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Crackdown targets illegal aliens
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34 workers arrested in North Tonawanda
By DAN HERBECK
News Staff Reporter
8/31/2006
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Dennis C. Enser/Buffalo News
Suspected illegal aliens, bused from a North Tonawanda greenhouse, enter a downtown processing center on Wednesday.
A government crackdown on illegal aliens targeted a hydroponic tomato greenhouse in North Tonawanda on Wednesday, as federal agents made 34 arrests.
Authorities said they expect that most of the men and women arrested at the Fortistar tomato facility on Shawnee Road will be deported to Mexico within a week.
They also were required to plead guilty to misdemeanor criminal charges, under a tougher government policy on illegal immigration. In the past, government attorneys in Buffalo deported thousands of illegal aliens but rarely prosecuted them criminally.
"Illegal immigration poses an increasing threat to our security, public safety and economy, and hard-hitting interior enforcement will reinforce the strong stance we already take at the border," U.S. Attorney Terrance P. Flynn said after the arrests.
A defense attorney, though, said the federal government was acting unnecessarily harshly.
"They're throwing the book at people, but it seems a rather harsh punishment for people who are only here because they're trying to start a new life in America," responded David G. Jay, an attorney for one of the Mexican men arrested. "Many of us have ancestors who came to this country to start a better life, and in the old days, our country welcomed them with open arms."
The Bush administration has said it has to try new tactics to stop the flow of illegal aliens into the United States. More than 11 million undocumented aliens - many of them farm workers - reportedly live in the United States.
Prosecutor John E. Rogowski, who presented the cases in federal court, said most of the people arrested on Wednesday immediately pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of entering the country without an inspection.
"They will be deported," said Peter J. Smith, a supervisor of immigration investigations for Homeland Security in Buffalo. "All the people who are being prosecuted criminally are people who were found to have false identification, including false Social Security numbers."
Two men, including Jay's Mexican client, Ruben Baltazar, 24, will face more serious felony prosecutions for illegally entering the country.
"The government has said he is charged with a felony because he was already deported once before - from El Paso [Texas] in June of 2001," Jay said of Baltazar.
Rogowski said the second man charged with a felony could not be found on Wednesday and is considered a fugitive.
The arrests were made at the 12.5-acre Fortistar hydroponic greenhouses, where company officials said 3.5 million pounds of tomatoes are grown annually. The company also runs a power co-generation plant in North Tonawanda.
A manager at the greenhouse referred a reporter's questions about illegal aliens to a company official in White Plains, but that official was not available.
In recent months, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from the Department of Homeland Security have made three of the largest roundups of illegal aliens in area history.
Defendants were taken from North Tonawanda by bus to downtown Buffalo.Many appeared nervous or confused as they listened to an interpreter explaining the proceedings before U.S. Magistrate Judge Hugh B. Scott.
2006-09-01 09:49:48 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Immigration
Typical of the defence attorneys to play the our folks came over here and was welcomed with open arms. Very true but our folks came here legally, not the way these are coming. It is the pandering of the illegal element that is causing the high crime rate. It is the wimpy politicians that don't want to call a spade a spade and have law abiding citizens but have those that begin by breaking our laws come on in and invite the rest of the family so we can have more murder and theft and rape.
DID you know?
40% of all workers in L.A. county are working for cash and not paying taxes. There are ten million people in LA county!
95% of outstanding warrants for murder in LA are for illegal aliens
75% of people on the most wanted list in LA are illegal aliens
65% of births in LA county are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-cal, payed for by American tax payers
25% of all inmates in CA detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegaly
The FBI reports 50% of all gang members in LA are most likely illegal aliens from South America
60% of all HUD properties are owned by illegal aliens
LA has 21 spanish speaking radio stations
Less than 2% of illegal aliens pick our crops while 29% are on welfare (http://www.cis.org)
70% of the US population growth annually is a result of immigration (90% in the states of CA NY and FL)
33% of inmates in ALL federal prisons combined are illegal aliens
Pretty good reason to get some politicians with some backbone, don't you think?
2006-09-01 10:14:51 · answer #1 · answered by ramall1to 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Enforce our existing laws and pass new stronger ones to curtail and eventually stop the flow of illegals into this country.Fine that owner and make it high enough to cover the cost of prosecution and deportation of all 34 illegals.That would kill two birds with one big stone.
2006-09-01 17:02:02 · answer #2 · answered by Yakuza 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
More good news every day. Day by day. Our laws need to be enforced for the protection of all. It's been a good news week. If I were illegal I would be looking at what will help me stay--because they will never give Amnesty to all.
2006-09-01 23:42:08 · answer #3 · answered by *** The Earth has Hadenough*** 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
responding to what you said to me before:
I don't "*****" about racism against Mexicans, since they are not even a race. They are a nationality. And I stand up for racism against all racist. Second, that was a joke, to show that people would get pissed off if it was a joke about them, so don't make jokes about other nationalities and races. OK?
2006-09-01 17:12:19 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
Thanks for the good news. We are going to win. Even if we only catch one a day, thats one less causing problems and taking resourses which are supposed to be reserved for American citizens.
2006-09-01 18:03:47 · answer #5 · answered by Renegade. 3 · 0⤊ 3⤋
Great, its a start: 34/30,000,000
2006-09-01 18:15:35 · answer #6 · answered by Sgt. VietnamVet 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
wats the good news? u told ur husband about us?
2006-09-01 17:02:55 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
the US should enforce laws
2006-09-01 16:52:42 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋