Illegals afraid to show faces

HOMESTEAD, Fla.

Afraid to step onto the streets of this rural town, friends of Herman Martinez asked him to bring them milk for their children.

him to bring them milk for their children.

In the weeks leading up to massive pro-immigration rallies in 2006, rumors swirled that authorities were on the streets rounding up illegals across the country. Fear of being caught and deported kept many illegal aliens — and some legal ones — in their homes.

Homeland Security data released to the Associated Press shows non-workplace arrests jumped in the first half of 2006, up 75 percent over the previous year. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) maintains the increase did not come from random sweeps but from its standing policy of targeted arrests.

In both years, more than two-thirds of those detained already had deportation orders.

“We’ve said over and over that we don’t do random sweeps. We do targeted enforcement,” agency spokeswoman Jamie Zuieback said.

ICE maintains that it targets fugitives — those who remain in the U.S. despite a deportation order. During a search for fugitives, agents can also detain individuals they suspect of being in the country illegally in “collateral arrests.”

Since the department was created in 2003, it has steadily arrested more people as its budget and resources have grown, Ms. Zuieback said. “It’s not in the least bit political.”

In the first three months of 2006, ICE’s fugitive-operations program arrested 3,222 people nationwide, according to information released last month, 10 months after the AP filed a Freedom of Information Act request. That compared to the 2,174 persons arrested in the same period of 2005.

During the height of the 2006 immigration debate, from April through June, the number of arrests jumped to 4,516. That was more than double the 2,234 arrests for the same period of 2005.

Still, the percentages of the arrests classified as “collateral” rose only slightly, from 28 percent to 33 percent. Ms. Zuieback rejected the notion that the arrests were a timed show of force.

“There’s not a lot we can say to somebody who is here illegally that is going to appease them,” she said.