ARTICLE: Report to be released today on ICE raids' impact on kids

By Harold Reutter
harold.reutter@theindependent.com
Published in: Grand Island Independent

The National Council of La Raza and the Urban Institute are scheduled to release a report today about how Grand Island children and families were impacted by last December's ICE raid on the local Swift plant.

The report will be released during a presentation to the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

In addition to studying the impact on children and families in Grand Island, the report also looked at the effects on children and families following an Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid on the Swift & Co. plant in Greeley, Colo., and on the Michael Bianco Inc. plant in New Bedford, Mass.

According to the Boston Globe, the Michael Bianco plant is a leather goods operation. It's also a military contractor that makes backpacks and survival vests.

Grand Island Superintendent Steve Joel, although not involved in the creation of the report, has been invited to be one of the panelists when the report is presented to the National Press Club.

The report had two main researchers from the Urban Institute, which describes itself as a nonprofit, nonpartisan policy research and educational organization. It says it "investigates the social, economic and governance problems confronting the nation and evaluates the public and private means to alleviate them."

The Urban Institute was commissioned to complete the report by the National Council of La Raza.

The Independent has received an advance copy of the 99-page report and will post excerpts after the embargo has ended at 10 a.m. today.

Marie Watteau, associate director of the Office of Public Information for the National Council of La Raza, said the report deals with current immigration law, which is an enforcement-only policy of deportation when it comes to illegal immigrants.

Watteau said La Raza may favor what some people have called comprehensive immigration reform, but the report makes no recommendations on changing current immigration law.

Instead, it focuses on the impact on children and families when ICE takes work-site enforcement actions in various communities, Watteau said.

That is reflected in the report's title: "Paying the Price: The Impact of Immigration Raids on America's Children."



SOURCE:
http://www.theindependent.com/stories/10312007/new_ice31.shtml


Courtesy of: Ne74