`speechless' Brings One Word To Mind: Cute

At Least 4,200 Fans A Game Is Team's Goal 
A National Consultant Outlines The Economics Of Putting A Team In The 
Projected Arena

By MITCH MORRISON; Times Leader Staff Writer
 Friday, December 16, 1994 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 20A 





SCRANTON -- The uncertainty finally caught up with Michele Knight. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "I can't sleep. I can't eat. I just want him back," Knight said late
Thursday afternoon, her voice cracking as she waited to learn the fate of her
boyfriend, Roman Martinez. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Martinez, 33, was rounded up along with 136 other illegal immigrants from
Robzens' Inc. meat-packing plant during a Wednesday morning raid by U.S.
Immigration and Naturalization Service agents. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Since then, Knight has spent hours on the telephone trying to track
Martinez, a 5-foot-7-inch man with dark brown skin, a moustache, and
gold-capped teeth at the opposite ends of his smile. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 After he was detained Wednesday morning, Martinez was bused, along with 54
others, to Berks County Prison in Reading, where he spent the night. After a
breakfast of eggs and cereal, the illegal immigrants were whisked away by
federal immigration agents. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "It's the first time we had such a large number of illegal immigrants
here," said Berks prison warden George Wagner, whose prison is contracted with
the INS. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 By mid-afternoon, most of those detained either were returned on a one-way
trip to the Mexican border or released to friends. INS officials could not
confirm to which group Martinez belonged. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "I've been trying to track that list down," said Dane Eppley, an INS agent
for 2 years. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Eppley had little sympathy for Knight and others who embraced illegal
immigrants. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "They can find out the legal way of doing things," Eppley said of the
immigrants. "They can marry and then file for a petition with the immigration
office for temporary residency for two years." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 After another four- or five-year stint as a "resident alien," they can
become full-fledged U.S. citizens, Eppley said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 When a mutual friend introduced Knight to Martinez three years ago, she
knew she was taking a risk. It wasn't long into their courtship that Knight
learned Martinez had left Honduras and entered this country illegally to be
with his two brothers, Juan and Jose. The brothers also worked at the
meat-packing plant until Wednesday. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Knight, 41, said she and Martinez rarely talked about his upbringing in
Central America. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Rather, their lives focused on the present -- hanging out with friends and
family, spending time with Knight's 15-year-old son, Damon, and sending money
to Honduras to help care for Martinez' two sons. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "I knew this might happen," Knight said of the INS raid. "But I just
thought it would never come to this." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Instead, the couple looked forward to Christmas. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "We were to go shopping on Saturday," Knight said, running a finger along a
gold-plated necklace with a crucifix. "I guess we aren't going." &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 She since has unplugged the decorated Christmas tree at the corner of the
living room. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 For much of the day, Knight was joined by Sonya Harner, 21, of Nescopeck,
who is seven months pregnant with Bruno Hernandez' child. Like Martinez,
Hernandez, of Mexico, was detained, his whereabouts uncertain Thursday night. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "My boyfriend called my sister and said he's in the Berks County jail,"
Harner said Thursday afternoon. "Now, he's not there. He's been shipped
somewhere and no one knows where. Government, what can you expect?" &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Monsignor John Esseff, director of the Scranton Diocese Missions Office,
has worked with many of the immigrants at Immaculate Conception Church on
Taylor Avenue. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Esseff, who speaks fluent Spanish after spending five years on a mission in
Peru, sympathized with Knight and Harner and criticized the INS agents for
treating the illegal immigrants like violent criminals in handcuffs and
shackles. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "You can't send away this many people without affecting their children and
other lo

Immigrant Sweep Brings Sense Of Loss 
Would-be Immigrants Have At Their Disposal Legal Ways Of Coming To America, 
Says An Immigration Official A Day After A Raid On A Scranton Meat Packing 
Plant

Immigrant Sweep Brings Sense Of Loss Would-be Immigrants Have At Their Disposal Legal Ways Of Coming To America, Says An Immigration Official A Day After A Raid On A Scranton Meat Packing Plant