307 Suspected Illegal Aliens Arrested in Series of Raids

About 307 suspected illegal aliens were arrested Monday in an eight-hour series of raids off the Interstate 5 Freeway that covered nearly the entire 40-mile length of Orange County, the Immigration and Naturalization Service said.

Before it was over, suspected illegal aliens were seen sprinting from the downtown Santa Ana bus depot, and a pickup truck driven by a fleeing gardener crashed into a residential garage in San Juan Capistrano.

Gene Smithburg, INS assistant chief patrol agent, said that although records were not readily available, the sweep was “probably the largest in Orange County this year.”

City Officials Angered

The raids also stirred the wrath of Santa Ana city officials. City Manager Robert C. Bobb said police and city officials were “absolutely not only surprised, but appalled” at the unexpected raids.

Bobb said the city recently had agreed to let INS agents participate in the Police Department’s “Swat Hypes” anti-narcotics program, which begins this week. Police have agreed to let INS agents accompany officers to homes suspected of being sites for narcotics deals where buyers and sellers are believed to be illegal immigrants.

INS District Director Ernest Gustafson said last week that there would be no major “sweeps” for illegals when agents accompany police.

But Bobb said Monday’s action “does not lend credibility to INS’s involvement with (the) city.”

Program ‘Misunderstood’

“Specifically, it does not help the cooperating and trust relationship with undocumented residents in our city,” Bobb said. “We have had discussions with high-ranking INS officials today and they have assured us that the Border Patrol agents misunderstood our program.”

Bobb and Santa Ana and INS officials will meet this morning to discuss the matter. INS officials could not be reached late Monday for comment.

Thirteen Border Patrol agents riding in a three-bus convoy began the sweep at dawn in San Juan Capistrano, plucking workers from farms, labor pickup points, construction sites, nurseries and other gathering spots, such as bus and train terminals.

Before they finished at 2 p.m., agents had raided sites in Anaheim, El Toro, Irvine, Tustin, Orange and Costa Mesa as well as San Juan Capistrano and Santa Ana. Those arrested were taken to the U.S. Border Patrol lockup at the San Clemente checkpoint on Interstate 5.

They were given the option of voluntary deportation or a hearing before an immigration judge, Smithburg said. Checkpoint officials Monday night said that about 45 people had requested hearings. The rest would be bused across the Mexican border.

The sweep, if not a record for the county, at least ranked with the biggest raids conducted by the INS. In April, 1983, agents captured 326 people in a crackdown at the San Clemente checkpoint.

On Aug. 23, 123 suspected illegal aliens employed at Del Mar Race Track as trainer assistants and walkers were arrested, forcing the track’s closure for one day.

In two raids three weeks apart in April, 1981, agents rounded up a total of 530 workers in Orange County strawberry fields.

But Monday’s sweep came just as the summer’s strawberry season was drawing to a close. In fact, local agricultural experts were surprised that federal immigration officers would choose this time of the year to conduct a large-scale sweep.

“How many did they get?” asked county Deputy Agricultural Commissioner William Amling. “That’s a lot of people.”

Amling said it would be difficult to assess the financial impact of the sweep to the county’s agricultural industry in south Orange County, where reliance on undocumented workers continues throughout the year.

“We’re kind of finishing up one season and gearing up for the next,” Amling said. “We’re in the middle.”

Periodic Sweep

Strawberry season has recently wound down, and about 90% of the county’s citrus crop has been picked, Amling said. In addition, most of the labor now being done on farms in the south county area involves irrigation work for row crops that includes spreading plastic liners and laying underground drip lines.

INS spokesman Joe Flanders said the season had nothing to do with the timing of the sweep. “We do these things periodically,” he said. “It was time.”

Smithburg said he wasn’t surprised at the number of people arrested. “We can go up to Orange County any day and get close to 350,” he said. “We just haven’t got the manpower to work that area that often.”

The agents “simply jumped on the 5 (Freeway) and worked their way up to the Anaheim area,” Smithburg said. The operation, he said, “went smoothly and without incident.”

Mattress Cushioned Blow

Fred Rohrs might disagree.

Three suspected illegal workers in a pickup truck were being chased by a border agent in the 31000 block of Calle San Pedro in San Juan Capistrano shortly before 2 p.m. when the driver leaped out of the truck, which crashed through the front door of Rohrs’ garage.

If it weren’t for an old mattress to cushion the truck’s blow, he said, the truck could have severely damaged a television, an antique desk and some bicycles.

“Actually, I was kind of lucky,” Rohrs said. “He could have demolished the whole house. He apparently was about 50 yards away before he let go. The Border Patrol agent was apparently right on his tail. You can see the skid marks where the Border Patrol truck braked.”

Smithburg said the driver and two passengers were apprehended.

The INS was criticized last week by San Clemente Police Chief Bob McDonell following the death Sept. 22 of a 16-year-old girl who crashed her car as Border Patrol agents were chasing her at high speeds.

Flanders said agents drive just fast enough to keep the fleeing vehicle in sight. They notify the California Highway Patrol while giving chase, Flanders said, and are aware that the public’s safety takes precedence over capturing the fleeing suspect.

He said, however, that agents must give chase when vehicles roar through the San Clemente checkpoint.

“If we didn’t, that place (San Clemente checkpoint) would be like the LAX landing strip,” Flanders said.

Times staff writers David Reyes and Gary Jarlson contributed to this story.