Forum blasts raids on workers

Catholics, including Utah's Bishop Wester, say the treatment of immigrants is inhumane
By Jessica Ravitz and Paul Beebe
The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated:09/11/2008 10:45:05 AM MDT
Utah's Catholic Bishop John Wester joined other Catholic leaders in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to voice concerns about U.S. treatment of immigrants, calling the increased number of worksite raids both inhumane and ineffective.
Wester represented the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which is calling on the Department of Homeland Security and President Bush to "reconsider use of . . . raids," which involve "hundreds of law enforcement officials using weapons," and instead turn the focus back on efforts to institute a "comprehensive overhaul of the broken immigration system," he said during the conference, which was accessible by phone.
Ever since talk about comprehensive reform died in Congress last year, Wester, chairman of the bishops' committee on migration, said raids - similar to this year's February raid in Lindon that led to 57 arrests and the December 2006 raid in Hyrum, which led to the arrest of 154 undocumented workers - have become the government's tool for dealing with immigration concerns.
Such raids are "designed to create an atmosphere of fear," Wester said. And while no one questions the right of officials to enforce immigration laws, church leaders - many of whom have first-hand knowledge of helping communities cope after raids - he said the toll on family members, who often end up separated, criminalizes those who just want to support their loved ones and victimizes the innocent, including the left-behind children who are U.S. citizens.
"Imagine a little child coming home from school and his primary caregiver is not there?" said Wester, who also on Wednesday submitted a written statement to DHS. "Our current policies do little to solve the problem of illegal immigration to this country; they simply appear to do so, often at the cost of family integrity and human dignity."
Martin Snow, whose Lindon guardrail manufacturing company was raided in February by 100 agents with their guns drawn, said taxpayers also bear a cost.
"How this thing went down was a big expense," said Snow, whose company, Universal Industrial Sales, lost more than half its 100 employees in the raid and still faces 10 counts of harboring undocumented immigrants. "It would be beneficial if it could be done in another method. It could save taxpayers a lot of money.
Jim Judd isn't convinced that workplace raids prevent undocumented immigrants from finding jobs.
The feds ''need to hold the employers accountable for people they hire, to make certain they are hiring people in the country legally,'' said the president of the 23,000-member Utah AFL-CIO. "Many times the consequences fall on the employees, and the employers suffer little or no consequence."
He added the raids often hurt those who are least to blame. As the family "breadwinner" is carted off by authorities, the people they love are left to fend for themselves.
In a written statement, Kelly Nantel of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, an arm of DHS, highlighted the department's respect for the Catholic leaders before adding, "We have no intention of abdicating our responsibility to enforce the law and we will continue to do so professionally and with an acute awareness of the impact that enforcement has on the individuals we encounter."
Wester said he hopes Americans will listen to people's stories and come to appreciate how complicated this issue is. Only then will they understand the need for a more comprehensive approach to reform - one that puts people on a path to living and working legally - and that enforcement, alone, cannot be the answer.
"Frankly, our country benefits greatly from immigrants. We always have. We're a country of immigrants," the bishop said. "What we really need to do is change hearts."
jravitz@sltrib.com


Worksite raids, by the numbers
* 685 arrested in fiscal year 2004
* 160 criminally charged in fiscal year 2004
* 3,900 arrested so far this year
* More than 1,000 criminally charged so far this year
* $9.7 billion: DHS's immigration enforcement budget in 2004
* $15 billion: DHS's immigration enforcement budget for 2009
Source: Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc.