Adding to the informative content as posted above by ironyak, I am surprised that the Hawaiian Filipino community is not raising holy hell with this issue:
(snipped from HTH link as posted above by ironyak)
One raid that didn’t result in arrests left 10 to 12 teachers on Maui traumatized after armed ICE agents executed a search warrant at a Kahului home looking for a Mexican national who had not lived at the multifamily dwelling in more than a year.
The teachers, all but one of whom are from the Philippines and employed through the U.S. Department of State’s J-1 Visa Exchange Visitor Program, were brought out of the home by about a dozen ICE agents dressed in black with guns drawn at about 6:15 a.m. Tuesday.
The J-1 program allows qualified educators from other countries to work in the U.S. legally as part of a cultural and educational exchange.
A Maui teacher who is a U.S. citizen was with the teachers at the time of the raid and agreed to speak to the media Thursday only if she remained anonymous, according to the Hawai‘i State Teachers Association. She described a chaotic scene where some of the teachers were unable to get dressed before they were taken outside and surrounded by the armed ICE agents.
Some of the teachers stood outside with their spouses and young children, the Maui teacher said. One woman still had wet hair, and another’s 10-year-old daughter openly sobbed.
“The first thing that I said … was that I was a U.S. citizen and that we are all teachers here. … Can we show you some identification and proof that we are here legally?” she said.
“They wouldn’t allow us to do so. I did not realize the reality. They were pounding on my window and door … with guns, and I am still lying there in my bed in my pajamas. I asked them for identification, and they rushed past me pointing guns at the other teachers.”
The agents told the teachers to write down their names in order to radio them to other agents who could check their backgrounds and clear them.
The Maui teacher said that when she showed an ICE agent her U.S. passport, the agent “was taken aback and looked shocked and apologized to me several times.”
As outrageous as this entire matter is, its really becoming more and more moot. Just wait until habeas corpus is suspended!
(snipped from HTH link as posted above by ironyak)
One raid that didn’t result in arrests left 10 to 12 teachers on Maui traumatized after armed ICE agents executed a search warrant at a Kahului home looking for a Mexican national who had not lived at the multifamily dwelling in more than a year.
The teachers, all but one of whom are from the Philippines and employed through the U.S. Department of State’s J-1 Visa Exchange Visitor Program, were brought out of the home by about a dozen ICE agents dressed in black with guns drawn at about 6:15 a.m. Tuesday.
The J-1 program allows qualified educators from other countries to work in the U.S. legally as part of a cultural and educational exchange.
A Maui teacher who is a U.S. citizen was with the teachers at the time of the raid and agreed to speak to the media Thursday only if she remained anonymous, according to the Hawai‘i State Teachers Association. She described a chaotic scene where some of the teachers were unable to get dressed before they were taken outside and surrounded by the armed ICE agents.
Some of the teachers stood outside with their spouses and young children, the Maui teacher said. One woman still had wet hair, and another’s 10-year-old daughter openly sobbed.
“The first thing that I said … was that I was a U.S. citizen and that we are all teachers here. … Can we show you some identification and proof that we are here legally?” she said.
“They wouldn’t allow us to do so. I did not realize the reality. They were pounding on my window and door … with guns, and I am still lying there in my bed in my pajamas. I asked them for identification, and they rushed past me pointing guns at the other teachers.”
The agents told the teachers to write down their names in order to radio them to other agents who could check their backgrounds and clear them.
The Maui teacher said that when she showed an ICE agent her U.S. passport, the agent “was taken aback and looked shocked and apologized to me several times.”
As outrageous as this entire matter is, its really becoming more and more moot. Just wait until habeas corpus is suspended!