Posted on 12/13/2001 1:09:11 PM PST by Utah Girl
Leaders of Utah's Hispanic community, frustrated over this week's roundup of undocumented workers at the Salt Lake International Airport, were scheduled to meet Thursday afternoon to discuss how they will respond to the indictments.
Meanwhile, Utah's Public Safety Commissioner and the U.S. Attorney for Utah emphasized that the indictments had nothing to do with race. "It's nonsense. I can't be more clear than that. It's nonsense," said U.S. Attorney for Utah Paul Warner.
Members of the Hispanic community were also making a call for donations to help the children and spouses of workers who are now in jail.
The group was scheduled to meet with at least four attorneys to decide what to do next and to discuss the intention of the roundup, said James Yapias, chairman for the Hispanic Advisory Council.
Federal arrest warrants were issued for 69 airport workers Tuesday who lied on their job applications. Those workers had access to some of the most secured areas of the airport. As of Thursday morning, 50 of those indicted had been arrested.
Another 202 workers who also lied on their applications but worked in less secure areas were also fired but will not be prosecuted. Many of the 271 workers affected were undocumented immigrants from Central and South America.
"We are going back to stereotyping," Yapias said.
"It's unfortunate people feel that way. The reality is clear and the perception is something different," Warner said. "I didn't care where they came from. My goal was to find out who's lying, who's misrepresenting, who's getting into the secured areas of the airport. Anyone who has lied to get in there is a threat."
"This was not a roundup based on color of skin," added Utah Public Safety Commission Robert Flowers. "These were federal indictments from a federal grand jury based on individuals who have done criminal behavior. These are not first-time offenders."
While community leaders say they understand the need for security at the airport, they don't believe much thought was put into what would happen after the workers were arrested. Medina said there was no plan on how to handle what she called the "secondary impact" of the arrests, the families.
Leticia Medina, director of the Utah Office for Hispanic Affairs, said she has heard stories of children who are still with their babysitters because both parents are in jail. Another woman is pregnant and her husband was arrested, she said.
"The breadwinners are in jail," said Graciela Italiano-Thomas, CEO of Centro de La Familia in Salt Lake City. "In some cases two parents are in jail and the kids are left with the baby-sitter."
"When you look at these individuals arrested, they aren't the problem. They aren't terrorists," Medina said. The people who were arrested just want to work, she said. They are working low paid jobs with no benefits that no one else wants, she said.
Yapias said the workers arrested are just like any other family in Utah. They pay taxes. The difference is they are not documented, he said.
"When you look at these individuals arrested, they aren't the problem. They aren't terrorists," Medina said. "The reality is there are undocumented workers in every state in the country."
But Warner said that issue alone is something that has to be taken seriously.
"These people are not innocent casualties on the war on terrorism," Warner said. "Yes they may be working, but they have lied. They have come into the country illegally. They have lied on multiple occasions to obtain documents. They have repeatedly violated federal law.
Yapias said he was upset with state and federal officials for going on national TV and saying Salt Lake had the safest airport in the nation following Tuesday's roundup. "That's just one way of saying Hispanics are not safe to be around," he said.
Employers should have been given notice of the problem and given a deadline to fix it, Yapias said.
Flowers said more than 8,000 airport workers were looked at, regardless of race. "Any angle you look at this, you're going to be hard pressed knowing all the facts that anyone was picked on," he said.
And it's their fault that they're there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It is NOT law enforcement's problem that people with children broke the law.
These were ILLEGAL ALIENS!
This has nothing to do with racial profiling or stereo typing unless the excuse maker is telling us that most Mexicans in this country are: ILLEGAL ALIENS! Therefore we can't ask for legal documentation as that would be racial profiling!
Undocumented immigrants my $rse! They were ILLEGAL ALIENS!
Thanks for posting this! Your governor did a great job!
Oh, and the one other slight difference they forgot to mention is that THEY BROKE THE LAW. Quite unlike most families in Utah.
US Attorney for Utah Warner. i only correct you because utah currently has
one of the finest AG's in the nation, shurtleff.
grampa dave took the words out of my keyboard re:undocumented. bravo sierra.
poor old rocky was spinning so hard over this, the reporters needed dramamine.
what a disgusting, shallow bottom feeder he is...not pc to arrest illegals... need the votes.
my apologies to any self respecting bottom feeders out there...
One of the women I work with has had some problems with her SS#. Someone else was using it, she's been working on clearing this problem for over two years with the local Social Security office. It hasn't been a small problem for her, it's been a major headache.
How does the tax situation work if someone is using a false name/social security number (because they are an illegal alien) to work? Taxes are taken out of their check, but credited to the number they used? The person with the number they used is then hit with a wacked out W-4/1040? Does the illegal worker use services such as AFDC/food stamps/welfare/health services that would not have been available had their income been truthfully recorded? Is their a net loss or gain to society by having the false social secuity account used?
I'm not asking about the moral fairness of someone getting away with earning income that's not accurately reported, just the actual economic impact on society.
unless i'm, well, wrong.
i thought about that, and don't get me wrong... i came up in agricultural area here,
and many of my summer friends were migrant farm hand's kids...
my reply is basically, um... naw. too many cousins involved.
I see, all in the family type criminals. I guess that does make it okay! LOL!
At least Yapias is right on one point. They are not documented. Paying taxes does not make a person legal. I AM LEGAL. THEY ARE ILLEGAL!! COMPRENDE?
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