NEW job openings in Lake & Ashtabula Counties

In a bit of good news for out of work people in this area, there will be approximately 100 new job openings in Lake County. While it is a bit of a drive from Cuyahoga County, it is better than not working at all and collecting welfare. The only requirement is that you are an American Citizen.

These potential new job openings come courtesy of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officials and Lake County Sheriff Dept. rounding up of illegal immigrants who take away jobs from hard working Americans.

From the PD

More than 200 protestors are at City Hall waving American flags and denouncing an immigration crackdown that began this week in Lake County.

Some migrant workers are hiding in fields and in a Catholic church, hoping Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents don't arrest them, said Veronica Isabel Dahlberg, of Hispanas Organizadas de Lake y Ashtabula.

"My understanding is that I.C.E. started out arresting people who had missed immigration court hearings, but they have also arrested people who were with those people," Leopold said.

Painesville police Sgt. Dan Waterman said his officers assisted I.C.E. agents earlier this week in arresting 22 people "who had been deported and returned or who had been ordered deported but hadn't left." More....

I wonder why Leopold is upset that people harboring illegal aliens are also being arrested? Is this also not a crime?

The PD continues in another article about how this crackdown is ruffling the burritos of these illegals....

More than 400 people crowded into the basement of St. Mary's Catholic Church on the heels of a protest today against a weeklong sweep by immigration officials.

"We are scared," Guadelope Gonzalez said as Mass was conducted upstairs. "They can take me and send me back to Mexico. We are good people. We just come here to work."

The crowd is on edge, fearful that immigration agents are still in Lake County, looking to arrest undocumented Hispanic people.

Not all of the people in the church are undocumented. Some have family members who are undocumented. They are trying to stay together.

They brought peanut butter sandwiches, oranges and Pepsi to the church, where they will stay until they are sure the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are gone.

Hispanic activists at the protest this afternoon said up to 100 people were taken into custody and whisked out of the county.

Gonzalez, 36, has a wife, a son and a daughter. His son, a toddler, was born in Chicago. He could stay in the United States, but I.C.E. could deport Gonzalez and his wife and daughter. Gonzalez said he has been in the United States for 13 years.

Last year, an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 Mexican immigrants lived in Lake and Ashtabula counties. Most work at the many nurseries in the area.

Being Catholic, I want to say the Church should be ashamed of itself for harboring these illegal aliens. The Church should be a place of worship, not a flop house for illegals fleeing the law!

Browsing the reader comments on the Plain Dealer posts for these articles, shows many area residents feel the round up of these illegals was long over due.