SACRAMENTO -- Twenty-nine Democratic state legislators demonstrated against the recent raids in the state through a letter they sent to the national director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
In that letter, State Assembly Speaker Fabián Núñez stated to Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff that those raids are unconstitutional in the way they were conducted.
Núñez specifically mentions the raid at MicroSolutions Enterprise, an ink cartridges manufacturer where immigration authorities arrested at least 130 people on April 12.
Furthermore, Núñez points out in the letter to Chertoff that many of the detentions are unconstitutional since immigration officials arrested both legal residents and American citizens.
"Reports indicate that during the raid, employees were forced to segregate themselves according to their immigration status," Núñez explained. "During the operation, ICE officers did not release legal residents or citizens until they were interrogated; officials assumed that the workers were guilty until they proved otherwise."
According to Núñez, ICE officials denied workers access to legal counsel as they were questioned and continued interrogations even when workers exercised their rights by requesting legal counsel. Workers were allowed legal counsel during their interviews only after ACLU, the National Immigration Law Center, and the National Lawyers Guild sued ICE.
"Legal representation is especially a concern when a person may be a legal resident, but simply does not have possession of his or her documents," said Núñez.
The letter also mentions that among the group of detainees were pregnant women and some people with special health care conditions who were forced to use an electronic bracelet to be monitored even after being released.
The strongest point in the letter is when Núñez calls on ICE to be accountable for the way it conducts its laws in California and asked not to omit the constitutional rights just because President George Bush and Congress have failed to approve an immigration reform.
Nora Preciado, attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, said that these raids totally violate the laws of the nation, because by law, anyone who is arrested has the right to immediate lawyer counseling, even before being interrogated.
"In a nation built by immigrants where the law is sacred, there should be no room for such impunity," said Preciado.
Angélica Salas, director of the Coalition for Human Immigrant Rights of Los Ángeles, said the immigration authorities are not permitted to carry out these types of actions on immigrants just because a comprehensive immigration reform fell through in Congress.
"The absence of a genuine immigration reform does not mean 'open sesame' for enforcement and blatant disregard of people's basic human and Constitutional rights," said Salas.
Meantime, Núñez plans to meet in the coming weeks with Chertoff for a "frank exchange of ideas" and his assurance that this type of situation does not ever happen again in the state.
He also was asked to open an investigation into this case and to halt the raids throughout the state.
Other legislators who co-signed the letter are Joe Coto, Héctor de la Torre, Kevin de León, Mark Leno, Tony Mendoza, Anna Caballero, Felipe Fuentes, Karen Bass, Mike Feuer and Warren Furutani, among others.