ICE lied to biz owner to gain access, claimed they were after one violent felon. sorted by race and took 69 employees
Then an immigration agent came up to his truck and told him they had a warrant for a violent felon, Schmidt said. If they could find him, they’d be out of there fast, Schmidt said the agent told him.
“We don’t want those kinds of people here,” Schmidt said he told the agent. “Please, do your thing. Please get them out as soon as possible.”
Schmidt and his brother, Jeff, sat in the truck for three hours.
The raid ended with a surprise. Schmidt watched as 69 people, all of them Latino, were herded from the building. Many of them were deported to Guatemala less than 72 hours later. Some are being held in Texas. A breastfeeding mother is being held in a Border Patrol station in Wellesley Island, away from her infant. Another mother is in Louisiana.
There was no dangerous felon.
Several aspects of the raid and the treatment of the detainees appear to be in violation of the law, lawyers said.
Among their criticisms:
• Workers were sorted by race. Latino workers stayed; white workers could go. The practice, until recently, has been viewed traditionally as a civil rights violation.
• At least one person detained had legal government permission to work and a pending immigration case. He should not have been detained, according to a lawyer with the New York Civil Liberties Union. Still, he was deported less than 72 hours later. Other workers and lawyers said those detained also had documents that should have prevented them from being taken.
Inside the Upstate NY immigration raid: Secrecy, deception and a rush to deport dozens of workers (video) - syracuse.com
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