Aura Izarra, a Guatemala native with two small children who is pregnant with a third, may face deportation after her arrest at the Pilgrim’s Pride chicken processing plant here last week.

“This whole week has been horrible,” Mrs. Izarra, who was among 36 detainees released with an ankle-bracelet monitor, said in Spanish. “I keep thinking of what’s going to happen to my children and my husband who depend on my care.”

Mrs. Izarra was among about 200 people who attended a community forum Thursday night at the St. Andrew’s Center to find out more about rights and legal options after the arrests of 100 workers suspected of being illegal immigrants.

A Nashville representative of the American Civil Liberties Union talked to the group about the rights they have regardless of their legal status.

“If any law enforcement officer asks you any questions, you have the right to remain silent,” Tricia Herzfeld said.

In a full room, with people standing against the walls and in the halls, the attendees asked questions about the possibility of legalizing their status and the options they might have if they were among the workers arrested or had relatives who are detained.

“Immigration law is very complicated,” said Robert Divine, Chattanooga-based chairman of the immigration group for the Baker Donelson law firm, “so I’m not going to talk about specific cases.”

He then talked about some of the options for becoming a permanent resident and in general what the deportation process might be, including voluntary deportation.

Mrs. Izarra said her husband, a legal permanent resident, had just filed a petition to legalize her status but that it may not be enough to help her remain in the United States.

“The lawyer said he can’t give me any options yet, that he has to further review our case,” she said.

Several attendees said they would return voluntarily to their home countries rather than facing immigration hearings and being deported.

“The only thing I want to do is go back to Guatemala voluntarily with my children,” Nazaria Casmira, 26, said as she was waiting her turn for an individual session with Ms. Herzfeld and other legal representatives.

“This whole situation has been really hard on all of us,” she said. “I don’t have any money, I can’t work and I have two children to support.”

She added, “right now it seems that the best option for us is going to be to leave voluntarily, although no real future awaits for my children in Guatemala.”

For others, their main concern was not deportation but finding their relatives.

“I came here tonight to see if they could give me some information on where my brother-in-law may be,” Sucely Soto said. “We know he was arrested last week, but he hasn’t been able to communicate with us, and we can’t find him.”

She said that her husband is very worried about his brother, and they still haven’t told her mother-in-law back in Guatemala what has happened.

“We are trying to hide it from her because she would just worry, and we don’t even know what to tell her,” Ms. Soto said.

Mike Feely, director of the St. Andrew’s Center and one of the forum organizers, said they wanted to offer as much information as possible to the people.

“We knew that a lot of them were going to have questions and concerns after the arrests because things happened so rapidly,” he said.

GET INVOLVED

* The Salvation Army is calling for local residents, civic groups, and churches to hold diaper and food donation drives to help the families of those affected by the Pilgrim’s Pride arrests last week. Material and monetary donations can be made to: The Salvation Army, 800 McCallie Ave., Chattanooga, TN 37403.

Please earmark donations for the “Hispanic Ministry” so that they will reach the appropriate program. For more information, call Kimberly George at (423) 308-7715 or kimberly_george@uss.salvationarmy.org

* La Paz de Dios and the St. Andrew’s Center are collecting supplies such as food and diapers for affected families. Notary publics are needed to help fill out forms. Financial donations can be made for families through an account set up at the Holston Methodist Federal Credit Union. For more information, call Stacy Johnson at (423) 314-4813, Sylvia Rangel at (423) 320-3636 or the Methodist credit union at (423) 697-1214.

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