2/26: Pittsburg rally/mtg for immigration law reform

Posted on Sun, Feb. 18, 2007email thisprint thisreprint or license this
Pittsburg rally for immigration law reform
By Tanya Rose
CONTRA COSTA TIMES
It was a regular July morning, though Maria Ramos doesn't know exactly what time.

Immigration officers had descended on the home of her niece, who was there with her husband and two teenage children -- a 15-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy. The agents pulled the adults from the kids, carting them away as part of federal immigration sweeps that have pushed through the nation's immigrant communities since June.

The teens had only known a life in the United States with their parents, and suddenly, they were alone.

"My niece was an active church member," Ramos recalled through an interpreter at a community gathering Sunday afternoon at St. Peter Martyr Church in Pittsburg. "She met her husband here in the United States. They married here, and they had their family here. It's inhumane."

She paused.

"I don't know what this government wants. I don't understand, and I feel unable to do anything."

Immigrant communities in Richmond, Concord and Pittsburg have all been subject to the sweeps, which are part of a national campaign called "Operation Return to Sender." Last year, the operation led to 13,000 arrests nationwide, according to ICE. There were more than 1,000 detained in the Bay Area, and around 800 were deported.

Contra Costa residents, most of them Latino, met at the church to talk about their own experiences with the well-documented raids. Lawyer Mark Silverman of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center was there, too, to discuss individual rights and give a primer on the law.

Carolyn Krantz said the Contra Costa Interfaith Supporting Community Organization has been holding meetings like this because people are under the impression that local police are helping Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials. Residents are afraid to call the police if there's a robbery or a car theft in their neighborhoods. They are afraid to go to the market, or venture away from home to take their kids to school, she said.

"We need to bring the trust back in our community," she said, noting that local police departments only assist ICE if there's a criminal investigation connected. "We need laws that respect human dignity, not that punish our hardworking families."

She said people should band together and march and write letters to Congress -- make themselves heard, or there will never be immigration reform.

The National Fugitive Operations Program targets undocumented immigrants with deportation orders, especially those who have committed crimes, according to ICE. But people like Krantz and Ramos say the raids have been more broad, ripping apart families who have been in the United States for many years.

While Krantz spoke, toddlers ran with flags that said, "Keep our families together," and adults eyed agendas that led with the missive, "Better safe than sorry."

Silverman talked of how the Constitution protects people in ways they may not realize. The Fourth Amendment means authorities cannot enter a home without a warrant, he said, and the Fifth Amendment says a person in custody has the right to stay silent in the face of probing questions.

Like Krantz, he urged people not to remain on their sofas afraid, but to fight.

"We have to talk to those who don't agree with us," he said. "We need to bridge those gaps, to educate. Many don't understand that people flee to the U.S. to escape war, or to put food in the mouths of their starving children.

"We have to touch their hearts and make them understand where we come from."

Krantz said there will be more meetings like Sunday's. The next is planned for 7 p.m., Feb. 26 at the church, which is at 740 Black Diamond Street in Pittsburg.

Reach reporter Tanya Rose at 925-943-8345 or trose [at] cctimes.com.