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Immigration advocates rally in Batavia prior to deportation hearing for activist

By Howard B. Owens

About a dozen people rallied in support of Dolores Bustamante this morning outside of the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in Batavia.

Bustamante, who lives in Sodus, was scheduled for a deportation hearing and supporters were concerned she was being targeted because of her work with the Workers Center of CNY following President Donald Trump's executive order on immigration.

In a short statement before her hearing, Bustamante said she was hopeful that President Trump is serious about only going after immigrants who are criminals because, she said, she is not a criminal. She came to this country to get away from an abusive spouse and provide a better life for her daughter.

At the hearing today, Bustamante was allowed to stay in the country but ordered back to the immigration court in two months.

Another worker activist with the Workers' Center, Jose Coyote Perez, is currently being detained, according to Rebecca Fuentes.

Fuentes said Perez was administratively cleared to stay in the country in September and obtained a work permit and a Social Security number and was in the process of getting a driver's license when he was detained.

She said Perez was assaulted by a coworker at the dairy farm in Livingston County where he's employed and as a result, Perez contacted local law enforcement. Officers responded but made no arrests and left it to the parties to work it out amongst themselves.

The next day, she said, Perez was ordered by ICE to report to Batavia to fill out paperwork. She said officials told him it was just routine and he had nothing to worry about. He was detained the day he turned up, Feb. 24, and has been in custody since then.

He has a hearing at the end of the month, she said, and there will likely be another rally at the facility to support his cause.

In 2014, Bustamante was stopped by a trooper for a traffic violation and as a result was turned over to immigration authorities. Bustamante and members of the Workers' Center participated in a campaign that led to an executive memo that prohibits troopers from asking citizenship status during routine contacts.

jim luttrell

How do you find out where someone has been taken- I have a neighbor -Great Kid- ICE took him away - we visited him in Batavia but he was taken from there and we can't locate him - our number was in his phone and he doesn't have that anymore- do you know how to find someone

Mar 15, 2017, 2:16pm Permalink
Karen Beck

If you come into our country legally is one thing But if you don't , You Have No Business Being Here . Go through the process like you're supposed to ! I'm tired of my taxes going for their living here !

Mar 15, 2017, 2:41pm Permalink
david spaulding

Karen, we can't choose where our tax money goes. now if we could, i'd ask for mine to be spent on something besides the war machine we have become. the idea that my tax dollars pay for bombs to kill people all over the world, makes me sick when I think about it. in the mean time I will work in order to pay for my health insurance, and for those that get it free.

Mar 15, 2017, 3:10pm Permalink
Tim Miller

Karen - kids have very little choice where their parents take them. Some kids grew up here, never knowing their "home" country (the one that you want them sent back to).

Mar 15, 2017, 3:14pm Permalink
david spaulding

jim, that is a good question. I used to think what you described ( hauled away never to be seen again) as happening in other countries not the U.S.. however as the story you shared shows, it does happen here. which one of us will be next ?

Mar 15, 2017, 3:28pm Permalink
Karen Beck

If there are children involved : Let them take their kids with them . They had NO Business coming into the US illegally in the first place ! Go the RIGHT WAY & come here legally

Mar 15, 2017, 4:11pm Permalink
Tim Miller

Karen - I am amazed at the compassion you and others like you show towards children.

Our society is wealthy enough to help those in need (like those kids), and I would hope our country is compassionate enough to do that.

I guess not, for some. Sad, so sad.

Mar 15, 2017, 5:06pm Permalink
Ed Hartgrove

Jim. If that's all the information you have about him, you'll probably have a hard time locating him.

I ran into something (kind of) similar, four months after I moved to Florida. The only two people I knew down here went back to the Genesee County area for the summer. One week after they were gone, it dawned on me that, if something happened to my cell phone, there was (basically) only one (NY) phone number that I had memorized (it had been my family's phone number since 1965). Without that, I would have had to call someone like the Sheriff's Dept., to have them "relay" a message.

That very day, I opened 2 more email accounts, with different service providers (hotmail & frontier). That way, if, say, hotmail "bit the dust", I still had 2 active providers.

Then I created a text document, listing all my "contacts" information, including names, addresses and phone numbers. I emailed that text document to all 3 email accounts. That way, I only have to be able to log onto any of my email accounts, and there's a list of every phone number I need. Now, any time I acquire a new phone number (that I think I may want to keep), I open my text document on my laptop, add the new number, and "re-email" it to my accounts.

I have a friend (Bob) who lives in Rochester. For the longest time, I couldn't get ahold of him (he had switched his phone number, and he didn't have an email address). I finally came across a co-worker's old email address that I hadn't used in years. He was friends with the Bob, so I sent him an email asking if he'd drop by Bob's house, and have Bob call me. He did, and, as soon as Bob called, I got two of his brother's phone numbers. Should it happen again, I can call one of Bob's brothers to get in touch.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, if you have people that you figure you might (ever) want to keep in contact with, try to get their friends and family's numbers also. Otherwise, it's like looking for a "needle in a haystack" (without a magnet).

Mar 15, 2017, 5:23pm Permalink
Ed Hartgrove

That's fine, Tim. Except that, in my opinion anyways, a "line" has to be drawn somewhere.

I'd be willing to bet that there are a billion or more parents that would like to bring their children to the U.S., for a "better life". Let's assume they each had just one child. Should we let 1.5 billion people immigrate here? I think that's one of the reasons we have a (somewhat) set quota on how many people can immigrate here. And, that "somewhat set quota" is normally defined by our immigration "laws".

Now, you can talk about being compassionate all you want. I could say that throwing a parent in prison for felony DWI for a year or two isn't being very compassionate - ESPECIALLY if the drunk parent didn't injure anyone during their DWI drive. It's not a matter of being "compassionate". It's a matter of following the law. Don't like the law? Then, change it!

Mar 15, 2017, 5:41pm Permalink
Karen Beck

There are plenty of children right here now that came here legally or were born of US citizens that are going hungry, need food , housing & medical services & etc, I think they should come FIRST before any illegal people & their kids , heck , even our Veterans could use the funds they spend on people that shouldn't be here ! That's MY opinion & I'm sticking to it !!!

Mar 15, 2017, 6:22pm Permalink
Frank Bartholomew

Immigration will be the least of our worries if this president doesn't regain control of his faculties.The garbage he spews on twitter must be a great read for world leaders.

Mar 16, 2017, 10:42am Permalink
Brian Heick

Trumps rants have become the morning source of my entertainment. I can always expect interesting nonsense spew on his twitter account almost every day. I can understand why people voted for him, but politics is not his administrations strong point. They seem more focused on alternative facts, misdirection, and side stepping the US constitution where convenient.

When it comes to immigration: lets not forget what made this country to begin with.

Mar 16, 2017, 12:19pm Permalink
david spaulding

Karen, where do you get your facts ? "There are plenty of children right here now that came here legally or were born of US citizens that are going hungry, need food , housing & medical services & etc," you said that.... can you back that up a source? i'll call you on that.... school children in buffalo n.y. are fed breakfast, lunch and dinner by the faculty.... show me some hungry children, medical services ? E.C.M.C. is free if you don't have health insurance. housing ? I know personally a property manager at section 8 housing with empty apartments..... your argument is lame, you can stick to it all you want but I don't believe any of it, change my mind with a reliable source...

Mar 16, 2017, 12:30pm Permalink
Ed Hartgrove

Karen.
While I'm "with you" on this, I must say, you aren't being very PC.

Don'tcha know that children "going hungry" is so passé?

Nowadays, the PC phrase is, "the children are living in food-insecure households".

Welcome to the 21st century!

Mar 16, 2017, 1:12pm Permalink

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