Day-Worker Site : INS Detains 99 Suspected Illegals in Van Nuys Raid

Federal agents rounded up 99 suspected illegal aliens Thursday at a Van Nuys corner considered one of the major pickup spots for day laborers in Los Angeles, authorities said.

About 40 U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service investigators converged on the corner of Kester Avenue and Oxnard Street at 7 a.m. and apprehended the 97 men and two women who were thought to have been waiting to be picked for one-day jobs, INS spokesman Ron Rogers said.

“That area is one of the largest pickup spots in Los Angeles,” Rogers said. “The reason we did this is we received complaints from residents and businesses and the LAPD.”

The Police Department did not take part in the roundup but provided the Van Nuys jail as a holding area for the suspected illegal aliens before they were taken by bus to the INS detention facility downtown.

Mexican Nationals

Most of those detained were Mexican nationals, although a few were Salvadoran and Guatemalan, Rogers said. He said most were expected to waive deportation hearings and agree to be bused across the border by early today.

During the raid, INS investigators did not arrest any employers of day laborers or seize any vehicles. It is a violation of federal law to hire illegal aliens. Employers are supposed to verify citizenship of those they hire or ask for proof of work authorization.

The INS announced last week that it will crack down on illegal hiring by watching known pickup spots and seizing employers’ vehicles as well as subjecting the employers to stiff fines.

Rogers said that the crackdown on employers probably will not begin until September, after a one-month warning period.

But he noted that the announcement of the INS campaign to deter the illegal hiring was already having an effect on the larger pickup spots in the city. He said few employers are driving by the pickup spots and few laborers have been finding jobs at them. That only 99 suspected illegal aliens were apprehended at Kester and Oxnard was an indication of the effect, he said.

“Normally there are about 300 people waiting there in the morning,” Rogers said. “Most of these areas have dried up completely.”