase in immigration because
people are going to find a way here."
Escareno, who helped organize recent immigration rallies in Detroit,
said Bush should help put "undocumented immigrants living here on a
path to citizenship."
Bush's planned speech comes at time of anxiety for some Detroit
immigrants. The raids Friday took place at homes in southwest Detroit,
considered the center of the Mexican-American community in the region.
Agents with the fugitive operations team of U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement were looking for three immigrants who had ignored
previous deportation orders, said Michael Keegan, a spokesman for the
agency.
The agents found only one of the targeted immigrants, but ended up
arresting 16 others who were suspected of living in the country without
proper documentation, Keegan said.
Those arrested included children, said Elena Herrada, a Detroit
activist.
"It's really scary," Herrada said. "They can just go in your home and
take you away."
Herrada said the country needs an amnesty plan for the millions of
undocumented immigrants to help them become citizens. Regarding Bush's
possible call for deploying troops along the border, Herrada said the
U.S. military is already overstretched with operations around the world.
"Where are they going to come from?" she asked.
Local legislators will be paying attention to what Bush says.
But one said more than troops are necessary to solve the
problem.
"The notion that we're going to somehow police ourselves out of an
immigration problem is a far-fetched promise," said state Rep. Steve
Tobocman, D-Detroit, whose district is made up of large numbers of
immigrants from Latin America, Europe and the Middle East.
Moreover, he said he had some questions as to how such a policy would
be implemented: How much would it cost? Would it be an imposition on
the armed forces? Who would pay for it?
Bush should talk about comprehensive immigration reform and how
immigrants can become U.S. citizens, he said.
"People who are working, contribute to the economy, particularly those
who have established employment history, and have skills and education,
we should figure out how to welcome those," Tobocman said.
Isabella Ramirez, a Detroit resident who often assists immigrants, said
that Bush should address how to deal with the 100,000 to 150,000
undocumented immigrants living in Michigan. They're among the 11
million to 12 million such people in the United States, according to
the Pew Hispanic Center.
"I agree with him that there needs to be some sort of control, but we
also need to figure out what to do" about the undocumented immigrants,
Ramirez said.
"We just want immigrants to get a chance to get the American dream,
just like everyone else," she said.
Contact NIRAJ WARIKOO at 248-351-2998 or nwarikoo@freepress.com. The
Associated Press contributed to this report.
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