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| A briefing briefing denouncing ICE raids with, from the left: Manuel Castro, Arnoldo Borja, Juan Osorio, Edgar Aranda-Yanoc, and Dae Joong Yoon. |
The Obama Administration’s new policy to step deportations of undocumented individuals is creating a climate of fear among the local immigrant population.
The National Korean American Service and Education Consortium (NAKASEC) and Virginia Coalition of Latino Organizations (VACOLAO) held a joint briefing at NAKASEC’s offices in Annandale Jan. 8 to denounce the raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents targeting families who fled violence and wars in Central America.
Although only 122 people – mostly in Texas, New Mexico, and Maryland – have been taken into custody by ICE and 12 people have been deported under Obama’s tough new enforcement policy, “the fear is affecting millions of people,” said VACOLAO Chair Edgar Aranda-Yanoc. “People don’t want to send their children to school because of the fear of raids.”
“This campaign of deportation is causing many people to be afraid,” said Juan Osorio, through a translator. Originally from Mexico, he’s been here since 1996.
People are worried about what will happen to their families if they are deported, said Osorio, who works in Annandale as a day laborer. Contractors are afraid to hire people who don’t have documents, and they are paying less, which is creating financial worries, he said. “We won’t be able to pay rent. We are working people. We want to work.”
“We deserve to be respected. We have the right to make a living everywhere. We’re looking for compassion for people in need,” said Manuel Castro, an immigrant from El Salvador who’s been here for 16 years. A resident of Arlington, he works as a painter and hangs around outside the Sherwin Williams paint store on Little River Turnpike in Annandale as contractors drop by to hire workers.
Castro used to have a work permit granting him temporary protection status, but said, but “ICE took it for no reason.”
Immigrant advocates are telling people they have the right to remain silent and not open the door when ICE agents knock, which often happens in the middle of the night. And they’re encouraging people to have a plan for their kids in case they are deported.
Arnoldo Borja, an organizer with the Legal Aid Justice Center’s immigrant advocacy program, urges people to talk to their neighbors, teachers, and community members and spread the message that “We are not going to be afraid. We have rights as humans.”
Arnoldo Borja, an organizer with the Legal Aid Justice Center’s immigrant advocacy program, urges people to talk to their neighbors, teachers, and community members and spread the message that “We are not going to be afraid. We have rights as humans.”
While there haven’t been any ICE raids in the Annandale area recently, Borja said ICE agents are making their presence felt and regularly hang around the Taco Bell on Little River Turnpike.
In this presidential election year, Aranda-Yanoc called for a national dialogue that is “more inclusive and more compassionate to those affected by a broken immigration policy.”
NAKASEC, the Legal Aid Justice Center, and the Capital Immigrant Rights Coalition are hosting a “Know Your Rights” training session for immigrant advocates, clergy, and anyone who works with immigrant communities. The first session is Jan. 15, 10 a.m., at the Culmore United Methodist Church. For more information, contact Edgar Aranda-Yanoc, edgar@justice-4all.org, 703-772-1550.