Immigrants’ Advocates Allege Mistreatment

Many of the hundreds of Latino immigrants arrested in neighborhood sweeps during the recent unrest in Los Angeles have been denied access to legal counsel, pressured into signing voluntary repatriation agreements and mistreated while in custody, advocates charged Friday.

Robert M. Moschorak, district director in Los Angeles for the Immigration and Naturalization Service, denied the allegations and insisted that all detainees have been treated fairly and provided opportunities for court hearings and legal representation.

The INS has returned more than 700 illegal immigrants detained during the disturbances to their homelands in Mexico and Central America.

Los Angeles police--working hand in hand with the agency in an acknowledged departure from its longtime policy--turned more than 200 foreign-born suspects over to the INS for possible deportation. The move enraged Latino leaders and others fearful that illegal immigrants were being made scapegoats for the violence.

Those arrested were detained for riot-related offenses, such as looting and violating curfew, officials said. But most of those sent out of the the United States were never charged criminally, according to federal officials.

Attorneys representing immigrants charge that many have been sent back to Mexico and Central America without access to legal advice and were warned by INS agents that they faced lengthy jail terms or fines if they refused to acquiesce. Most of those repatriated signed voluntary departure forms, in which they acknowledged being in the United States illegally and waived their opportunities for court hearings.

“Clearly, the INS was telling people that if they did not sign, they could be detained for long periods of time,” said Edward J. Flynn, legal director for the Central American Refugee Center.

Moschorak denied that there was coercion. “Each one (arrested) was given an opportunity to decide for themselves whether or not they wanted a hearing before a judge,” he said.

Immigrant advocates have long charged that the voluntary repatriation procedure, widely used by the INS in California and elsewhere, is designed to expedite the departure of illegal immigrants. Because of the large numbers of arrests during the disturbances, critics charged, agents increased the pressure on immigrants to sign the papers and agree to be sent back without hearings.

“When you deny these people access to counsel, they get deported,” said Anne Kamsvaag, a lawyer with the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. “The problem is, when the INS gets overloaded, they have a history of doing mass processing and mass deportation.”

Flynn and others representing immigrants charged that the INS failed to provide adequate care for many detainees, including several pregnant women who were afforded inadequate food and insufficient time for rest.

“The INS has shown no consideration for the human needs of people detained by them,” he said.

Moschorak said he was unaware of the specific case but called allegations of abuse “unfounded.” The service strives to provide medical assistance and other needs to all detainees, particularly pregnant women, he said.

At the height of the Los Angeles unrest, authorities deployed hundreds of INS personnel--including more than 400 Border Patrol agents--to help quell the disturbances. The arrival of INS agents, particularly in Pico-Union and other Latino neighborhoods--spread considerable panic among a populace whose numbers include many war refugees from Central America, community leaders said.

U. S. officials say the agents were sent to maintain order, not to target Latino immigrants. “We see it as our responsibility to weed out illegal aliens involved in this disturbance,” Moschorak said.