Latino Group Says I.C.E. Overreached

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A Latino rights group says federal immigration agents went too far when they made about 30 arrests in Northeastern Wisconsin over the last two weeks.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency or ICE says 26 of 28 people arrested had prior convictions for crimes. Some Latinos say federal agents also hauled in some undocumented workers who say they were not convicted criminals.

Dairy farm worker Luis Bustamante was taken out of his Manitowoc home last Monday, and he spent a few days behind bars. He says he worries about how his arrest affected his wife and three children, “When you see all those guys crying, it was pretty tough.”

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Luis’s wife, Jamie borrowed money from her parents and posted the bond to get her husband out of jail. She says she told ICE that her husband is a hard worker who loves his family. “I said, ‘What am I going to do?’ We both work. We work opposite. You know, he takes care of the kids while I’m working. I have the kids while he’s working. They’ve never had a babysitter.”

The Bustmantes and other families, who say they are not criminals, are getting some help from the League of United Latin American Citizens. The league’s Julie Contreras says it is great that President Obama recently started a delayed deportation program for some immigrant children, but she says arresting undocumented dairy farm workers is overkill. “The Juans, Joses and Pablos that were working at the dairy farm are not the Osama bin Ladens or Timothy McVeigh’s of this nation.”

Contreras says immigration lawyers will be in Manitowoc County Tuesday to offer more advice to those affected by the federal raid.