Kennedy, N.J. senator want immigration-raid guidelines
4:27 PM Fri, Oct 10, 2008 | Permalink
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With federal authorities stepping up immigration enforcement raids across the country, Sens. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts and Robert Menendez of New Jersey are sponsoring a bill to protect the rights of U.S. citizens and legal residents who get caught up in them. The Protect Citizens and Residents from Unlawful Raids and Detention Act was introduced on Sept. 25 to push for more stringent legal procedures to be followed by authorities executing immigration-related searches and warrants. Immigration officials have conducted a series of high-profile workplace raids across the country in recent months, including one earlier this week at a poultry processing plant in Greenville, S.C. The two Democratic lawmakers argue that the raids are often conducted in a sweeping fashion that nets lawful residents and U.S. citizens who happen to be working alongside undocumented immigrants. Those who can't produce papers such as a birth certificate or passport proving U.S. citizenship or legal residency are often detained. The legislation would require immigration agents to advise people being detained of their rights, including the option of remaining silent or seeking legal counsel, similar to what police officers must do in arresting criminal suspects. In Rhode Island, federal immigration authorities in July arrested 31 suspected illegal immigrants who worked at six courthouses throughout the state. A month earlier, authorities arrested 42 suspected immigration violators in Newport and Middletown. "It certainly seems it's a step in the right direction," Providence Catholic Bishop Thomas Tobin, who has called on U.S. immigration authorities to halt mass immigration raids, said of the proposal. -- By the Associated Press Although the bill may not have much shelf life with the present Congress soon to adjourn, Menendez said he plans to continue pushing the issue. "We cannot allow the fervor to deport undocumented workers to take away the constitutional rights that belong to each and every U.S. citizen and legal resident," said Menendez, who is the son of Cuban immigrants. "This is the United States of America, where we protect our citizens and treat our fellow humans with respect." Immigrations and Customs Enforcement spokesman Harold Ort said the agency could not comment specifically on pending legislation, but said ICE conducts targeted law enforcement operations based on intelligence gathering and standard investigative procedures. "ICE fugitive operations officers follow applicable federal laws and ICE policies during all of our operations, which are conducted to minimize the risk to officers, those we arrest, and others we encounter during an operation," Ort said. Joanne Lin, a legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, which helped draft the Menendez-Kennedy bill, said U.S. citizens are frequently detained in raids. She said several U.S. citizens were among those caught up in the Greenville raid, in which 330 people were detained. "If ICE had conducted much more targeted enforcement actions that were against individuals named in warrants, this bill wouldn't be necessary," she said. "Instead, we're seeing raids in homes and work sites everywhere in the country, because there's no guidelines governing the conduct of these immigration raids. That's why national legislation is necessary." ICE has arrested more than 2,000 people in New Jersey during raids in the past year, according to Seton Hall University Law School, which has filed a federal lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security over the detention of U.S. citizens and legal residents during immigration raids. 
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DEMOCRATS/ACLU ARE BROTHERS. CA ASKING FOR $8 BILLION OF U.S. MONEY FOR A BAIL -OUT...THEY ALSO, REPORT, EDUCATION, WELFARE, HEALTH AND INCARCERTION EXPENSES TOTAL $11 BILLION TO SUPPORT ILLEGALS. WAKE UP AMERICA. AND REMEMBER THIS IS THE COST FOR JUST ONE YEAR..WHERE DO YOU THINK OUR $450 MILLION DEFICIT WAS SPENT?? AND LAST YEAR? HOW ABOUT NEXT YEAR. JUST A FEW WEEKS AGO 31 ILLEGALS WERE PAID $28,345 A YEAR TO CLEAN OUR COURT HOUSES. THAT A MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR SUPPORTING ILLEGALS.
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Here's a guideline for you: if you're illegal, you're going home.
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I get the feeling, Kennedy and Menendez haven't checked, nor do they care to check, with their constituants.
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Here's a very easy way to prevent this by requiring that any company make sure all employees provide proof of their legal status.
Any company found deliberately hiring illegal aliens would be fined 1 million dollars. Do you think it would take very long for employers to get the message, if one got caught?
Also, the illegals would not have jobs and maybe they would go back to wherever the hell they came from.
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Yeah, that's what we need...a bill to stop 'picking' on those who are in this country illegally!! We must protect those who break the law, and then stick it to the dopey hard-working, tax-payer, law-abiding citizens. I am getting really tired of working like a dog to help everyone else be lazy!! Illegals must leave this country. It's the law!!
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Do we expect any of our lackluster Congressmen to be a leader and support the position of the vast majority of legal citizens? I thought so. I wonder why Congress' approval rating is in the mid-teens.
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Menendez is the guy responsible for holding up the passage of the eVerify extension of five years. Thanks to Menedez and his highjacking of legislation protecting American workers, Menendez wanted 550,000 new and additional work visas for South American (no kidding) workers and his outrageous demands while they were here.
Of course, Menendez seems to think that Americans just aren't as important as giving jobs to immigrants while we suffer with 8.5% unemployment here in RI.
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R.I. $450 MILLIONS DOLLAR DEFICIT IS FOR SUPPORT OF ILLEGALS. SENATOR PIAVA WEED AND MONTALBONO BLOCKED PASSAGE OF E-VERIFICATION TWO YEARS IN A ROW.
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Can someone please show Teddy the video of the van in Phoenix that fled from the police, broadsided an innocent driver, and had 24 illegals run from the van after the crash. These are the people they are trying to protect. At least Teddy wasn't driving the van or it would have ended up in the Rio Grande.
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