Saturday, March 27, 2010

Maricopa Sheriff Deputies Raided Four McDonald's And Arrested 21 Suspected Illegal Workers

(File photo)

Four McDonald's restaurants raided for hiring illegal workers

March 27, 2010

Phoenix, Arizona (HNNUSA)- On Friday, Maricopa deputy sheriff's raided four McDonald's restaurants and arrested 21 suspected illegal workers, according to Sheriff Joe Arpaio. A tip was received by the sheriffs office about five months ago and the investigation began after the tipster notified authorities several illegal workers were employed at several local McDonald's.
When deputies ran the names of numerous employees in federal databases, they found about 51 suspected illegal workers. They arrested 21 in Scottdale, Tempe and in Mesa, and are trying to locate 30 others. They are facing identity thief charges.
Sheriff deputies also extended their search for illegal workers to a mansion in Paradise Valley owned by Richard Coulston, the owner of the McDonald's restaurants. He was not detained, but is facing fines and possible business license revocation for knownly hiring undocumented workers. Coulston's attorney says, McDonald's has a standard practice to verify the legal status of workers.
Deputies were enforcing a two year old county law that prohibits local employers from hiring illegal workers.

Maricopa County Stats to Date Under the State law
Arrests by Sheriff’s deputies of persons transporting or being transport llegally into Arizona: 1,954

Under the Federal law
Arrests by Sheriff’s deputies who, in the course of their duties, determine the arrestee is in Arizona illegally: 1,919

ICE “Holds”
Each inmate booked is interviewed for immigration status. Sheriff’s detention officers have turned over 32,943 illegal immigrants to Immigration authorities for deportation.

On Saturday, in a statement released by U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement (U.S.ICE) concerning deportations, "ICE is required by Congress to submit annual performance goals as part of the budgetary process and our longstanding focus remains on smart, effective immigration enforcement that places priority first on those dangerous criminal aliens who present risk to the security of our communities.
This focus has yielded real results – between FY2008 and FY2009, criminal deportations increased by 19% and this priority continues in FY10 with 40% more criminal aliens removed to date as compared to the same period last year.
We are strongly committed to carrying out our priorities to remove serious criminal offenders first and we definitively do not set quotas," U.S.ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton said.

Additional facts Criminal removals/ returns increased by almost 22,000 between FY2008 and FY2009.

Overall, criminal and non-criminal removals/ returns increased by 5% between FY2008 and FY2009, while criminal removals/ returns alone ncreased by 19%.

This year, ICE's Arizona Office of Detention and Removal Operations expects to deport more than 22,000 undocumented Central Americans, double the number of removals recorded in 2006. U.S. ICE announced this month that it's building a 25,000 sqaure foot facility in Mesa's airport to handle massive deportations.
The facility wil be operated by ICE Detention and Removal Operations (DRO), and the new Arizona Removal Operations Coordination Center (AROCC) located at the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, will house 79 ICE employees and up to 157 temporary detainees who are awaiting removal to countries such as Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
"As ICE continues to increase its capacity to remove aliens from the United States, the AROCC will provide us with the space and resources we need to complete our mission quickly and efficiently," said ICE Arizona Field Office Director Katrina S. Kane.
More than 1,000 of undocumented immigrants are being deported per day (387,790 per year) under President Barack Obama's administration (400,000 families with U.S. citizen members are being destroyed by deportations according to the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights), compared to almost 650 daily deportations (240,000 per year) under former President George W. Bush (Source: La Jornada Morelos, 3/9/2010) Eventhough, Bush committed himself for Immigration Reform and the Repulican majority in the U.S. Congress failed to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill.
On March 21, more than 200,000 of Latinos and non-Latinos gathered in Washington D.C. for the "March for America" Rally to draw attention to the much needed Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity (CIR ASAP) Act of 2009, H.R. 4321 bill submitted by U.S Congressman Luis Gutierrez (IL-Dem.) bill in December.
That same weekend, other protests in Washington drew more attention because organizers concentrated on both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Also, the historic passage of the Health Care Reform bill overshadowed the Immigration Reform Movement. The Immigration reform march received little or no coverage by the mainstream media, who were making front page headlines and the national television news networks were breaking the news about the approval of Health Care Reform.
The passage of federal Health Care created a division among the U.S. population, which resulted in death threats for Congressional members who are seeking re-election in November. Even the Federal Bureau of Investigation has launched a probe into the threats reported by federal legislators, who are mostly Democrats that approved Health Care.
Congress just went on a two week Spring recess and the U.S. Senate failed to submit their own Immigration Reform version, which most likely mean it won't debate the issue this year. Legislators, especially Democrats will have difficult time to get re-elected after approving Health Care and to deal with Immigration Reform, another controversial issue could actually mark their faith of not getting re-elected, according to political and immigration analysts.
As a counter measure to create awareness, mobility, activism among Latinos, and to help boost the Immigration Reform movement, a stronge message by H. Nelson Goodson, an Immigration Reform activist from Wisconsin was sent out nationally before March 21, for "Hispanics to boycott spending in the U.S. economy, by limiting their spending to bare essentials only. Limit spending equals Immigration Reform."
The Economic Boycott to manage our economic power began on March 21st and lasts until a fair comprehensive Immigration Reform bill is passed. Every individual and especially Latinos/as are aware of the spending and buying economic power (projected U.S. Hispanic $1.3 trillion buying power by 2013) they do have in the U.S. The national shout out or call for action is for everyone who would like to sent a strong message to the U.S. Congress and President Barack H. Obama that we do count in this country and we are very much a part of it.

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