Inquiry Backs Deputies in Day-Laborer Dispute

Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona is expected to announce today that an investigation into allegations that deputies harassed day laborers at a Lake Forest strip mall appear to be unfounded, officials said.

The probe followed a complaint filed in July by an immigrant rights organization stating that deputies mistreated laborers waiting to be hired at El Toro and Jeronimo roads.

The harassment alleged in the complaint included barring laborers from local businesses, using racial slurs, handing out tickets for loitering and turning over undocumented workers to the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

As part of the investigation, deputies reviewed surveillance footage from a camera inside a liquor store at the strip mall but found nothing to buttress the harassment allegations, Assistant Sheriff George Jaramillo said. “We did not substantiate any wrongdoing,” he said.

Carona is set to disclose the probe’s outcome at a news conference attended by a representative from the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, which filed the complaint, and other immigrant and Latino rights groups.

Deputies worked closely with local Latino leaders in reviewing the allegations and drawing up a list of proposed changes to improve relations between the department and the county’s minority communities, Jaramillo said. Those changes will be unveiled at today’s conference.

Zeke Hernandez, an official with the state’s League of United Latin American Citizens, said Monday that he welcomes the planned changes. Among them is a proposal to introduce seminars for deputies on how to deal effectively with ethnic minorities, he said.

“I think this is a big step toward fostering positive relationships between law enforcement personnel” and minorities, including day laborers, Hernandez said.