100 Aliens Seized Under L.A. Freeway

About 100 illegal aliens, most of them living in squalid conditions under a San Diego Freeway overpass in West Los Angeles, were arrested in a 5 a.m. raid today by federal agents.

More than a dozen Immigration and Naturalization Service agents stormed two freeway underpass locations along Sawtelle Boulevard between Olympic and Pico boulevards where 75 to 100 people had been living, INS regional commissioner Harold Ezell said.

The arrestees were loaded on buses and taken to the INS headquarters in downtown Los Angeles, where they will be interviewed and given the chance to either voluntary depart the country or appeal to stay at deportation hearings.

Gathering Place

The early morning raid began near a major Westside gathering place for immigrants in search of work. The first arrests were made at a makeshift dwelling under the freeway just south of Pico Boulevard where about 30 people had spent the night.

The illegal immigrants were sleeping on filthy mattresses spread out on dirt embankments, and had wired portable television sets to power lines that feed the freeway lamps, Ezell said.

At another encampment one block north, INS agents arrested an additional 11 illegal migrants, said Ezell. The remainder of the arrests were made along Sawtelle Boulevard and at an apartment complex on the corner of Olympic and Sawtelle boulevards.

Complaints by Residents

Ezell said the raid was conducted in response to complaints by residents in the area and the Culver City Police Department. It followed the arrest two weeks ago by Culver City police of three burglary suspects who lived under the freeway, he said.

According to residents in the area and some illegal aliens arrested in the raid, people had been living on the dirt ledge under the freeway for three years, using it as a kind of way station until they found permanent homes.

Ezell called it “the worse living conditions I’ve ever seen.”

“Mexico can’t be as bad as this,” Ezell said. “There’s no question there’s desperation, but that doesn’t change what the law says about coming into the country legally.”

The encampment is a major health problem because of improper sanitation facilities, filthy mattresses and dirty clothes, he said.

Los Angeles police and fire department officials said they have tried to evict the squatters but were unable to keep them from coming back.