The recent arrest of undocumented workers causes many immigrants to fear a larger roundup.
By SAUNDRA AMRHEIN
Published March 26, 2004
DADE CITY - Panic and rumors spread wildly through the Mexican and immigrant communities of Dade City and Clearwater after an employer called immigration authorities and turned in about 20 undocumented workers.
Since the arrests March 12 of the employees of Florida Frame & Trim working at Plantation Palms in Land O'Lakes, word spread that immigration officials were canvassing Pasco County in vans and buses, setting up roadblocks and picking people up off the street.
The rumors caused some families to stay home from church and grocery stores and prompted a local prayer vigil and a visit to Dade City by a representative of the Mexican consulate office from Orlando earlier this week.
"I think when that (the arrests) happened, it made everyone scared," said Margarita Romo, director of Farmworkers Self-Help Inc. in Tommytown outside Dade City. Romo said the incident showed the need for meaningful immigration reform so that working families would not have to look over their shoulders or be torn apart.
The news spread to Clearwater, where several agencies serving the Mexican immigrant population tried to figure out what was going on.
"In Clearwater we haven't seen anything yet," said Odilawn Mesquite, vice president of the Mexican Council of Tampa Bay. "I know families who don't have papers. What are they going to do?"
The Catholic Church was one of the first to hear about the detainees.
"It was really creating havoc over there (in Dade City)," said Arnold Andrews, executive director of Catholic Charities. "We noticed it when a service of 100 or more people had less than a handful (at St. Rita Catholic Church in Dade City). People called in and said they were scared to go out on the street because they would get picked up. We had a number of priests who had an emergency meeting. We've been trying to work with our Tallahassee office to find out what this was all about."
Andrews said he has been fielding calls from crying wives wondering where their husbands were and what was going to happen to them. One was pregnant.
Neither Dade City police nor the Pasco County Sheriff's Office received courtesy calls from immigration officials about any roadblocks or sweeps for illegal immigrants. Attorneys and social service workers think the fright stemmed from the arrest of undocumented or illegal immigrants at the Plantation Palms work site.
Jose Navarro, 21, of Dade City was one of the employees arrested while building frames for homes in Plantation Palms. He said the arrests occurred after a fellow employee was injured on the job in February, falling two stories to the ground and requiring hospitalization.
When it was discovered that the employee was an illegal immigrant, Navarro said insurance officials and other investigators put pressure on his bosses to turn in everyone else with false documents. His boss did not return a call for comment.
Eighteen men and one woman were arrested and charged with using false Social Security numbers, Navarro said. They were picked up by the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Marshals Service, he added. An ICE spokeswoman denied involvement, and the Marshals Service could not be reached for comment.
Navarro is married to an American citizen and was expecting to get his green card in April, an expectation shared by his attorney John Ovink, who has offices in Tampa and Dade City.
But until then, Navarro has been working under a false Social Security number that he has been using since he started working at the age of 15 to help support his family, which brought him to the United States when he was 6, he said.
He now has a 2-year-old son and a baby on the way. After spending a week in a Hillsborough County jail until he was released on a signature bond, he now does not know whether he'll be deported after his case goes through federal court.
He has been taking classes to get his GED and planning to join the Navy, he said. He said he doesn't know how anyone expects him to live and support his wife and children if he can't work.
He won't be able to provide for them if he's deported, he said.
"If they send me to Mexico, there's no future for my family."
- Times staff writer Adrienne Samuels contributed to this report.
