commercialappeal.com
MEMPHIS, Tennessee -- While some Memphians welcomed the news of Tuesday's arrests of 34 suspected illegal immigrant workers at the Air National Guard project, the action -- not surprisingly -- has made some immigrants nervous.
"People are imagining that there's raids constantly throughout the city," said Alfredo Pena, an organizer with the Memphis Workers Center, a project of the Mid-South Interfaith Network for Economic Justice.
He said he's been getting calls from immigrants asking if it's safe to leave their homes. Attendance at a weekly workers' meeting was off sharply.
Others didn't see the arrests as bad news.
"One of the things that I've said for a while now is that black men will gladly do the work that illegal aliens do," said school board member and church pastor Kenneth T. Whalum Jr.
34 Illegal Aliens Arrested At Memphis Airport
Illegal AliensBusted at U.S. Military Base