 ICE Raids Detain Thousands of Innocent People: Left of Center View A lawsuit filed in a Texas federal court Wednesday exposes the heavy-handed tactics of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) wing of the Department of Homeland Security. Included in the complaint are accounts from legal immigrant workers in factories that allege they were bound and detained without counsel for hours. One of the workers, Sergio Rodriguez, said he was taken from the plant and detained for about 12 hours at a Denver detention center before federal officials found out he was a legal permanent resident. Rodriguez said he unsuccessfully asked officials six times to use the telephone. He also said he was handcuffed tightly using temporary plastic handcuffs that left marks on his wrists for more than two weeks after his arrest. He was one of over 12,000 people detained in the ICE raids. This case clearly shows that the tactics used by ICE officers are impacting innocent people and should be curtailed in the interest of the rights of people in this country. Many have called for an end to these raids because of similar complaints but Michael Chertoff and other officials from Homeland Security have fiercely defended the raids as being necessary to the safety and security of America. Is it security or a police state that their actions bring to America? Thomas Jefferson once said, “Liberty is to the collective body, what health is to every individual body. Without health no pleasure can be tasted by man; without liberty, no happiness can be enjoyed by society.” As our laws become more and more based on fear and less on liberty it seems as if the American ideal dies a little each day. Our country was founded on the principles of freedom and opportunity. When the first revolutionaries were recruiting the people to rise up against the rule of England, the rallying cry was that of freedom and equality for all. Have we become so afraid now that we must support laws that allow lawful people to be brutalized in the name of security? This lawsuit filed by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union against the tyrannical enforcers of unjust laws could be a blow for freedom that echoes for years to come. Hopefully the judge will see the light of liberty and make a stand for the freedom of all Americans. If we do not change course soon, this path we are on might well lead to the end of the freedoms our forefathers fought so hard to achieve. LJ Finstermore - World Citizen | E-mail Comments on this column. Got a liberal viewpoint? We want to know what you think. Next week's subject: Open Borders Trucking with Mexico Send in your view from the Left to be our featured Left of Center View for the week. Click here to submit your article. Last Week's View from the Left: Political Activism and Illegal Immigration Previous Weeks Views from the Left: Integrating Other Cultures Into the American Dream Employing Undocumented Workers Bilingual Education The Minutemen Driver's Licenses For Undocumented Immigrants Open Borders Sanctuary Cities Common Sense Laws Rise & Fall Outsourcing & Insourcing English Amnesty vs. Reality Defining Immigration |
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