SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA / A news summary : The Regional Review / DEVELOPMENTS IN ORANGE, RIVERSIDE, SAN BERNARDINO AND VENTURA COUNTIES : Alleged Harassment of Day Laborers Investigated

Orange County sheriff’s officials are investigating complaints that deputies have for months harassed Latino day laborers at a strip mall.

The investigation follows a complaint to Sheriff Mike Carona from the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. The group charges that deputies have singled out Latino day laborers who gather at the strip mall at Jeronimo and El Toro roads to wait for work.

Deputies allegedly harassed the men by barring them from businesses, using ethnic slurs and giving them tickets for loitering.

“It’s selective targeting,” said Victor Narro of the immigrant rights group. “They don’t do that to anybody who is patronizing the store except Latino males.”

Sheriff’s Lt. Mike James, who heads the Lake Forest substation, said the investigation will be concluded by Friday.

“We will figure out what happened and take whatever action is appropriate,” he said. Sheriff’s officials will review surveillance images taken of deputies by a camera inside a liquor store.

“We’ve seen deputies [on the tape] contact male Hispanics inside and outside the store, so we’re in the process of finding out why they contacted them,” James said.