La Migra esta en el Canal!… La Migra esta en el Canal!
The streets are empty. Children are afraid if they go to school, their parents will no longer be there when they return. Workers are afraid to go to work; scared they may not see their loved ones again. Many families are too afraid even to go out to get food.
No, this isn’t Baghdad, but the Canal district of San Rafael in Marin, an immigrant stronghold in the heart of the wealthiest county in the United States. The terrorists responsible are the ‘Migra’, the Department of Homeland Security’s Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement who, as part of the cynically named ‘Operation Return to Sender’, are harassing and deporting immigrant workers across the US.
The Migra have been slinking into the Canal in the early mornings, pretending they are police: ‘The neighbours have complained about the noise’, ‘Is this your car?’ They drag people out of cars, burst into homes turning children out of bed, threatening them with flashlights, questioning them about their parents. Children as young as seven have been taken away for questioning. Children have been left alone to fend for themselves – calling hotlines asking for help, staying away from school – or marooned at school if their parents have been kidnapped from work, unable to collect them. Babies, separated from their mother’s milk, have been hospitalised with dehydration.
In Marin alone 65 people have been arrested – although only five were named on the warrants; 23 have been deported. Others are back in the Canal, under house arrest, tracked by electronic bracelets.
But the fightback is beginning. Hundreds took to the streets in protest in San Rafael, most of them children. The local mayor and civic leaders, Democratic politicians and other dignitaries condemn the raids, although we know they won’t do anything serious to defend immigrants.
Protest is also taking place outside the US. Guatemala has been bled dry by US imperialism and 10% of its population is in the US. When Bush visited in March he was taken aback to find even the Guatemalan President denounced US immigration raids and tens of thousands protested against them in the streets of the capital.
Venceremos!
Steve Palmer, US correspondent
FRFI 196 April / May 2007
