Anaheim : Hispanic Group Protests Police Help in INS Raid

A roundup of 60 illegal aliens in the strawberry fields near Disneyland has drawn criticism from leaders of an Anaheim Latino-advocacy group.

At a press conference Friday, Amin David, president of Los Amigos of Orange County, said his organization was “disturbed that the Anaheim Police Department was involved” in the raid conducted Wednesday by Immigration and Naturalization Service agents. David said Los Amigos would request a halt to “further raids in Anaheim and Orange County pending resolution of the Simpson-Mazzoli (immigrants’ amnesty) bill.”

Anaheim Police Capt. Lawrence Hutchinson said officers in two patrol cars saw two Latino men running through an apartment complex and, according to “standard procedure” began chasing them. Only then did the officers see INS agents already in pursuit, he said.

The police helped capture the two men and then “went back to standard patrol,” Hutchinson said, adding, “That was the extent of their involvement.”

Hutchinson said Anaheim police were “never notified by the INS that they were making any kind of sweep at all.”

Josie Montoya, who, with a companion, witnessed the raid at Harbor Boulevard and Orangewood Avenue, said, “It was obvious to us that the Anaheim Police Department was participating actively.”

Montoya said Anaheim police were communicating with the INS by radio, and she saw police handcuff one man and take him to an INS van. Montoya said she did not see police participating in any of several foot chases she witnessed.

“The general public suffers when police involve themselves in immigration, because the undocumented community becomes fearful of the police,” David said. “Consequently, they will not report crimes when they have been victimized or have witnessed criminal activity,” he said.

David said that if the people held by the INS are deported, they will be ineligible for amnesty under the Simpson-Mazzoli bill.

Different versions of the legislation, which would legitimize illegal aliens who meet specific eligibility requirements, were passed by the House and Senate, and a conference committee has been formed to resolve the differences.

David said the INS should “focus on border patrol and leave individuals alone who are already here, trying to live and work.”