Agents Board Buses in Orange County to Seize Suspected Illegal Aliens

U.S. Border Patrol agents boarded Orange County Transit District buses Thursday to detain suspected illegal aliens who fled an early-morning sweep along Euclid Avenue in Santa Ana, the fourth such raid in eight days in Orange County.

The INS said 143 suspected illegal aliens were arrested, including 15 who tried to flee by boarding the buses, which were halted between stops along Euclid Avenue. Transit officials, however, said their drivers reported only two passengers questioned and removed from buses.

Transit district officials said they have not developed a policy in connection with buses being stopped during Border Patrol raids, but the district issued a written statement saying: “We regret the inconvenience to all our passengers for the delays they may have suffered in getting to their jobs or other appointments, and we sympathize with the members of the Hispanic community who were interrogated.”

“They run to get on the bus when they see us coming,” said Assistant Supervising Agent Joe S. Romel, adding that agents stopped only buses that suspected illegal aliens had boarded in an attempt to get away. “We weren’t stopping buses randomly.”

Romel said that the orders for the raid came from INS Western Regional Commissioner Harold Ezell. Ezell was on the raid but could not be reached later for comment.

The raid, which began about 6:20 a.m., was the fourth of its kind in Orange County in the last eight days. Since late August, immigration agents have arrested nearly 800 illegal aliens in seven street operations in Stanton, Orange, Santa Ana, Laguna Beach, Dana Point and Costa Mesa, according to Emanuel M. Steenbakker, assistant patrol agent in charge of the San Clemente Border Patrol station.