Opinion: Raided, for sleeping while Latino
Editor's note: Adriana Leon (Aguilar) is the lead plaintiff in Aguilar v. ICE, a case brought by LatinoJustice PRLDEF, the Center for Constitutional Rights and Winston and Strawn LLP against the Immigration Customs and Enforcement agency for its armed raids into Latino homes.
By Adriana Leon, Special to CNN
(CNN) - In the cold, predawn hours of February 20, 2007, shortly after 4 a.m., armed men stormed into the home I owned with my family and burst into my bedroom, shouting at me to show my hands.
My husband had left for work, and our 4-year-old son began to cry with fright. I stumbled out of bed in my nightclothes to the family living area, terrified and confused. Two armed men were coming upstairs from our basement, having searched it without permission, and others were demanding that we tell them the location of my ex-husband, with whom I had not lived for several years. As I had reported to the immigration service on my daughters' citizenship applications, I had been remarried for four years.
The men acted as if they had the right to be in our home, but we knew to ask questions: Who were they? Did they have a warrant? They refused to identify themselves or show a warrant, and they put their hands on their guns when we tried to move.
They interrogated my 12-year-old daughter and ordered my brother, a U.S. citizen since he was a teenager, to produce his papers. That's when I realized the men were U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. When they left, they threatened to return.
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I have a cousin who, like me, was born in the U.S. and raised in Puerto Rico. He's a retired cold-war Ranger sniper who spent his tours patrolling the Iron Curtain in Berlin and the DMZ in Korea during the '80's. He also has a very strong Spanish accent, loves all things Hispanic and looks like Cheech Marin. All I know is, ANYBODY who broke into his gun state house like that without a warrant and proper ID, they'd end up with vintage .45 cal 1911 Colt holes in their skulls before they got to see his face...
You might have a point but A large.majority of illegals come from south of the border so they share a skin tone but they scream racism when they get caught and that's not the case
Actually there are more illegals from Asia.
I am sooooooooooooooooo sick and tired of MEXICANS demanding to be exempt from the laws of OUR country!
Are u implying that the rest of America has to allow LEO I trance to our homes with no warrant or IDing themselves. Because that's what you're making it sound like.
It takes a certain type of person to be a ICE agent,and there usually racist.
Typical throw the they must be racist for enforcing the law Im sure you think all cops on drug task forces bustin cracking houses in the hood are all racist too a
Racists gravitate to that type of job. Legalize drugs,less money for criminals and more money for America.
Border patrol has a heavy presence where I live. They spend all of their time posted in front of the Catholic Churches harassing the Latino parishioners. Funny thing is, I live by the Canadian border not the Mexican one.