116 Thoughts to “WP: Conflicting Accounts of an ICE Raid in MD”

  1. El Guapo
    February 20, 2009 at 6:04 pm

    I’ll say this: if my kid were Hispanic, I’d think twice about letting him go to 7-11 to get some ice cream or coffee.

  2. hello
    February 20, 2009 at 6:06 pm

    So what if your kid wasn’t Hispanic El Guapo? Would you think twice about letting him go to 7-11 with possibly 20 fugitives loitering?

  3. ShellyB
    February 20, 2009 at 6:36 pm

    I have a friend with two sons who look Hispanic. One of them was questioned by a police officer just for walking down the street with another child who is white. The police officer asked him for a drivers license but he’s too young to drive. He couldn’t prove he was legal and was scared to death he was going to get nabbed. This has had a big effect on how he sees police officers that could well last a lifetime.

    Anyway, let’s not try to argue whether racial profiling is or bad. Let’s agree it’s bad and disagree on finer points like 287g. We need to allow people who look Hispanic to feel comfortable going anywhere they want. Anywhere that a white person or black person would feel comfortable going. We need people who look Hispanic to feel comfortable talking to police officers if they have witnessed or become a victim of a crime. In fact, it would be good if everyone in our community felt that way, because that’s the best way to keep us ALL safe.

  4. ShellyB
    February 20, 2009 at 6:37 pm

    I meant to say “let’s not try to argue whether racial profiling is good or bad.”

  5. hello
    February 20, 2009 at 6:48 pm

    Racial profiling is bad, and ShellB I agree with your statement “We need people who look Hispanic to feel comfortable talking to police officers”. That is very true, what I think they should have done was detain EVERYONE in the 7-11. That would have cleared up any and all profiling issues, they could have gotten ID from anyone who had one that had ID and dealt with everyone else that didn’t.

    My issue is that it’s alarming that 10 out of 20 some of them were fugitives. If there were only 20 day laborers loitering at the 7-11’s on rt.1 near my house that would be an improvement. There is generally twice as many, how many of them are fugitives? Would you let your child go to 7-11 alone?

  6. hello
    February 20, 2009 at 7:14 pm

    No I take it… apparently neither would El Guapo and rightfully so. Unfortunately I’ve got to deal with it every day.

  7. El Guapo
    February 20, 2009 at 7:34 pm

    I will definitely let Chauncey go to 7-11 alone or with a group of friends once he’s old enough. I wouldn’t even need to think twice about it.

    Some people look into dark eyes surrounded by brown skin and see something to fear. We usually refer to those types of people as “paranoid”. I would look into those same eyes and see Hector or Rig or Alexander or someone else who works for a living. The vast majority of them pose absolutely no threat at all.

  8. hello
    February 20, 2009 at 7:46 pm

    I would agree with you El Guapo, most are probably honest dudes just trying to make a buck. Ill even bet there are a few that would be fun to go out and have a beer with. However, that doesn’t change the fact that mixed amongst them are fugitives. With all do respect I would never let my kid go there alone knowing that. It’s not paranoia, it’s not wanting my kid walking around where fugitives are hanging out.

  9. hello
    February 20, 2009 at 7:55 pm

    lets pretend that this isn’t a 7-11 and they aren’t Hispanic day laborers. Lets say that it’s a Dairy Queen and right next to it is a bar where the ATF raided the bar just the week before and nabbed 10 fugitives (all white guys). Would you still let you kid go get ice cream?

  10. ShellyB
    February 20, 2009 at 8:05 pm

    I can only imagine what that would do to 7-11’s business if people found out the new policy was to detain “everyone” who happens to be there if and when ICE gets behind on the arresting people scores. C’mon, everyone? There has to be some advantage to being white.

    Just kidding.

  11. ShellyB
    February 20, 2009 at 8:06 pm

    Okay, but seriously, this is what happens when you set out to arrest people for something that is invisible. Same thing happened to the McCarthy fear-mongers. Everything just goes awry. Did you read the FBI used to investigate people for being gay???? Also invisible. Just doesn’t make sense to me.

  12. hello
    February 20, 2009 at 8:28 pm

    True ShellyB but it would squash any profiling issues don’t you think. Besides, 7-11’s already lose business with all of these guys hanging around. My wife no longer goes to any, neither do most of my friends wives or children.

    Yeah, I read about the FBI doing an investigation into someone’s sexuality in some presidents cabinet (don’t remember the details). Which reminds me, do you see that our very own George Mason is in the national news for the homecoming queen pick? I don’t see how that’s news but funny, my wife graduated from Mason.

  13. Censored bybvbl
    February 20, 2009 at 9:26 pm

    Hello, the WaPo article didn’t state which crimes the fugitives were guilty of commiting. As Lucky Duck stated, they may be guilty of failing to show for a deportation hearing after being found here illegally. Pehaps that was their only crime. The article didn’t state that there were violent felons among those arrested – at least not that I remember from reading it.

  14. hello
    February 20, 2009 at 9:58 pm

    Your right about that Censored, it may be that the word ‘fugitive’ makes someone sound like a monster. However, I don’t want to take that chance, it’s just not worth the risk. Not knowing why they are a ‘fugitive’ to me is almost worse than not knowing what their crime was. It could be anything.

  15. ShellyB
    February 21, 2009 at 1:06 pm

    That’s the problem if we let words and names run away with our imagination. When I first heard that Greg Letiecq had moved here from Canada to protect us from “illegal aliens,” I thought to thank Heaven for Greg Letiecq. Now, I have much more negative associations with the words “Help Save Manasass” (seemingly harmless) than I do with “illegal aliens” (little green men with laser guns aside).

  16. Censored bybvbl
    February 21, 2009 at 5:01 pm

    Hello, yes, the word “fugitive” can be scary. My father occasionally brought one home to eat dinner with us when we were kids. They were generally AWOL boys (during the draft era) who had lived in the mountains and never been beyond the county in which they grew up. They were drafted, scared to death, and ran home. There they were apprehended and mid-transport they were subjected to dinner with a bunch of Yankee children.

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