ICE raids on homes panic schools, politicians

Jill Tucker,Jaxon Van Derbeken | SF Chronicle
Wednesday, May 7, 2008

(05-06) 19:24 PDT Oakland -- Immigration arrests at homes in Berkeley and
Oakland on Tuesday sent a wave of panic among parents in both cities, as
authorities mistakenly believed immigration agents were raiding schools.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were in both cities Tuesday,
performing routine fugitive operations, spokeswoman Virginia Kice said. Teams
go out virtually every day looking for specific "immigration fugitives," she
said.

Officers arrested four family members at a Berkeley home and a woman at an
Oakland residence. They were not at schools.

Yet, within the next few hours, rumors of raids circulated throughout the
communities.

In Berkeley, school district Superintendent Bill Huyet sent out an automated
phone message to all parents notifying them that a Latino family had been
picked up and assuring them that the district would "not allow any child to be
taken away from the school."

In Oakland, Mayor Ron Dellums and three school board members converged at the
end of the school day on Stonehurst Elementary School along with immigration
rights advocates, saying they believed ICE agents "would return."

"In my view, that is the ugly side of government," Dellums said. "No way
children should ever be treated to that kind of harassment and fear."

He said police officers will be posted at the campus Wednesday to ensure that
federal immigration officials don't come onto school grounds. He added that
federal officials have assured him they will not be at schools.

Initially, Oakland district officials said federal agents were at Stonehurst
and denied entry by school staff. By late afternoon, they rescinded that,
saying that an ICE vehicle was seen nearby. Berkeley officials also said no
agents were at local schools.

Still, state Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland, got involved.

"There should be an immediate freeze on ICE raids directed at schoolchildren
while legislation aiming to fix immigration is considered," he said in a
statement.

Later, immigration advocates said they believed ICE vans were circling schools
and intimidating the community, noting that ICE officers accompanied a mother
onto an Oakland school campus in December before questioning her in a workplace
investigation.

Kice said Tuesday's rumors took on a life of their own.

In most cases, ICE fugitive operations take place at residences or sometimes at
places of employment, she said. "A school is not a place we would routinely
conduct an enforcement operation for a variety of reasons," Kice said.

The fear across the communities, however, was real.

"People are terrified," said Berkeley Unified spokesman Mark Coplan. "There is
a lot of speculation."

Larry Bensky's fifth-grade daughter came home from Berkeley's LeConte
Elementary School on Tuesday saying she had no homework because it was "ICE
week," which meant "they" were going after the families of the Latino children.

"She doesn't know what ICE is," Bensky said. "She doesn't know what targeted
is. You can imagine it's very disturbing for children that from one day to the
next that a child they sit next to could be kidnapped, arrested and deported."