{"id":429192,"date":"2010-03-15T09:59:05","date_gmt":"2010-03-15T13:59:05","guid":{"rendered":"tag:www.southernstudies.org,2010:\/\/5.12181"},"modified":"2010-03-20T14:46:12","modified_gmt":"2010-03-20T18:46:12","slug":"census-watch-rights-groups-ask-ice-to-stop-raids-for-census","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/429192","title":{"rendered":"CENSUS WATCH: Rights groups ask ICE to stop raids for Census"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jacob Simas, New America Media<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n

Immigrant rights advocates have sent a letter to President Barack Obama
\nand Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano
\nasking them to immediately suspend all immigration enforcement
\nactivities through the end of the year in order to decrease fear within
\nimmigrant communities and encourage their participation in the 2010
\nCensus. <\/p>\n

Questionnaires for the 2010 Census are due to arrive in the mailbox of every U.S. household between now and April 1. <\/p>\n

“We are genuinely concerned that the climate of fear will seriously
\nimpact the census form return rate of immigrant households — and if
\npeople do not return the form, they will be reluctant to open the door
\nto a follow-up visit from a census worker,” said Catherine Tactaquin,
\ndirector of National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (NNIRR). “We really need the leadership of the administration right now to make
\na difference in the success of the census among our diverse immigrant
\npopulations.” <\/p>\n

The letter, which was signed by more than 200 organizations nationwide,
\ncalls for the suspension of more than a dozen specific enforcement
\nactivities operated through DHS, including immigration raids on homes
\nand workplaces. <\/p>\n

ICE Responds<\/b> <\/p>\n

ICE spokesperson Lori Haley told NAM she was unaware of the immigrant
\nadvocates’ letter. In a prepared statement, the agency said that ICE “fully supports an accurate count of the U.S. population,” and would
\nprioritize enforcing laws “on those dangerous criminal aliens who
\npresent the greatest risk to the security of our communities, not
\nsweeps or raids to target undocumented immigrants indiscriminately.” <\/p>\n

The problem, according to Arnoldo Garcia, a program director at NNIRR
\nin Oakland, is that ICE raids result in only 2 percent of the roughly
\n500,000 deportations of immigrants that occur each year in the United
\nStates. “It would not be enough for Napolitano or congress to just say, ‘Okay, let’s suspend raids.’ That would be a gross injustice,” he said.<\/p>\n

Even if ICE were to de-emphasize immigration raids, said Garcia, the
\nmajority of people being picked up and deported are a result of less
\nvisible strategies, like those arising from 287(g) agreements. <\/p>\n

Such agreements allow local police and county sheriff departments to be
\ntrained by ICE in identifying potential “criminal aliens.” The result,
\nsaid Garcia, is an increase in deportations and a growing mistrust of
\ngovernment and law-enforcement agencies within immigrant communities,
\nincluding among legal permanent residents. <\/p>\n

“Most people don’t realize that law enforcement is also deporting legal
\nresidents on criminal charges,” he said. “If you’re not a U.S. citizen,
\neven if you are a legal permanent resident, you can still be subjected
\nto deportation.” <\/p>\n

Garcia says the organizations are simply asking the Obama
\nadministration and DHS to follow historical precedent. According to the
\nletter, the federal government eased immigration enforcement activities
\nduring at least the last two decennial census campaigns. <\/p>\n

Historical Precedent<\/b> <\/p>\n

The letter references a quote from Rep. Sylvestre Reyes, a Democrat
\nfrom Texas, who told Fox News last year that when he was working for
\nthe Border Patrol during the lead-up to the 1990 census, he received
\norders to suspend some enforcement efforts. <\/p>\n

There is other documentation that would suggest that the INS changed
\nsome of its operations during the 1990 census. For example, the INS
\ncommissioner sent a fax on Feb. 15, 1990 to all field offices,
\noutlining guidelines for enforcement operations conducted while the
\ncensus was being carried out, with the intention of deterring INS
\nemployees from “engaging in any conduct that is intended to inhibit or
\ndeter any person or group of persons from the fullest possible
\nparticipation in the upcoming 1990 Census.” <\/p>\n

The document goes on to state: <\/p>\n

In keeping with an agreement between the Service and the Bureau of
\nthe Census, news releases or public announcements made by the Service
\nwith regard to Service enforcement activities will be temporarily
\ndiscontinued during the period starting February 11, 1990 and ending
\nJuly 31, 1990.<\/i> <\/p>\n

It is unclear from the commissioner’s fax whether the INS actually
\nsuspended activities, or simply stopped reporting them to the public. <\/p>\n

Doris Meissner, who was head of INS during the 2000 Census, told the
\nOrange County Register in January that she did in fact order suspension
\nof “routine operations and enforcement activities” during the two weeks
\nleading up to Census day, while allowing more serious enforcement
\ninvolving criminal activities to continue unabated. <\/p>\n

However, Meissner said that the likelihood of the Obama administration
\nallowing even that to happen again is slim, considering how much the
\npolitical landscape has changed since 2000. <\/p>\n

“We definitely went further than what I’m hearing from this
\nadministration thus far,” she told the Register. “I think politically
\nthey feel more vulnerable and they may even believe that by going any
\nfurther they would send signals that would embolden serious criminals
\nand possibly terrorists.” <\/p>\n

Census Bureau Promises Hands-Off Approach to Immigration<\/b> <\/p>\n

Regardless of what has occurred in the past, Census Bureau spokesperson
\nSonny Le says the bureau is taking a hands-off approach to the question
\nof immigration enforcement in 2010. “We don”t request or interfere with
\nother departments,” said Le. “Any decisions are going to have to come
\nfrom Congress or the president.”<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, NNIRR is optimistic that the Obama administration will
\nrecognize that the long-term benefits of an enforcement suspension
\noutweigh any short-term political backlash. <\/p>\n

“Having an accurate count of the immigrant population is not only good
\nfor immigrants,” said Garcia. “There has been a demographic revolution
\nin this country over the last 10 years, and in those communities where
\nthere has been a big demographic change, if immigrants are
\nundercounted, the whole community will be shooting itself in the foot.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jacob Simas, New America Media Immigrant rights advocates have sent a letter to President Barack Obama and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano asking them to immediately suspend all immigration enforcement activities through the end of the year in order to decrease fear within immigrant communities and encourage their participation in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4086,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-429192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4086"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429192\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}