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Summit Daily News – May 30, 2004
Immigration enforcement called 'Draconian'
Christine McManus
SILVERTHORNE, CO - West Africans who sought asylum from a threatening Mauritanian government faced U.S. government guns pointed at them at their homes in Silverthorne earlier this month during an immigration investigation.
West African community representative Oumar Niang said he believes the U.S. government detained half his community of asylees temporarily on May 19 because they are Muslim and because they are black.
"We do not want to bring any trouble here.The local police say we're always peaceful and friendly, and they never have trouble except a couple speeding tickets," Niang said. "If they come and treat us like this, we should know the reason why. We thought the U.S. had the best human rights in the world.”
Agents from the FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) visited workplaces and a couple dozen apartments where West Africans work and live in Summit County early the morning of May 19.
The agents were looking for two Mauritanians who were not granted asylum, but never left the U.S., as ordered. The West African community says it did not know their three peers who were permanently detained that day, were in the U.S. illegally.
During the Summit County search, undercover agents held Bocar Ba, 30, and his fellow Mauritanian housemates at gunpoint, Ba and others said. Ba, who was successfully granted asylum in the United States, said he willingly let agents into his home.
He said he doesn't understand why agents treated him and his peers like criminals. He said he is upset the federal agents acted that way and did not ask questions first.
Two weeks before the incident, the West African community in Summit County set up a mosque, Niang said. The Muslim community of about 100 people pooled its money to rent a small apartment in town to use as a place to worship. They are concerned that the new mosque is the reason why they were targeted.
Government agents accused the detained Mauritanians of sending money to al-Qaida, the terrorist group, Niang said. "It saddens me to think they are considered terrorists because they are, in fact, fleeing that kind of oppression," said James Horan, program director for Lutheran Refugee and Family Services in Denver.
The three detainees who were not granted asylum probably did not have a place to go, Niang said. It is unclear whether the Silverthorne search is related to Operation Compliance. The feds' pilot immigration enforcement of unsuccessful asylum seekers recently began in Hartford, Conn., and expanded in April into Denver and Atlanta.
Instead of being released on bond, asylees now must wait months in jail while their asylum status goes through the appeals process in immigration courts. In the hearings, asylees must prove they face an individual fear of persecution on the basis of religious or ethnic affiliation.
Although he understands the reason for the immigration crackdown, Paul Stein has been advising congressional leaders and wants ICE to change parts of Operation Compliance….
http://www.summitdaily.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040530/NEWS/105300004&rs=2
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