(Illegal) Immigration arrests continue in Chattanooga area

Veronica Matias and her aunt Eulalia Matias were leaving for a church retreat Saturday morning when two vehicles blocked their driveway in East Ridge.

Men got out of the cars and, without identifying themselves, started asking if she and her aunt were in the country legally and demanding identification, Ms. Matias said.

“I got out the car and asked them why they needed my information,” said Ms. Matias, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen. “I was told they were looking for a murderer, and they showed me the picture of a man from Ecuador.”

She told the men she didn’t recognize the man and they left, she said. The next morning, however, as she and her aunt again were leaving for the retreat, the men returned, Ms. Matias said. This time they identified themselves as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials coming to arrest her aunt on a previous deportation order.

Eulalia Matias was one of 48 people arrested during the weekend — 22 in Chattanooga, the rest in Knoxville and surrounding rural counties — as part of an operation called “Return to Sender,” according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.

“Operation Return to Sender is an ongoing enforcement operation for ICE where we are targeting immigration fugitives — people who failed to appear to their immigration hearing or had an outstanding warrant for their deportation,” said Philip Miller, deputy field office director for the detention and removal program for ICE for the Southeast region.

During the operation, agents have administrative warrants of deportation and arrest, Mr. Miller said. “That’s the reason why we knock and identify ourselves ... they are not going and kicking the doors, these are consensual searches and interviews,” he said.

Ms. Matias said her aunt previously applied for permanent residency, but she apparently failed to appear at an immigration appointment because they moved and didn’t know when the appointment was scheduled.

Watching her aunt get taken away “was really horrible, really hard to lose somebody. I can’t explain it,” Ms. Matias said.

Immigration officers are empowered by law to question a person’s right to be or remain in the United States, Mr. Miller said.

“During the course of our investigation (we have to) identify are you or are you not a fugitive,” he said. “If we knock at a targeted address where we are going to talk to a person, (we need) to make sure he or she is not a criminal, is not wanted by any federal or state law enforcement or (whether) that man or woman may also be an immigration fugitive.”

If someone is detained even though they’re not the original target, “they just happened to be at the wrong address,” he said.

There now are 285 immigration fugitives in this area, he said, and about 585,000 nationwide. Those arrested this weekend are from 12 different countries and will be taken to the Western Louisiana removal hub, Mr. Miller said, from which they will be deported after their passports are secured.

The length of the deportation process varies depending on a person’s country of origin and the diplomatic relationship between that country and the United States, Mr. Miller said. It could take a month or two for those who come from Eastern European countries; one to two weeks for Mexican nationals; two to three weeks for Hondurans and Guatemalans; and up to a month for people from El Salvador, he said.

“We are about to bring on board a second fugitive operation team in Tennessee that will be based in Nashville, and their area of responsibility will be Eastern Tennessee, so we will be continuing to work targeted immigration fugitives in the Chattanooga area,” he said.

Ms. Matias said her aunt, now in Nashville, has contacted the family several times since Sunday.

“We can only pray for it to be God’s will,” she said. “We just want her to be fine.”

OPERATION RETURN TO SENDER

* More than 280 immigration fugitives targeted in the Chattanooga-Knoxville area

* About 585,000 fugitives targeted nationwide

* 48 people arrested over the weekend, 22 in Chattanooga

* Operation in Eastern Tennessee involved four fugitive operation teams from New Orleans, Memphis, Atlanta and Charlotte, N.C.

Source: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

AT A GLANCE

On April 16, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested 311 workers, including 100 in Chattanooga, suspected of being in the country illegally at Pilgrim’s Pride poultry plants in Tennessee, Texas, Arkansas, Florida and West Virginia. ICE officials said the arrests were part of a year-long investigation. Thirty-six of the 100 detained in Chattanooga were released with monitoring ankle bracelets as an alternative to detention.

There are plenty of reports of gang violence south of the border. You don't hear so much about Americans at the Border. Too bad.

Americans are regularly abused. According to this article entitled US Warns Tourists of 'Small-Unit Combat' at Mexico Border -- Murder and kidnapping of Americans has become routine all along the US Mexican border. According to the State Department sometimes heavily armed attackers wear the uniforms of the Mexican police or military.

If there is silence about events at the border. The silence about killings north of the border is deafening. And yet....

More Americans killed by illegal aliens than Iraq war, study says Think about it. A man or woman killed in Iraq or Iran in the line of duty is a hero. But what is an American killed at home by an illegal alien because the government has failed in its sworn duty to guard the borders. This is a pact between the sovereign and the person has paid taxes and loyalty. The answer is to that question is pretty awful. And it bodes ill for the republic.

But is it true?

When you start digging into the numbers the only ones that can be sourced with the feds are the number of American murdered in 2005: 16692
I have seen federal numbers for illegals held in jail ranging from 19.3% to 27% of the federal prison population.

Here's a sampling of USA cities wanted for murder. What you'll see is that in big USA cities like LA or NYC most of the murderers are Hispanic. Unknown are the % of illegals. In smaller cities the FBI will post the nationalities of the murderers. About 25% of the most wanted are illegals wanted for murder. This number agrees with the percentage of illegals incarcerated in federal prisons. +-25%
Pictures of top 10 most wanted in LA. Up until recent stories about crime in LA posted by the LA Times--the pictures included the nationality of the murderers. They were all foreign nationals and mostly Mexican.

Wanted for Murder in New York City.

Chicago wanted for Murder

Philadelphia wanted for murder

San Francisco wanted for Murder

New Orleans wanted for Murder

Pictures of suspects wanted for murder in Washington DC

FBI USA 10 most wanted. (two of 10 are Mexican nationals) Around 40% of the FBI's wanted for murder are Mexican Nationals

There are currently no exact numbers on the number of Americans killed by illegals. Part of the reason is that the government deliberately obscures the number. I talked on the phone with the head of statistics for the US Bureau of Prisons. He said his office wasn't allowed to publish the number of illegal alien murderers. Rather they were forced to put legal and non legal residents in the same category. He said further that most of illegals in the federal prisons were in for drug related charges. Most of the illegals in jail for murder were in the state prisons. I talked to ICE. They put out detailed numbers on illegal child molestors. However, they put out nothing on illegal murderers.

Part of the reason for the silence on the matter is that there is evidence to suggest that most Americans--but by no means all -- being killed by illegals are black--as is the suggestion in this LA Times Article. Also this article from the LA Times. And here. This makes intuitive sense. We see stories regularly of drug gang killings in Mexico but we don't see those same stories in the USA. The reason we don't see those stories is not because its not happening. Rather we don't see the stories about illegals killing blacks because that kind of story is terribly politically incorrect. The populations being displaced in downtown sanctuary cities especially are American blacks. That means that their criminal elements would be pushed aside by Mexican gangs as well. That's also the story that the wanted for murder posters in all the major cities seems to suggest.

Why isn't there an outcry in the black community? Beats me.

Nevertheless, the pattern of non reporting is starting to break. Discovery Channel has a series called Gangland that mentions ethnic cleasing of blacks by Mexican gangs

Reported Foreign Nationals on Death Row in the U.S.

To look at other USA cities go here http://stlouis.fbi.gov/ and replace stlouis with the city you want.

All that said the true number of criminal aliens is far higher than is revealed by criminal aliens in prisons. Most are simply waived through the courts.DHS Secretary Chertoff, has been quoted as warning that two million people in this country illegally have committed serious crimes. If you check the links you'll notice that its McCain who cites Chertoff. See also here and here Here is more info from Judicial Watch.

However the number of illegals on death row is far lower. Sadly, so many small towns and villages across America have sent their warriors off to war half way across the world only to see communities fill up with illegal aliens.

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