U.S. Raid on an Immigrant Household Deepens Anger and Mistrust - Long Island, New York

“They were federal immigration agents hunting for an illegal immigrant ”” Erica’s long-absent father, Patrizio Wilson Garcia, who was ordered deported after his 2003 divorce from Erica’s mother, Adriana, and has not lived in the house since. But they had entered a three-generation immigrant household where everyone was an American citizen by naturalization or birth.

To the Leon family, Hispanics who have owned their house here on Copeces Lane for seven years, the early-morning raid on Feb. 20 seemed like the ultimate indignity in a history of hostile scrutiny. But to some residents, it was an overdue response by federal authorities to long-simmering concerns about illegal immigration on Long Island’s East End.”

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