Sweep Nets 130 Latinos; Panel Seeks Moratorium

U.S. Border Patrol agents conducted an early morning sweep along East Chapman Avenue in Orange on Thursday and rounded up more than 130 illegal aliens as they headed out in search of day jobs.

In a related action, the Orange County Human Relations Commission unanimously voted at its meeting Thursday night to ask the Orange City Council for a moratorium on any further arrests of day laborers by the city’s Police Department.

The commission’s action came after several of its staff members testified that sweeps conducted by Orange police “were discriminatory” on grounds they threatened the constitutional rights of Latinos in the country legally or who had applied for amnesty under provisions of the Immigration and Reform Act of 1986.

Disruption of Trust

If the police sweeps continue, according to testimony at the commission meeting, they could jeopardize any applicant’s chances for legalization and disrupt the trust between police and the Latino community in Orange.

A letter from the commission, seeking a moratorium until a better solution is found, is expected to be forwarded to the City Council this week.

The Border Patrol raid earlier in the day took place in the same area of east Orange where police, during the past three weeks, have apprehended 173 other illegal aliens and turned them over to the Border Patrol for deportation to Mexico.

The Border Patrol roundup was prompted by reports from Orange police that alien transients were responsible for a recent jump in crime in the area where the laborers are known to gather daily to look for work, according to Ron Rogers, a spokesman for the western regional headquarters of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which oversees the Border Patrol.

“The problem has been publicized quite a bit and the police have received a lot of calls about lewd conduct. There’s a 13% increase of crime in that area. That’s pretty startling,” Rogers said. “When we see something going on because of illegal aliens, we’re not going to turn our head. We’re going to go in.”

ACLU Protests Arrests

The arrests have also been protested by the American Civil Liberties Union, which claims some Latinos who are American citizens also have been harassed by police and that some immigrants have been denied due process of law.

The problem in Orange also was highlighted when Harold W. Ezell, the western regional commissioner of the INS, toured the area about two weeks ago and saw large numbers of illegal aliens lined up on the street, Rogers said.

The 90-minute roundup by 14 agents began about 6:45 a.m. Thursday near the intersection of Yorba Street and East Chapman Avenue. The 135 men and one woman were apprehended as they stood on street corners or after brief foot chases down city streets, Rogers said.

“It’s obvious who is legal and who is not because they start running,” Rogers said. “It’s not often you see the INS van in your neighborhood, and when they see us they know who we are and they usually run for cover or hiding. It was a brief pursuit. There were no major incidents and no one put up a fight.”

Of the group, 133 opted for voluntary deportation. Two men, who said they were eligible for amnesty, were referred to the INS’ legalization office and another man, the only Salvadoran in the group of Mexican nationals, requested a hearing, Rogers said. Members of the group ranged in age from about 15 to 45, though most were between 20 and 30, he said.

The Border Patrol had planned similar sweeps in Santa Ana and El Toro on Thursday, but the bus and vans were packed when they finished in Orange, Rogers said. He said those two areas would be rescheduled, but that no additional sweeps are planned in Orange this week.

Orange police, who were notified of the Border Patrol’s plans earlier this week, assigned seven officers on the scene to control traffic, according to Orange Police Sgt. Timm Browne. The police were not otherwise involved in the Border Patrol roundup, he said.

Orange police began arresting Latinos along a one-mile stretch of East Chapman on Feb. 23, citing them on charges such as jaywalking, tossing a cigarette on the street and not wearing a seat belt. If they cannot produce proof of United States residency, they are taken to the police station and later turned over to the Border Patrol in San Clemente for deportation.

Police said Thursday that crime is up 9% in the targeted area and that calls for service--those where no arrests are made and reports are not filed--have risen 13% since July, 1987. Overall crime in the city is up 4%, Browne said.

“Our policy has not changed and we’re going to continue the arrests,” Browne said. “We’ve been enforcing all municipal, penal code and traffic violations. We can show crime is up drastically in that area, and we are going to take a high profile in regard to all crime,” he said.

The ACLU and Orange County Coalition for Immigrant Rights claim the arrests are discriminatory because some Latinos who are American citizens also have been harassed by police. They also claim some immigrants have been denied due process of law.

ACLU attorney Rebecca Jurado met with Browne and Bruce D. Praet, an attorney representing the city, Thursday afternoon, but they were unable to resolve the issue. No future meeting was planned, and Jurado refused to say whether the ACLU would take legal action against the city.

“We’re not telling the police how to do their jobs in the area, but our focus was how it affects the whole Hispanic community,” Jurado said.

Praet said the Police Department is concerned about the perception portrayed in the media that the department is undermining human rights and discriminating against Latinos.

“It is wrongly perceived that the police are anti-Hispanic when they’re not. Those people with documentation are released upon showing some proof of being here legally,” Praet said.

The Border Patrol action also brought outrage from other immigrant rights groups.

“I’m appalled,” Robin Blackwell, a spokeswoman for the Coalition for Immigrant Rights said of the Border Patrol arrests.

“We have a hard time reconciling the action of the INS and the continuing problem the Orange police say they have with day laborers. They say they are apprehending criminals committing crimes and people with minor vehicular code violations. How do they differentiate between who is safe and who is unsafe?” Blackwell said.

Blackwell said the rash of arrests and the “heavy-handed” force by the Border Patrol is jeopardizing the amnesty program, designed to allow aliens to avoid deportation if they can prove they were residing in the United States before Jan. 1, 1982. The amnesty period ends on May 4.

“They’re going into neighborhoods and residential areas and people are running away because they are frightened. Besides the general fear and distrust, people can not distinguish between the Border Patrol and the INS. We have amnesty-eligible children hiding under the bed in fear of the INS pounding on their door. It’s difficult for parents to go down to the INS office. People are saying they aren’t going to send their children to school today,” she said.

Rogers said those who are eligible for amnesty have nothing to fear from the Border Patrol.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we go there tomorrow and see the same amount again, but we can’t ignore the area if criminal activity is taking place. The fact is they are here illegally and when they come here and commit crimes, there is no way we can sit back and let that happen,” he said.