After millions of immigrants stood united for their rights, the government had decided it was time to put an end to their protest by conducting raids throughout the country. Throughout this year, I have said it countless of times, as long as there is a “round them all up, ask questions later” policy – it is open season on all Hispanics.
Time and time again, having this view, I was told “oh, you’re being too paranoid.” Tell that to the US born Latinos who are suing the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.
Last month, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPL) filed a lawsuit against the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), – La Migra – for one of their Gestapo-like raids gone wrong. The lawsuit accuses that the Migra illegally detained, searched and harassed her, her US-born mother and other Latinos solely because they looked “illegal” during one of Fatherland Homeland Security’s mass deportation campaign to rid this country from people with brown skin.
On September 1, La Migra went on a series of witch-hunts across several towns in at least three GA counties that lasted for several weeks, which the tiny town of Stillmore, GA has practically become a ghost town as a result of those raids. ICE officials are quick to claim that agents were only going after undocumented immigrants who worked at a poultry plant.
The police-state tactics used by ICE agents in Stillmore were so brutal, it even shocked the town’s mayor, Marilyn Slater who told reporters “This reminds me of what I read about Nazi Germany, the Gestapo coming in and yanking people up.” Associated Press wrote:
Trailer parks lie abandoned. … The poultry plant is scrambling to replace more than half its workforce. Business has dried up at stores where Mexican laborers once lined up to buy food, beer and cigarettes just weeks ago…More than 120 illegal immigrants have been loaded onto buses bound for immigration courts in Atlanta, 189 miles away. Hundreds more fled Emanuel County. Residents say many scattered into the woods, camping out for days. They worry some are still hiding without food.
Now people are seeking justice by taking ICE to court. The plaintiffs are five Xican@s (Mexican Americans) – Marie Justeen Mancha (girl in the photo), Maria Christina Martinez; Ranulfo Perez; Maria Margarita Morales; Gladis Alicia Espitia, and the landlord, David Robinson, who suffered damage to his rental properties when ICE agents broke into numerous trailers that were rented by Latinos. The defendants are the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement branch of the US Department of Homeland Security; Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff; six administrators of ICE, Julie L. Myers, Marcy Forman, Kenneth A. Smith, Gregory Wiest, John P. Torres and John Mata; and up to 30, unnamed ICE agents who participated in the operation.
According to Atlanta’s local news station, WXIA, Justeen, a 15-year-old who was born in Texas and lives in Reidsville, GA, told reporters they enter her home which knocking while she was still her bedroom getting dressed for school. She also said there were five men, one with his hand on his gun holster in here living room. Moreover, her mother, Maria Christina Martinez, was not even at home at the time when two dozen agents surrounded the house that morning. She said that after eventually convinced Michael Chertoff’s goon squad that she is an US citizen; agents interrogated her about her mother “legal” status.
“And one was holding a gun,” Justeen said. “And that really scared me. And they were screaming, ‘Illegals,’ and ‘Mexicans,’ and stuff like that. And they asked me if I was illegal, and I said, ‘No.'”
According to the suit filed in federal court in Atlanta, agents stopped one plaintiff, Maria Margarita Morales, as she was driving home, repeatedly called her “Mexican,” grabbed her arm and ordered her to get out of her vehicle. Agents also surrounded another plaintiff, Ranulfo Perez, outside his home, the suit stated, grabbing him by the shirt, pressing a gun into his side and throwing him against his truck. Another plaintiff, Gladis Alicia Espitia, claims agents broke down her front door and threatened to throw gas into her home if her family did not come out of a bedroom.
The complaint also mentions how agents stopped pulling Maria Margarita Morales over as she was driving home, and at that time the migra repeatedly called her “Mexican,” grabbed her arm and ordered her to get out of her vehicle. It also describes how agents surrounded Ranulfo Perez outside his home and grabbed him by his shirt as they pressed a gun into his side and throwing him against his truck. Gladis Alicia Espitia reported that agents broke down her front door and threatened to throw gas into her home if her family did not come out of a bedroom.
Not surprisingly, ICE’s response to what occurred in Stillmore. Responding to ICE’s no-warrant invasion of Justeen’s home, spokesman for ICE, Marc Raimondi, has asserted that everything was done in accordance with the law and that the operation was “carefully planned,” and that the addresses they obtained was “based on specific information” that came from months of investigation and “extensive research.”
These are dark days for American democracy. These Gestapo-type raids are only meant to undermine the rights of all workers. If not, then how did this happen? There is only one simple answer, “NO MESIKANS ALLOWED!” While juxtaposition to Gestapo tactics may sound far fetched, it is hard to deny that the raids are unquestionably occurring in an atmosphere zealously charged with intense nationalism and violent xenophobia.