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flashl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-21-08 08:43 AM
Original message
Immigration raids terrify kids, House is told
Source: SF Gate

"They left behind them a trail of fear," Gibney told lawmakers Tuesday in a hearing before a House Education and Labor subcommittee.

When federal agents raided a San Rafael apartment complex in the early morning hours of March 6, 2007, searching for 30 undocumented immigrants, they left behind a lot of terrified children, Kathryn Gibney, the principal at nearby San Pedro Elementary School, said.

The agents shone flashlights in the children's faces. Several parents were handcuffed in front of their kids. The next day 40 of the school's 400 students were too frightened to show up for class, and others arrived in tears. A year later, Gibney said the effects continue with higher absenteeism, lower test scores and increased counseling for her students.
...

Gibney cited another incident on May 8 when federal agents stopped a father walking his daughter to Bahia Vista Elementary School in San Rafael. Since the agents could not communicate with the father, the second-grader had to serve as a translator. The father, who was undocumented, was arrested.

The arrests are part of a nationwide crackdown on undocumented immigrants - first dubbed "Operation Return to Sender" in 2006 - that targets people who ignore deportation orders. Since October, the agency has apprehended more than 19,000 people nationwide, including 1,620 in Northern California.

SF Gate


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/20/MN9510PLTR.DTL&type=politics
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Freddie Stubbs Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-21-08 08:50 AM
Response to Original message
1. "targets people who ignore deportation orders"
If these parents were so concerned about their kids, they would not have placed them in such a situation.
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flashl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-21-08 08:57 AM
Response to Reply #1
2. Yep, thats the government's story and they are sticking to it. nt
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PDJane Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-21-08 08:58 AM
Response to Reply #1
3. It is concern for their children, usually,
That makes them decide to risk everything to get to a better place.

Don't be so quick to judge; in their situation, you might do the same.
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Duke Newcombe Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-21-08 09:09 AM
Response to Reply #3
4. That's probably true...
...but I'd be under no illusions that (a) I was in someone's country illegally, and that (b) the authorities in that nation didn't have the right, or would fail to find me if they could and attempt to deport me.

Duke

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flashl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-21-08 09:55 AM
Response to Reply #4
5. Some may not know they're here illegally. The govt uses erroneous info and been deporting citizens.
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Vattel Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-21-08 11:18 AM
Response to Reply #1
6. stupid comment of the year award
please become a republican: you belong in that party
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Duke Newcombe Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-21-08 02:24 PM
Response to Reply #6
9. Wow. Progressive/Democratic purity enforcer.
Edited on Wed May-21-08 02:24 PM by Duke Newcombe
And here I thought the other guys did that. Silly me.

Duke
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Igel Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-21-08 02:11 PM
Response to Original message
7. Kids are terrified when their adult relatives are arrested.
I know that I was concerned when they arrested the oldest son of my next door neighbors when I was a kid. They also had a daughter my age--and she was terrified, crying and screaming as they hauled him away in handcuffs.

He shot another guy in his front yard, some drug deal gone bad, with a bit of alcohol involved. The gun shot woke me up, it must have been 1 am. He staggered back inside to sleep it off, at least until the police and ambulance showed up. I watched out of my bedroom window. But his younger sister was terrified and traumatized when they took him away--she woke up from the gun shot, but didn't see what had happened and went back to sleep, as I did, until the authorities appeared. Then I watched the EMS folk load the wounded guy into the ambulance and the police haul the oldest son away, with the girl screaming and crying.

The FDLS kids were also kicking and screaming when they were taken away from their parents.

In both cases, one could argue that it was horribly wrong to take away the people they did. The kids are traumatized. They're in shock. They're horrified. So, by all means, let's not take away the people. Even kids whose fathers abandon them when they're only a couple of years old often love the image of their father they construct for themselves.

That *is* the logic used here, right? "Don't do it, for the kids' sake"?

Now, I'm not unsympathetic to the kids. They're not at fault. But they're also not an excuse for not holding the adults responsible. And it doesn't matter if the adults involved don't know they're responsible.
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flashl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-21-08 02:18 PM
Response to Reply #7
8. What would you suggest happen to kids after the parents are removed? nt
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