9/14/2023 0 Comments Richard macmaster gainneville![]() Migrant farm workers, on the other hand, are in the fields harvesting the food that we all depend on.Īll of them are at risk from the “public charge” rule instituted by the Trump administration last month that makes all immigrants ineligible for residency or citizenship if they rely on government benefits or are deemed likely to use them in the future. Empty offices and motel rooms don’t need cleaners and restaurants limited to curbside takeout don’t need wait staff and busboys. ![]() While many recent immigrants here in Gainesville and across the country are business owners, medical professionals and academics, the jobs that other immigrants typically depend on are rapidly disappearing. For everyone’s sake, detainees who have not committed a crime should be released to await deportation hearings at home.įederal immigration policy deters documented as well as undocumented immigrants from health care in a pandemic. All detainees, guards, staff and their families are at extremely high risk of contacting the virus. “This ICE raid has negatively impacted efforts to include immigrant residents in critical community safety and COVID testing measures,” said Fran Ricardo of the North Central Florida Social Service/Hispanic Alliance.ĭetention centers, where detainees are housed in close quarters in “pods” and are deprived of outdoor recreation or even a chance to see sunlight in a windowless jail, will find it difficult to halt the spread of disease once an individual with unrecognized or untreated symptoms arrives. People are afraid to access any public service, including medical services. Rural Women’s Health Project () and Human Rights Coalition of Alachua County () are raising funds for bail and to tide over local families deprived of their breadwinner.Īctions like this send a chill through immigrant communities, where spouses, children, friends and neighbors may be American citizens or legal residents. Since visitation has been suspended in all detention facilities, Baker Interfaith Friends can’t meet with these detainees and lawyers from Florida Legal Services can only consult with their clients by telephone, a difficult situation at the best of times. “The decision came too late for at least 13 people in our community stopped on their way to work for nothing more than their immigration status,” Ibarrola said. The same day ICE headquarters announced that they would postpone raids like this for the duration of the coronavirus crisis and “focus only on pursuing people who pose public safety risks and individuals subject to mandatory detention on criminal grounds.” None of the men were in that category nor were others stopped and questioned in these raids. “Several of the Alachua detainees were very quickly transferred to Broward Transitional Center, taking them further away from their support networks,” Ibarrola said. Thirteen men were processed in Jacksonville and sent to Baker Detention Center in Macclenny. ![]() “They seemed to be targeting people who had deportation orders, but they also stopped and arrested several others who happened to be in the same area,” according to Liz Ibarrola of the Human Rights Coalition of Alachua County. Another man turned himself in when ICE agents came to his home in Newberry. They stopped vehicles in front of a roofing company and outside a trailer park in Gainesville and stopped four men driving to work in Newberry. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents conducted raids March 17 in Gainesville and Newberry. “This profiling of immigrant community members amid the pandemic is a tragedy and counterproductive to addressing our public health needs” said Robin Lewy of the Rural Women’s Health Project. Discouraging any group from seeking care puts everyone else at risk. A front-page story in The Sun recently warned that, “Undocumented immigrants could be hit hard by virus.” They are “juggling their fears of being deported with their fears of basic survival.”īut the wider immigrant community is also threatened by the COVID-19 pandemic and by government policies that may make it more difficult for them to access medical help.
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