Objections Raised as Deputies Plan to Sweep Encinitas Area for Aliens

Reacting to growing complaints by some North County residents over illegal aliens, the Sheriff’s Department is planning a sweep of the grounds around an Encinitas supermarket that is a gathering place for the undocumented.

Officials at the Encinitas sheriff’s substation said deputies will probably work in concert with U.S. Border Patrol agents when the effort is launched sometime during the coming month.

Latino leaders have already begun questioning the propriety of the planned sweep, saying it apparently blurs the line between the law enforcement functions of the Sheriff’s Department and the immigration responsibilities of the Border Patrol.

“I question whether this type of thing is the job of the sheriff,” said Ozzie Venzor, president of Friends of the Undocumented, a North County organization that ministers to the needs of illegal aliens in the fields. “The citizens are complaining, so I guess the Sheriff’s Department is going wherever they need to go.”

A Political Issue

The announcement of the upcoming sweep arrives as both local and national politicians are grappling with the issue of how best to address the mix of illegal aliens who have become a fixture of the North County landscape.

Last week, Rep. Ron Packard (R-Carlsbad) pledged that he would not ask the Border Patrol to increase its sweeps of illegal aliens lining the streets and living in the canyons and fields of North County. Packard’s declaration came after he was severely criticized by community leaders for tough comments he delivered a few weeks earlier about illegal aliens and crime.

In the meantime, city officials in Encinitas and other communities have formed a plethora of committees and task forces to study the alien issue, pushing the topic several pegs higher on many a municipal agenda.

Capt. William Knowles, commander of the Encinitas substation, said the sweep planned at the Big Bear supermarket off Encinitas Boulevard west of Interstate 5 is really nothing new, noting that deputies have conducted similar operations elsewhere in the city during the past two years.

Earlier Sweep Near School

Earlier this month, deputies made a sweep of a canyon frequented by aliens in the shadow of an elementary school. Although about 20 people escaped apprehension, more than a dozen aliens were snagged and turned over to Border Patrol agents, Knowles said, adding that such sweeps have occurred as needed for more than two years.

Knowles said the decision to sweep the area around Big Bear stems from recent complaints by the supermarket’s manager and a security guard during a meeting of the Encinitas Sanitary District, the agency that leases the land on which the store sits.

Market employees have complained that Latino men have harassed shoppers, stolen food or liquor and engaged in drug transactions in the parking lot.

“There just seems to be a little more hostility at that point than other areas,” Knowles said. “I’ve also been told there’s also a fair amount of small-time theft.”

Although deputies are not empowered to deal with immigration matters, they can present citations for crimes such as camping on private property or trespassing to people camping in the bushes around the supermarket, Knowles said.

In addition, aliens apprehended by the deputies can be turned over to Border Patrol agents and subsequently shuttled south of the border.

Knowles said the pending sweep would be coordinated with an effort by the city’s Public Works Department to clear brush and clean up trash behind the market to eliminate the nooks and alcoves that make the area a popular spot for overnight camping.

The sheriff’s captain said he is confident the Border Patrol will take part in the operation, despite increasing manpower shortages the federal agency is experiencing.

Such shortages have had an impact in Encinitas. In February, an Encinitas deputy stumbled upon a van loaded with about 20 undocumented workers, but had to release the men after about an hour when the Border Patrol was unable to free up a unit to come pick them up. Officials later said that no staff was available to respond to the call for assistance.

“That kind of thing happens--not too often, but it happens,” Knowles said. “The fact is, the Border Patrol wasn’t available that night because they were running their tails off elsewhere in the county.”