Protesters Demand INS Halt Raids in Light of Immigration Reform Act

About 300 people marched through Santa Ana on Saturday, protesting sweeps by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service that they said violate the spirit of the new immigration reform act.

“The INS continues to roam the streets of cities like Santa Ana, Anaheim and Costa Mesa looking for hard-working and law-abiding people to harass. In many cases, the very people the INS continues to chase are the very ones to whom the government of the United States is offering legalization,” Father Allan Figueroa Deck told the marchers.

Calling it a “walk for justice,” the protesters said the INS raids ignore the recently enacted law that will grant legal status to those who can prove they have lived in the United States since 1982. It also calls for sanctions against employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens.

INS Regional Commissioner Harold Ezell, contacted at home Saturday, said the protesters should be out “informing the community on what their rights and privileges are under the reform act, instead of doing useless things like the walk today.”

Although Latino activists said there have been raids in Santa Ana as recently as last Friday, Ezell said he knew of none in the past few weeks. But the INS does not plan to halt them, Ezell said. The INS also will continue to respond to citizens’ complaints about street-corner congregations of illegal aliens, Ezell said.

Meanwhile, he said, immigration officers are trying to get input from the Latino community on what can be done to help those eligible under the reform law.

“We’re interested in getting as many people through the legalization as are entitled to it,” Ezell said.

But the marchers said the INS agents are also apprehending amnesty candidates. And downtown Santa Ana businessmen have accused the INS of driving away customers with raids. Earlier this month, the Santa Ana City Council joined the business owners in a letter to President Reagan asking the INS to halt sweeps.

The marchers, mostly young people, represented churches that included St. Boniface in Anaheim, Our Lady of Pilar and the two Our Lady of Guadalupe churches in Santa Ana.

Their two-hour walk got off to a rocky start, however, when they encountered another group of marchers.

As the protesters were gathering near the federal building, students from 29 schools across California had begun competing in the California Band Review. Several streets had been blocked off so the bands could parade past a reviewing stand near the corner of Santa Ana Boulevard and Parton Street.

Chants Rise With Music

A few times, the chants of protesters rose up along with the music, leaving some of the band members, parents and judges angry.

“What are you doing? These kids don’t have anything to do with the INS. These people have worked hard all year for this,” an irate band booster from Rubidoux High School in Riverside yelled at Francisca Torres, a member of the Catholic Community for Justice, which spearheaded the march.

“What is she complaining about?” Torres said. “We didn’t know they were going to be here.”

John Swain, a band contest judge and music teacher at California State University, Los Angeles, said the occasional chanting disturbed the students and judges.

“I sympathize with the protest, but let’s not do it at the kids’ expense,” Swain said.

Draw Mixed Reviews

The protesters went off peacefully, walking to the INS office on 17th Street, and back to Civic Center Plaza. They passed homes, restaurants and closed office buildings in downtown Santa Ana and received mixed reactions from those who watched.

“I think they’re doing the right thing,” said Santa Ana resident Irma Armas, 19, who spotted the marchers as she was leaving a restaurant.

Bonnie and Ralph Casazza were walking their dog as the procession passed.

“Until they’re citizens, they’re not citizens,” Bonnie Casazza said. “I get offended when they’re in this country illegally and they think we’re infringing on their rights.”

“If they’re here illegally, I agree with the raids,” Ralph Casazza said.

But the raids are breaking up families and disrupting lives, said the marchers, who carried small white flags representing peace.

They chanted: “Pueblo si, migra no “ (the community yes, INS no); “Raza si, migra no “ (the people yes, INS no), and, “El pueblo unido jamas sera vencido” (a united people will never be defeated).

Virginia Gil, marching with other members of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Santa Ana, said: “I am a mother of seven. A widow of 11 years. And I am here to fight so that the migra won’t take away my brothers (other Mexicans and Latin Americans.)”