From the Sentinel:
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials remain tight-lipped about the arrests of six individuals in Keene last Wednesday, but have said where the suspects are from.
Of the six arrested, five are Mexican nationals ranging in age from 19 to 36 years old, while one, a 21-year-old, is from El Salvador, according to Chuck Jackson, public affairs officer for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
All six suspects are male, Jackson said.
“We generally do not release names, especially those involved in administrative proceedings,” Jackson said Wednesday.
Jackson didn’t say where the arrests took place, only that five of the individuals were arrested at two separate residences, while the sixth was arrested at a local restaurant.
Jackson said Tuesday that three of the men arrested are “awaiting removal from the United States,” while the other three are “awaiting further administrative proceedings before an immigration judge.”
Jackson did not know when or where those proceedings would take place, or if the three men facing deportation would also face administrative proceedings.
“Some of the proceedings are pending,” he said. “They could be scheduled and transferred to another district, but I don’t know where they are in the system.”
Asked how immigration authorities became aware of potential immigration violations by the individuals in question, he said only that “ICE uses a variety of investigative techniques to identify and arrest subjects within the United States in violation of law.”
Officials from local law enforcement agencies, including the Cheshire County Sheriff’s Department and the Keene-based N.H. State Police Troop C say they were involved in the arrests.
Jackson said officials notified the Keene Police Department last week they would be in town, but declined an offer for assistance from local officers, said Keene police Lt. Darryl W. Madden.
According to a representative of the Vermont Migrant Farmworker Solidarity Project that I spoke with last year, New Hampshire is home to a few thousand illegal immigrants (depending on the season). Most are young men who come here to find better jobs to help support their families.
Our indefensibly restrictive immigration laws lead them to immigrate illegally, and they often live secluded lives out of fear of immigration authorities. (Some libertarians argue that immigration should be restricted to prevent immigrants from unfairly taking advantage of government programs, but it is not clear that, on the whole, they receive more than they pay.)
In 2008, a Community Visioning Process, where “nearly 1,200 members of the greater Keene community gathered together in small group settings to discuss the future of Keene and develop a community vision”, concluded that Keeniacs value diversity:
Diversity
We will have a community that is diverse. Our community will:• Be comprised of people that represent a diversity of interests, ages, races, cultures, incomes, religious preferences, and educational backgrounds, country of origin and family types.
• Honor and celebrate diversity.
• Be grounded in a strong sense of belonging, friendship and identity within the context of our civic groups, neighborhoods, and region.
These values form the basis of the infamous Keene Master Plan. It is disappointing to see local officials acting in such blatant contradiction to the principles endorsed by members of the local community and by the city of Keene.
