Summary
The ICE operation in San Rafael and Novato is part of a much wider program called "Return to Sender," which in turn is part of an even bigger program called "Endgame." It's not a movie. It's a plan created in 2003 for "the removal of all removable aliens" by 2012, according to the Department of Homeland Securities report titled "Endgame: Office of Detention and Removal Strategic Plan 2003-2012."
Somehow, sweeping through the Canal now is equated with "securing the homeland." And, says Tom Wilson, executive director of the Canal Alliance, when agents swept into a home, "What was suspicious? A person who is in their bed at home, and they happen to be brown, and they happen to speak Spanish? Does that mean that they're suspicious and can be dragged out of their beds into the street in handcuffs?" Wilson says his organization knows of at least three cases in which documented immigrants were caught up in the recent ICE raids. And his mention of Spanish-speaking victims raises the point that few want to discuss: The target for the ICE operation, and Endgame, is not really the immigrant population in general, it's a Spanish-speaking population, specifically from Mexico. It's hard to deny an element of racism.In Novato, the reaction to the raids "is being carried by the churches," says county Supervisor Judy Arnold, who represents the area. "They're talking about sanctuary. They're providing food and supplies for people." Arnold says there are small immigrant ministries within churches that are reaching out to the community in a "very nonviolent protest. But it's still a protest." Arnold reiterates that the protests are aimed not at attempting to thwart enforcement of immigration law but the ICE's iron-fisted tactics, especially when agents identify themselves only as police, "which totally sets back the community policing programs that San Rafael and Novato have been trying to do for years."See the full content of this document
Extract
Ice Sends Chills Through Canal
Community activists want the city of San Rafael to take a renewed stand against the kind of raids Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents conducted last month-raids that continue to send ripples of anxiety through the Latino population in Marin.
"We've put together a draft resolution that we would like to become either an adopted resolution or an ordinance in the city of San Rafael," says Steve Burdo, staff member of the Grassroots Leadership Network of Marin. Burdo says the resolution his organization is proposing...See the full content of this document
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