INS Repeats Raid, Arrests 6 Dayworkers

Spurred by complaints from local merchants, federal agents on Friday raided a parking lot for the second time in two weeks, taking six dayworkers into custody.

The raid by the Immigration and Naturalization Service was triggered by business owners in the Jeronimo Center, at the corner of Los Alisos Boulevard and Jeronimo Road, who said sales have dropped dramatically in the past several months since men began gathering every morning to look for work.

In the first raid on Aug. 7, INS agents took 26 people into custody.

“I feel sorry for these guys because they’re just looking for work,” said Santiago Rojas, owner of the Maya Inn restaurant. “But some of them run behind cars that come here and harass the women. My customers are telling me they don’t want to come back. I want to save my business.”

Merchants said that in the past few months the word has spread among unemployed day laborers that the retail center is a good place to find a job. With a home improvement center and a nursery close by, contractors regularly drive through the area.

Authorities estimate that 60 to 100 men show up at the corner in the early morning, hoping to be hired.

Mission Viejo officials say some of the laborers come from Santa Ana by bus. Shop owners estimate that 15 to 30 of the men are homeless and sleep in a nearby park or in the alleys behind the shopping plaza, which has about 20 stores and offices.

The county recently closed a public bathroom in a park across the street because the workers were creating serious trash problems there, said Lt. George Johnson of the Sheriff’s Department. Now, shop owners say, some of the men urinate in public.

The crowd of men also attracts drug dealers seeking prospective buyers, the owners say.

“I’ve had them come up to me and my 21-year-old brother and offer to sell me bags of marijuana,” said Jill McCall, owner of Duffer’s Irish Pub.

But the biggest blow to sales, say the merchants, are sexual remarks made to women who drive into the center.

“A lot of the ladies are afraid to come here,” said Betty Darroch, who runs Mission Viejo Wigs. “I get here early to open up, and they always make remarks. I just ignore it, but it really irritates my customers.”

Johnson said he receives several calls each week about the dayworkers.

Unlike police jurisdictions such as Santa Ana, which will not assist in INS sweeps, the Sheriff’s Department will. On Friday, sheriff’s deputies helped hold back traffic while the raid was underway.

But Johnson doesn’t hold out much hope that the INS action will be a permanent solution.

“It will have some short-lived effect,” but it won’t stop day laborers from congregating, Johnson said. Their “hunger and need for housing is going to overcome any fear of being arrested.”

The same problem used to exist on the other side of the street, where Lake Forest begins. But last year, the city made it illegal to park on Jeronimo and the workers moved to the Mission Viejo side of the street, Johnson said.

City Manager Fred Sorsabal said Mission Viejo will not follow the lead of communities such as Costa Mesa and Dana Point, which have passed ordinances making it illegal for dayworkers to congregate on city streets.

“That’s not the way to solve the problem,” he said. “We’ll try to work with Lake Forest to come up with a way to work this out.”

INS officials say they are also focusing on firms that hire illegal immigrants.

Robert H. Reed, an INS supervisor for Orange County, said three companies in the Saddleback Valley area have been targeted for investigation. A business can be fined up to $2,000 for knowingly hiring an illegal immigrant and up to $1,000 for filing improper employee paperwork. Fines for both infractions are typically levied at the same time, Reed said.

Friday’s arrests were made without incident, with the exception of a toppled sheriff’s motorcycle. A fleeing dayworker “ran out from between two cars and just didn’t see where he was going,” Johnson said. He ran in front of a Deputy Donna Stubbs, who suffered scrapes and bruises when the motorcycle fell on her.

The officer got up to chase the unidentified man, who eventually was caught. No charges will be filed against him by the Sheriff’s Department, Johnson said.