Posted on 08/22/2007 8:03:07 AM PDT by SmithL
On a quiet East Oakland street in the hour before dawn Tuesday, Tony Aiello and the five members of his fugitive operations team parked their unmarked SUVs and approached a red-trimmed bungalow. Two of the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents cased the sides of the building, while the other three marched onto the front porch, rapped on the door and announced themselves: "Police!"
The agents were after an illegal immigrant: a convicted felon who had served time for assault with a deadly weapon, then slipped out of sight when he was ordered deported. But the address was old, the house had been abandoned and all Aiello's crew found was a homeless man who had broken in a back door to sleep for the night.
At the next address, a modest house bordered by red roses and a row of towering corn stalks, another targeted alien - with a record for hit-and-run DUI and weapons possession - had already left for work. His 20-year-old son was arrested when he couldn't produce proof of legal residency, but was later released.
And so it went. Over five hours and six addresses the agents, in their navy blue windbreakers with ICE POLICE emblazoned on the backs, came up empty-handed Tuesday. In one case, a business had moved. Another was a case of mistaken identity. Undaunted, Aiello and his crew continued their shoe-leather investigations through the morning, chasing down leads and staking out new addresses.
The agency's fugitive operations teams have arrested 40,000 illegal immigrants nationwide since Oct. 1 - more than double last year's figure - 1,199 of them in Northern California, according to ICE spokeswoman Lori Haley.
Stung by criticism of the way it conducts its enforcement operations, the agency invited reporters along on Tuesday's operation in the East Bay,
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
The guys from ice and other law enforcement could use a hand from the “law abiding” citzens who do not want these forgine invaders here. Not everybody in s.f. or califorina, or a lot of these so called amesty cities & or states want these invaders here.
They should hand the backlog over to bounty hunters. Probably save money in the long run.
ping
It’s never - repeat, NEVER - a good thing for the gov to invite the media along on its operations.
Immigration agents take Mercury News along on South Bay raids
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