Assert rights, activists urge immigrants

Attorney Mark Silverman pointed a finger toward a rapt audience of undocumented immigrants at Our Lady of Guadalupe Roman Catholic Church in Sacramento.

"If they knock on your door, don't open it. You don't have to answer their questions, either. You can say, no, politely," Silverman said in Spanish.

You might be illegal immigrants, the attorney told the crowd of some 200 people. But under the U.S. Constitution, he said, you have the right to keep your door closed and to tell agents to leave if they're searching for a different person and have a warrant only for that person.

With the recent collapse of a federal immigration overhaul in Washington -- and no revival in sight -- immigrant activists across the country are regrouping, training illegal immigrants on the nuances of the Bill of Rights and imploring Americans to rethink solutions to illegal immigration.

"We've got an immigration system that's broken. Everyone from the Minutemen to us agrees with that," said Silverman, a lead attorney with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center in San Francisco.

The pressures that create illegal migration are only going to get worse, Silverman said. Family-based visas are backlogged for years, encouraging people to trek to the United States without visas in order to reunite their families. U.S. businesses continue to complain that with virtually no visas available for most nonprofessional jobs, it's nearly impossible to legally hire foreigners even if they prove a labor shortage.

On top of that, Silverman said, more Mexicans likely will immigrate illegally next year once free-trade pacts allow unlimited amounts of corn and other U.S. farm products into Mexico, putting further economic pressure on Mexican farmers.

In the meantime, as long as illegal immigrants are stuck in shadow status without legal options, Silverman said, he and others intend to advise them "to defend themselves."

"It's a short-term solution," the lawyer said. "But I think they should fight as long as they can. Who knows when we'll have a legalization?"

Some groups are distributing wallet-sized tip sheets so immigrants will know what rights they can invoke. Others are holding forums such as the one featuring Silverman that a religious network, Sacramento Area Congregations Together, organized Monday night.

Silverman said he realizes immigration authorities and a good number of Americans consider his views provocative and plain wrong. But the Constitution, he said, has long provided limits on how agencies such as the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, can operate.

In addition to urging passive resistance to agents who appear at homes, Silverman said, attorneys are preparing new challenges to techniques ICE has used with greater frequency as part of its "fugitive operations."

Nationwide, ICE has tripled the numbers of teams that conduct these searches in the last two years to a total of 61. In California, two teams will be added this year, in Sacramento and Fresno, bringing the total to 12 throughout the state.

To carry out searches, agents with administrative warrants are dispatched to homes to arrest immigrants who tried and failed to obtain legal status.

The agents also are looking for felons who should have been deported following their sentences.

The searches have won applause as a show of enforcement that some Americans feel has been sorely lacking. But agents also have been criticized for taking illegal immigrants into custody while failing to hold all but a few employers accountable for offering those immigrants jobs.

"They have conveniently stayed away from agricultural areas," Silverman said of ICE.

During these searches, agents have also detained almost as many people -- or more -- who happened to be in the same house or in the same area as the specific person being sought.

Silverman said some Latinos complain that agents engage in racial profiling that lets some foreigners off the hook.

"When they go into an apartment building looking for a Russian they have a warrant for," he said, "do they ask everybody else who is Russian if they're legal?"

About the writer:

• The Bee's Susan Ferriss can be reached at (916) 321-1267 or sferriss@sacbee.com.