Inquiry Ordered Into Immigration Raid

A day after one of the biggest local immigration raids in years, federal officials Thursday ordered an inquiry into allegations that border agents ran roughshod over the rights of local residents, as Latino activists denounced tactics used in the sweep.

Residents of Orange Park Villas contend that authorities raided their low-income, largely Latino apartment complex at daybreak Wednesday with guns drawn, kicking doors and threatening some residents.

“We’re concerned about these allegations and we’re looking into it,” said Duke Austin, a spokesman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Washington. “I don’t care if we apprehended 300 or 400 aliens--if we violated anyone’s rights, it’s not worth it.”

Charles Geer, agent in charge of the Border Patrol’s San Clemente office and the organizer of the sweep, said authorities did not target the apartment complex but entered the area in pursuit of fleeing suspects. Geer called the residents’ claims “all fabricated.”

Orange police and city officials who were present also say they saw none of the alleged abuses.

Separate raids by U.S. Border Patrol agents in Orange and El Toro on Wednesday morning netted 216 people said to be illegal immigrants. All were bused to Tijuana and turned over to Mexican immigration authorities, U.S. officials said.

An attorney for Hermandad Mexicana Nacional said the organization may consider taking legal action against the INS, which oversees the U.S. Border Patrol, as well as the city of Orange, which offered support in the raids there.