The Raid

Getting One’s Jollies by Terrorizing People at 3 in the Morning

By Dan Rattiner

The raid conducted last month by a dozen agents of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency in East Hampton is still causing waves of concern in this community.

These armed federal agents surrounded a house on Morris Lane in the middle of the night, woke up men, women and children and handled them very roughly as they looked through people’s citizenship papers, work papers and green cards, eventually leaving with eight people from that house and about 30 more from several other houses nearby, many of them in pajamas or nightclothes, for trips to a detention center, leaving behind only weeping spouses and children. Most of those taken away remain in detention centers in Nassau County without access to either lawyers or visitors, awaiting decisions about whether and when they will be deported back to their country of origin. They are being detained for as long as it takes to find out how their cases are to be decided. That means it could be — in a case where paperwork might be lost so hearings cannot be held — indefinitely.

This has now gone way beyond being an illegal immigrant problem. The rough handling of people, the lack of contact with our local police department about what the ICE planned to do, the indefinite detention, and the disregard of due process are reminiscent of the activities of the Gestapo in Nazi Germany during the 1930s and 1940s. This disregard of basic human rights has come into existence here in America because of the passage of the Patriot Act, which is in place to allow the rounding up militant Islamic terrorists. The Patriot Act drives the behavior of Homeland Security in this activity — and the ICE come into the picture because Immigration and Customs is now a subgroup of Homeland Security.

And so the boys from ICE are free to roughly handle anybody they choose, and though they came here that night one month ago with the names of two individuals who had failed to show up in court for hearings, and therefore had a warrant out to bring them in, they wound up, with a large sweep of their net, bringing in anybody they found who could not produce papers. The agents referred to this as an “ancillary” result of their operation.

Whether you agree that illegal immigrants should be sent back home or not, practically everybody agrees that the rough treatment of people who offer no resistance is appalling. Who do these ICE animals report to? Who steps in when they behave this way?

The answer to this question is: nobody. Two local attorneys who are familiar with these matters, Jaime Marcos and Victoria Campos, spoke during a meeting of the Organization of Latino Americans in Southampton last week. And the essence of what they said is, “keep your paperwork handy and try not to be in the same room as anybody who is here illegally. And if you get picked up anyway and put are away indefinitely, even if you are here legally, there’s not much you can do.”

As for these rough agents, when they ask for paperwork, cooperate, no matter how you are treated. When asked, give your full name and your date of birth. Do not use the Latino method of ending your name with your mother’s maiden name. That may be the last anybody hears of you.

I think it fair to ask our Congressman, Tim Bishop, to look into how lightning fast, brutal and middle-of-the-night operations to round up Islamic terrorists — which we applaud — somehow got twisted so armed Immigration officials could physically abuse Latinos at that hour without serious consequences.

My request for this follows on the footsteps of a similar request, made to all our authorities, by local religious leaders from East End Clergy Concerned, EECC, four days after this raid. These people being abused are not terrorists.

It is important to remember that the arrival of this huge number of Latino illegal immigrants was orchestrated by our Federal Government, which, beginning even before the Clinton Administration, lowered the guard at the border so it could take place. The logic at the time was that there were not enough people in America willing to do the dirty work at low wages, and unless such people could be found, America would not be able to compete on the world stage and it would be bad for all Americans. Millions of people would fall into poverty if these people were not found.

And so, an estimated fifteen million people have emigrated illegally across the loosely-guarded Mexican border, and the problem of finding low paying workers for our country has been solved.

It is also important to remember that America has never in the last century had open borders like this before. We have always had quotas. Only so many citizens from Spain, only so many citizens from India, only so many citizens from Poland. Never before have we ever had a problem like this. We want to help. We are a country that does help. But we have solved the economic problem, and at this point we do not need to be overwhelmed by any one foreign culture or group of peoples. The answer now is to close the gates and give those we let in a path to citizenship, while most certainly finding and sending back home those who are here illegally and are wanted by the law. But do it with respect for human dignity. The ICE needs re-direction, re-education and a muzzle.

In other news regarding the immigration situation, a measure in the Suffolk County Legislature that would have made it a crime to stand on the sidewalk and be available to do a day’s work for a day’s pay for anyone who happens by, was defeated 9-4 last week. The measure was proposed to avoid what its proponents said was a danger to public safety — traffic being blocked, etc. — by having these people standing around. The majority of legislators were not buying it. I say those who think this is the problem ought to be on Main Street in any of our East End towns on the Fourth of July. Being on the sidewalk is not a crime.

In Southampton Village, the Mayor there, Mark Eply, continues to try to find a way to provide shelter for these men where they congregate. Several earlier efforts have failed due to public opposition. Last week, he proposed that a variety of places be provided in several different sections of town, so no one area is impacted any more than any other. We applaud his efforts.

In East Hampton, the Town Supervisor there is proposing that a part of the money raised from the payment of any ordinance violation — traffic tickets, etc. — be funneled directly to the treasuries of our local schools. Our country provides, even demands, that children go to school, no matter what either of their parent’s situation is. This highlights the inequity of these immigrant kids going to school without their parents paying any taxes. And it might even alleviate the failure to pay any taxes, at least a little. It’s an ingenious idea. We hope it passes.