US – (Amsterdamnews.com)- While many have been distracted by the whistleblower’s complaint; Donald Trump’s foot in mouth disease over that Ukraine call; the Democratic Congress’ push for an impeachment inquiry and all the latest drama in this bad soap opera we are trapped in, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has been quietly and wildly ramping up its enforcement actions.
No more announcements of those so-called raids to alert activists and communities. It’s been a silent assault. In a five-day targeted enforcement action that wrapped up on Sept. 25, U.S. ICE said it nabbed a total of 497 immigrants in 10 states, most “driven by leads developed by the local field office in conjunction with the Pacific Enforcement Response Center and the National Criminal Alien Targeting Center.”
The majority were ‘ICED’ in New York, the Hudson Valley and Long Island—a whopping 82; while in Boston, another 80 were arrested, bringing the total in those two states alone to 162.
In New York, those arrested included nationals from Algeria, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ghana, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Peru, Philippines, Spain and Ukraine.
In Boston, the arrestees included nationals from Brazil, Colombia, Cape Verde, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ghana, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Moldova, Peru, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Uganda, the United Kingdom and Uruguay.
ICE operations were also conducted in North, South and Central Texas and Oklahoma as well as Michigan and Ohio, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Colorado and Wyoming.
In New Jersey, 54 immigrants were arrested, while 94 immigrants were nabbed in North Texas and Oklahoma.
In Michigan and Ohio, 46 were arrested, while in Philadelphia, 45 were nabbed along with another 42 in Colorado and Wyoming.
In those eight states, there were nationals from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, India, Nicaragua, Senegal, Cameroon, Iraq, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Kenya, China, Cambodia, Portugal and Tanzania, Costa Rica, Guyana, Pakistan, Jamaica, Ecuador and Malaysia.
While several of those nabbed were criminal immigrants who had committed serious crimes, including rape, sexual abuse and assaults on children as well as weapons and assault charges and undoubtedly deserve to be deported, many were nabbed for crimes such as operating a vehicle without a licence, driving with a suspended license, driving while intoxicated, driving under the influence, illegal re-entry, resisting officer/arrest, obstructing police, possession of marijuana and obstructing official business.
Hardly a “national security, public safety and border security” threat, won’t you say? ICE itself has insisted that those are largely the immigrants it goes after, but its own record is proving that is not true.
The reality is that ICE as it rightly states at the bottom of its own press releases, “does not exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement.”
Which means it does not care if a parent is ripped away from their children because of a minor offense or the impact of such a removal on a U.S. citizen child or children.
The Trump administration is sticking true to its campaign promise of removal of all immigrants “in violation of immigration law.” Little wonder that according to ICE data, as of June this fiscal year, 282,242 immigrants were deported and those numbers will obviously be higher by the end of fiscal year 2019, Trump’s third year in office.
Immigrants beware is the message. If you are a green cardholder and qualify to become a naturalised citizen, do so now; if you are an undocumented immigrant, find a way to get legalised as ICE’s net is spreading rapidly and far and wide.
Comments
We have oil. Why would Guyanese there live with those who hate them?—Oh wait, are they the Guyanese who made our lives hell and live in mansions there?
America is a dangerous place for non-whites to live in these days. I’m glad that I didn’t apply for a visa to live in these racist countries. God sent us a sign to let President Granger become President four years ago. Jagdeo and his cronies were making life hell for us until then:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50039287
Thanks for sharing news about ICE’s “silent assault” on immigrants. These are disturbing times for all legal and illegal non-white immigrants in America.
it is better to live with the haters than to live with people who are trying to rob and kill you, at least they get some peace.
Luckily, the Caribbean and most of the continent of South America do not have mass shootings and gun violence compared to the USA.
Why in the HELL do you people put this back on a white thing of hate thing. Donald Trump is enforcing the low of the UNITED STATES. ICE is not arresting US citizens. They are arresting and deporting “ILLEGAL” “ILLEGAL” “ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS. WHAT THE HELL DO YOU PEOPLE NOT UNDERSTAND ABOUT “ILLEGAL”.
Donald broke countless American laws and is still running free. What’s your point bro?
Says a Portuguese man who likely is whiter than the mestizos in South America! Go back to Europe and Hail Hitler and do mass shootings there if you like it!
UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS
There are many compelling reasons why having a large undocumented population is a problem for society.
It undermines law and order, permits a shadow economy that is harder to regulate, and is simply unfair to the millions of immigrants who have come here legally.
Yet, while the undocumented population frequently comes under fierce criticism, the data shows that a large number of the nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants here are working, paying taxes, and even starting their own businesses.
They also play an integral role in our economy, often filling jobs in agriculture, construction, and hospitality that would otherwise remain vacant.
The DACA-Eligible POPULATION
DACA-eligible people contribute billions of dollars to the U.S. economy.
Clawing back the protections afforded to DACA recipients will likely upset local economies, communities, and schools, hurting employers and businesses dependent on these young immigrants as workers and customers.
FILLING JOBS in KEY INDUSTRIES
Most undocumented immigrants come to the United States because of work opportunities. These individuals are far more likely than the rest of the population to be in the prime of their working years, ranging in age from 25-64.
Studies also indicate that undocumented immigrants are NOT displacing U.S.-born workers.
Rather, they are filling jobs that few Americans are interested in pursuing. One sector, in particular, offers a striking illustration:
Undocumented immigrants account for 50 percent of all hired field and crop workers, making them essential to the success and continued viability of American farms.
ECONOMIC CONTRIBUTORS, NOT CRIMINALS
Contrary to popular rhetoric, undocumented immigration is NOT linked to a spike in U.S. crime rates. Between 1990 and 2013, a period when the number of undocumented immigrants more than tripled, the rate of violent crime in the U.S. fell by 48 percent.
Instead of committing crimes, the vast majority of undocumented immigrants in the country are working and paying into our tax system.
And because they are ineligible for most federal benefits, experts have long argued they are net contributors to the Medicare and Social Security programs.
They have a similar impact at the state and local level. Even in Florida and Arizona, states with large undocumented populations, immigrants pay more in state and local taxes than they draw down in public resources like education each year.
STARTING BUSINESSES – CREATING JOBS
Despite financing and licensing obstacles, undocumented immigrants frequently start their own businesses.
In 2014, almost 10 percent of the working-age undocumented population were entrepreneurs.
In more than 20 states, they boast higher rates of entrepreneurship than either legal permanent residents or citizens of the same age group.
These self-employed workers frequently create American jobs. Their companies also generated $17.2 billion in business income in 2014.
COSTS of DEPORTATION
More than eight out of 10 undocumented immigrants have lived in America for more than five years.
Setting aside the question of whether policymakers have the political will to deport millions of individuals so well established in our society, studies indicate that any such effort would come at an enormous cost.
The economist Doug Holtz-Eakin’s American Action Forum conducted one study on the cost of mass deportation.
By even the most conservative estimates, finding, apprehending, detaining, processing, and transporting the undocumented population would deal a GREAT RECESSION-like blow to the U.S. economy.
CAUTIONARY TALES
Deporting the estimated 8.1 million undocumented immigrants in the workforce would NOT automatically create 8.1 million jobs for unemployed Americans.
The reasons are TWOFOLD:
By shrinking the number of consumers, entrepreneurs, and taxpayers, mass deportation would SHRINK OUR ECONOMY and the number of jobs available.
Secondly, natives and immigrants often possess different skills and education levels, meaning they are imperfect substitutes.
ECONOMIC IMPACT of a PATH to LEGALIZATION
If Congress provided a path to legalization for the millions of undocumented immigrants already here, the economic benefits would be sizable.
While legal status would increase access to a variety of public benefits programs, it would also allow newly legalized immigrants to pursue new job opportunities, boosting productivity and earnings.
The accompanying increase in consumer spending and tax revenue would help federal, state, and local governments offset associated costs. If undocumented immigrants were required to pay back taxes, U.S. tax revenues would see a further boost.
New American Economy
I’m From America, Mr. President. Where Are *You* From?
The president has a problem with diversity. But the government’s issues go far deeper than one ignorant man.
MIEKE EOYANG | Politico
Mieke Eoyang is vice president of the National Security Program at Third Way. She previously served as a professional staff member on a variety of national security-related congressional committees.
“Where are you from?” – “No, really, where are you from?”
The president of the United States reportedly asked these questions of an analyst briefing him on the release of a family held hostage in Pakistan.
Not content with her answers: “New York, specifically Manhattan.” — He persisted: “Where are your people from?”
Finally, he learned that this analyst is of Korean descent. He then turned to the men in the room to ask why “this pretty Korean lady” wasn’t working on North Korea issues.
For many reading this anecdote, it’s seems like another beyond-the-pale example of President Trump’s insensitivity and racism.
And yet, for those of us who work in national security and trace our ancestry to Asia, the story is all too familiar.
It’s pervasive. You get asked this all the time. You check your reaction and try to dodge the question as best you can.
Often, it is meant as a compliment, or perhaps innocent curiosity.
You move on from the incident, tuck it away in your brain, continue with the briefing. But later, it will bubble up again, and you think about what it means.
It means to some, their mental picture of an American doesn’t include you.
It means to some, your ethnicity should define your interests and expertise.
It means to some, your face is a license to question your loyalty to the United States.
It means to some, the urge to question your interest in working in national security.
How could you possibly be dedicated to the strength and security of the country in which you were born? You must be a plant.
To those people, it would not matter that you have relatives who were here for the American Civil War.
To those people, it would not matter that your grandfather helped put Neil Armstrong on the moon.
To those people, it would not matter that for at least three generations, your family has dedicated their careers in service to the United States to strengthen its national security.
To those people who assume that a national security professional can only be a man with close-cropped hair, wearing one of the same five outfits (green, blue, navy, olive drab and Brooks Brothers); they are actually letting those assumptions get in the way of good national security outcomes and hurting their own organizational effectiveness.
Take, for example, the U.S. Admiral in Japan who spent an entire meeting assuming I was a translator, not realizing I was actually the staffer for the Military Personnel Subcommittee that he wanted to be talking to about his pilot retention issues until it was too late and our delegation had to leave.
His assumptions about what a congressional staffer should look like got in the way of effectively communicating his needs to the legislative branch.
Or consider another instance, when folks in charge of personnel at an intelligence agency responded to my questions about lack of diversity hiring with the response, “The people we work with would prefer to work with someone who looks like an American.” Yeah. That actually happened.
The intelligence community lags behind the rest of the federal government in diversity. But their response shows why.
It also shows they don’t understand the advantages an intelligence officer might have when they blend in with the target population, or has the ability to disarm their target because they aren’t what’s expected.
Deciding who to hire and promote in national security is not a casting decision. It is one that should be made on competence, skill and expertise, all of which are separate from one’s race and gender.
Sadly, when people make decisions on who to hire based on whether they have the right “look” for a job, whether that’s an intelligence analyst or the commander in chief, they may find they’ve overlooked the more qualified candidate for someone who cannot handle the substance of the job.
Here is a video – and this is what an Intelligence Officer looks like …..
MIEKE EOYANG
SKIRTING AROUND WHAT IS IMPORTANT…….If you support open borders,,say it say it loud. The people that poured into the US before, were looking for a better life, they cannot be compared to the groups coming/wanting to live in America,TODAY, be honest. Every country has the right to control people entering, today the ILLEGALS are given Drivers Licenses on arrival, which can be used as Voters ID, come on, promised them free everything, ‘WHO YA GONNA VOTE FU”
I hope you use this same consideration, when they start to flood GUYANA.
Me, just me CHECK EM BEFORE YOU LET EM, oh by the way don’t forget to leave your doors opened tonight, start getting used to the inflow.
He might have problem with diversity but alot of immigrant do not contribute and just want things free and get free social housing when they got big land house and money in their native homes but plead poverty