INS Invaded Church Land in Alien Roundup, Minister Says

A Van Nuys minister Friday criticized Immigration and Naturalization Service agents he said improperly went onto church property earlier this week to arrest a group of suspected illegal aliens trying to flee during a raid.

But an INS spokesman denied any improprieties, and the raid drew praise from area residents and business people angered by the daily gathering of hundreds of Latinos looking for work.

The Rev. Tim Emerick of Luz de Cristo Centro de Fe church in Van Nuys said INS agents went into a church parking lot on Kester Avenue at 7:45 a.m. Thursday to arrest 26 suspected illegal aliens.

‘Have Never Come on Property’

“I was trying to get all the people inside so they couldn’t take them. It was very chaotic,” Emerick said.

“The immigration service has made raids in the past, many, many times, but they have never come on church property,” Emerick complained. “The next time they could be kicking down the doors.”

Joe Flanders, an INS spokesman, denied that agents went on the church property, although he said it would have been legal for them to do so. He said agents made the arrests on two street corners near the church where Latino day workers typically congregate.

If suspected illegal aliens run when INS agents approach, the agents may legally chase them onto private property without a search warrant, said Joe Davis, INS deputy district director.

Davis said the raid was launched as a result of complaints from area merchants and residents as well as a report of an attempted mugging of a woman in the area last week.

Although police say most of the day laborers are peaceful and law-abiding, residents have complained that some of the men litter, drink, urinate or defecate in alleys and on lawns, and make obscene remarks to women. Local businesses have complained of a drop in customers.

‘We’ve Got Jobs Being Lost’

“I’m not glad that people are being deported. But on the back side, we’ve got jobs that are being lost by the business people affected,” said Bruce Ackerman, general manager of the Van Nuys Chamber of Commerce. “Stores are letting part-time and full-time workers go when their business has dropped off because you’ve got migrant people who are trying to get jobs scaring off the customers.”

“I think they should do it every day to clean up the neighborhood and I think everyone in my building would agree,” said one neighborhood woman who asked not to be identified. “We’re tired of them urinating on the palm trees, trashing what they’re eating, throwing their Coke bottles and wine bottles out on the lawn.”

As a result of the complaints from businessmen and residents, the church recently joined with about 20 businesses and the Van Nuys Chamber of Commerce to form the Kester Avenue Improvement Committee. The committee has hired security guards to urge day workers to move to church property. A new program seeks to match day laborers needing work with contractors and other persons needing help, Emerick said.