Wednesday, June 25, 2008

150 ICE agents, part III













link to photo

Today's ICE raid happened in my backyard - well not literally, but not far from my house. When it starts getting this close, a person begins to feel uncomfortable. It doesn't matter if you have your "papers" or you are an American born citizen. It's just the whole idea of 150 (maybe as many as 200) guys with guns running around handcuffing people (including 10 pregnant women) in my neighborhood.

A Houston Chronicle update after 7 pm said that there are still a large number of ICE vehicles surrounding the plant. Supposedly they are looking for people who are hiding. One woman who hid fell down 20 feet and was seriously injured.

From the videos I have seen of ICE raids I would imagine there was lots of screaming and crying - (the ICE agents screaming, the workers crying).

There is no way to express my disgust and anger towards these raids (and the people who plan and carry them out). They are clearly reminiscent of Germany in World War II, or maybe Argentina in the 70s, or the former Soviet Union. Why in the world would a government that treasures democracy want to hunt down people who truly are the most vulnerable in it's community? There is no way to detain the millions of undocumented people in the U.S. ICE knows this. The purpose of the raids is specifically to cause terror, to make people afraid. Maybe Chertoff or Myers are thinking that if the people are sufficiently terrorized they will leave the U.S., or stop sending their kids to school, or work for even lower wages.

It is ironic that a nation that is so obsessed with the threat of terrorism - has more than 12 millions of its residents terrorized.*




*whether authorized or not, undocumented immigrants are considered residents of the U.S. A protest is scheduled at 10 am on Thursday, June 26 at the Leeland Federal Building in downtown Houston.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

THEY ARE ILEGALL HERE. IT IS CALLED A LAW.