INS Memo Admits Agents Broke Rules in O.C. Sweep

U.S. immigration agents, confused about their own regulations, broke federal policy at least once during a controversial Sept. 18 raid here by using city code enforcement officers to gain entry into an apartment, internal documents reveal.

Memos from the regional head of the Border Patrol, obtained Wednesday through the Freedom of Information Act, contradict assertions by federal and local officials about what happened during the raid at Orange Park Villas.

Specifically, the memos acknowledge for the first time that during the raid Border Patrol agents were working in concert with--and invited by--city officials, despite earlier denials. City officials had maintained that they were at the scene only by coincidence.

The raid, the largest in the county in years, netted nearly 200 suspected illegal immigrants. But it also triggered angry accusations from Latino rights activists that agents had run roughshod over residents’ civil rights, threatening them and using illegal tactics to enter homes at the apartment complex at 3138 E. Maple Ave.

While the agents’ actions apparently did not violate any laws, immigration officials said they did conflict with federal policy barring entry into a home without proper consent from the occupant or a search warrant.

Amin David, president of Los Amigos of Orange County, a Latino rights group that has criticized U.S. immigration policies, said the memos show that federal authorities “tried to hide” their excessive tactics during the raid and their collusion with city officials.

“Now it’s verified that (the entry of apartments) was improper,” David said. “We are shocked beyond belief that officials are that incompetent.”

The memos, one dated Sept. 19 and another Oct. 30, were written by Gustavo De La Vina, the San Diego-based chief of the Border Patrol’s regional sector, and sent to supervisors in Washington, apparently in response to the allegations by Latino activists.

De La Vina rebutted the residents’ most serious allegation, saying agents never broke windows, drew their weapons or engaged in other misconduct. He called such accusations “inaccurate and blown out of proportion.”

These conclusions were based on an internal review of the raid that included interviews with patrol agents, police, city officials and others on the scene--but not with any of the witnesses who made the allegations, federal officials said.

In October, Border Patrol officials in San Diego quoted parts of the memo from De La Vina in announcing that the raid had been proper and that agents had acted “in good faith.” What officials did not mention then in statements to the press, however, was that De La Vina also acknowledged that mistakes had been made in carrying out the raid, which began on a strip of Chapman Avenue thought to be frequented by dayworkers.

On one occasion at the Orange Park Villas complex, agents chased four suspects, who then ran into an apartment and closed the door. No one answered the door when the agents knocked. As the agents were about to leave, city code enforcement officers--who have maintained that they had no active role in the raid--identified themselves at the door and were let into the apartment. The officers then let federal agents inside.

Federal agents then broke down a bedroom door as suspects escaped out a window, the memo said.

“It appears that our agents mistakenly believed that the code enforcement officers had authority to consent to their entry into the dwelling,” De La Vina wrote. “As such, our entry into this apartment appears to be improper.”

Among the 14 times that agents entered apartments that day without a warrant, De La Vina also noted a second instance in which city officers helped federal agents get into a home without the consent of the resident.

This case also raised questions of legality, he said.

“Of great concern to us,” De La Vina concluded, “is that interviews of the supervisors and agents indicate they were unsure of (Immigration and Naturalization) Service policy and their authority for entering dwellings. We will continue our inquiry into the incident, and appropriate corrective and/or disciplinary action will be taken.”

Steven Kean, a Border Patrol spokesman in the San Diego regional headquarters, said Wednesday that no agents were punished, but some were made to attend seminars and undergo training on what is permissible during raids.

“The immigration service has a policy that we do not ordinarily enter a dwelling for making an arrest,” Kean said.

But he added that the Sept. 18 raid was different from most sweeps, which usually happen in public places, “so the agents may have experienced some confusion with immigration policies on entering dwellings.”

City officials in Orange, some of whom were present at the raid, referred all inquiries on the case Wednesday to City Atty. Robert O. Franks.

Franks said he could not comment on any aspect of the raid. “I haven’t reviewed the matter, so it would be premature to comment at this time,” he said. “I may have to talk with the city manager and the mayor.”

City officials have maintained repeatedly that they had nothing to do with targeting the raid area or helping federal agents, beyond routine traffic patrols by police.

But the INS memos asserted that federal agents had been sent to the scene during an August raid at the request of the city. And the memos detail extensive involvement by the city in the September operation, beginning with a briefing between federal and city officials at the Orange Police Department before the raid.

Msgr. Jaime Soto of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange said the memos offer new evidence that such federal raids are “ill-advised” in their aims and “cruel” in their execution.

“Anytime the INS does community raids, there is the strong probability that they will overstep their bounds to violate homes and churches,” he said. “I find them highly disruptive and, for the local communities, counterproductive.”

Latino activists said that they are compiling testimony from witnesses of the raid and that the recent disclosures bolster the chance that they will sue the federal government.

But Kean of the Border Patrol said as far as immigration officials are concerned, “this matter has been concluded.”