Reply #68: The National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights Report

[Two Americas]

Over Raided - Under Seige

excerpts-

The criminalization of immigrant workers reached new heights with two turning points,
setting the stage for an aggressive attack on immigrants by the Department of
Homeland Security. First, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the notorious
Sensenbrenner bill (HR 4437) on December 16, 2005. This bill made it a felony to be
undocumented and to assist, hire, minister to, or provide services to the undocumented.13
In reaction to the Sensenbrenner bill, immigrant communities and allies organized
unprecedented mass mobilizations to reject HR 4437 and call for socially just immigration
reform.

As the size and frequency of the mobilizations grew, the Department of Homeland Security
began unleashing a series of highly publicized ICE raids. In April 2006, ICE carried out
wide-scale immigration raids against workers at IFCO Systems plants in forty locations
across eight states that led to the deportation of over 1,100 people.

...

Then on December 12, 2006, the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
carried out the “Swift” raids, one of the largest immigration sweeps in history, clamping
down on immigrant workers in meatpacking plants across six states. The Swift factories
came to a standstill as some 12,000 Swift plant workers were rounded up, detained and
questioned about their status on site. Despite this massive use of force, ICE charged only
65 workers, mostly on felony charges of identity theft and fraud for using false social security
numbers. The United Food and CommercialWorkers Union, which represents five of the six
sites raided, has filed a lawsuit against ICE to protect Fourth Amendment rights and stop
the U.S. government “from illegally arresting and detaining workers, including U.S. citizens
and legal residents while at their workplace.”

In FY 2006, these ICE raids and other immigration enforcement operations led to the
deportation of 221,664 undocumented immigrants, a 20 percent increase from the previous
year.16 Despite protests from civil and human rights leaders, this modus operandi only
continued in 2007. The stepped up raids strategy and corresponding increase in detentions,
deportations and policing is at the center of Operation Endgame, a ten-year campaign laid
out by the DHS in 2003 to track down and deport all immigrants, documented and
undocumented, who can be deported.

...

One of the alarming shifts in immigration control has been the privatization of immigrant
detention centers, both in the construction and operation of its facilities. Currently, ICE runs
eight detention facilities known as Service Processing Centers and relies on state and local
jails and federal prisons for additional bed space. Despite access to these facilities, ICE’s
increased detention figures have led to contracts with the nation’s largest private prison
operators to run eight additional detention facilities.

Part of this lucrative business is the construction of detention centers. In February 2006,
the Army Corps of Engineers awarded a $385 million contract for constructing immigration
detention centers to Kellogg Brown & Root, the Halliburton subsidiary that has been
criticized for overcharging the Pentagon for its services in Iraq (e.g. cooking, construction,
power generation and fuel transportation).

As the apparent drive for profit has led detention facility managers to cut corners, conditions
inside these facilities raise grave concerns. In 2006, the Office of the Inspector General
conducted an audit of five detention facilities used by U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE). The federal government audit found multiple instances of noncompliance
with detention standards related to health care, environmental health and safety,
general conditions of confinement, and the reporting of abuse.

...

As stepped-up enforcement increases the need for personnel, training, technology and
transportation, border enforcement is turning private security firms into lucrative businesses.
Blackwater USA, the private security firm that came under fire after its employees killed 17
civilians in Iraq in September 2007, is positioning itself for involvement in U.S. border
security. The company has unveiled plans to construct a major complex for training activeduty
military and law enforcement officials just eight miles from the U.S.-Mexico border.
While contracts for U.S. war efforts overseas may no longer be a growth industry for the
company, Blackwater executives see dollar signs in training and the potential deployment
of private guards to patrol U.S. borders.

...

In an attempt to broaden its enforcement reach, the Department of Homeland Security
has turned to local law enforcement agencies for assistance. Critics say involving local
police in immigration enforcement leads to less cooperation from immigrants in solving
crimes and heightens the risk of racial profiling. Despite these concerns, DHS encourages
local law enforcement agents to help identify “foreign-born criminals and immigration
violators who pose a threat to national security or public safety.

Immigration-police collaboration has been driven by the explosive growth of local, county
and state governments advocating for policies, ordinances and other laws to curtail or
altogether prohibit public services to immigrants. Official government stances reinforce new
and different forms of collaboration with immigration law enforcement in services and safety,
undermining community safety and stability. In addition, under cover of official practices,
policies, and laws, hate groups use immigration concerns as a pretext to foment racist views
and scapegoat immigrants.

...

The Human Rights Immigrant Community Action Network (HURRICANE) has
documented consistent patterns of abuse and human rights violations by the U.S.
government, local, county and state governments, employers and private citizen groups.
The escalation of raids, detentions and deportations, worker exploitation, an increasingly
militarized border, and mounting collaboration between ICE and local law enforcement
agencies have wreaked havoc on immigrant and refugee communities.



Link to the PDF file of this comprehensive and compelling report -

http://www.nnirr.org/resources/docs/UnderSiege_web.pdf