Border Patrol take on more than just the border.

[Sub Atomic]

Protesters hit Border Patrol over its 'sweeps'




By Leslie Berestein
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
June 30, 2004

Waving signs with slogans like "Migra-Free Barrios," several dozen community activists and protesters gathered in Chicano Park near downtown San Diego yesterday to protest a rash of recent Border Patrol searches for undocumented immigrants.

They said the "roving patrols" that began this month in parts of San Diego County and neighboring counties have terrorized Latino communities and stripped them of their dignity.

Two protesters were the parents of local soldiers who have served in Iraq, one of them a man whose son was killed last year. A Logan Heights woman whose son is in Fallujah complained that the patrols disrespect law-abiding Americans by subjecting them to racial profiling.

"He is fighting for a country where rights are being cut away from his family, his friends and his community," Sonia Rodriguez said in Spanish.

More than 400 undocumented immigrants have been arrested by Border Patrol agents working as a "mobile patrol group" out of the Temecula Border Patrol station, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. They have been conducting daily operations in a 3,000-square-mile area that stretches into San Diego County, as well as Riverside and San Bernardino counties.


more

Personally, I do not understand what the problem is. If a person or group of people are in this country illegally, then we, as a nation, should be doing whatever it takes to ensure that our laws are followed. This issue transcends a specific race, though the impetus of this story points toward racism.

Why is it that these communities feel that they have been "stripped of their dignity" by being caught breaking the law? Perhaps the reasons why illegal behavior is heralded by immigration groups needs to be addressed. If these groups of people are condoning and encouraging illegal behavior, are these groups not guilty as well? What type of message are they providing to their children when the rule of law is so flagrantly ignored?

[Medical Speaking]

1. Great News

When you have a misadministration that thinks its ok to break the law
the message is Bushies message. We need more officers at our boarders to stop the illegals from coming in. But Bushie wants to give these people who enter the us illegally green cards.
What a mess this is they say a million a year are entering the us illegally. There is hope!!!

Kerry 2004