Migrants 'like mice, hiding' as raids in towns nab 420 suspects

The Associated Press

ONTARIO, Calif. - Elidia Celestina peered from behind a window shade before opening the door a crack to a stranger. If she leaves her apartment, it is for a rushed, nerve-racking trip to the store.
"Everyone is afraid," said Celestina, 19, who came from Mexico five months ago. "We're like mice, hiding in our homes."

She and many other illegal immigrants in Southern California have been gripped by fear since a new Border Patrol unit began roving through Hispanic communities and making arrests well north of the border, beyond the agency's usual area of operations.

Since June 1, the unit has captured more than 420 suspected immigrants.

They have been picked up on the street, pulled over while driving or caught coming out of stores in communities 100 miles or more from the U.S.-Mexico border.

The raids have spread such fear that some people have stopped going shopping or attending church. Immigrant advocates said some are staying home from work, too.

California is home to an estimated 2 million illegal immigrants, more than any other state. The border itself is patrolled aggressively. But for years, illegal immigrants who reach the interior, often at great cost and danger, have faced little risk of arrest.

"It does appear to be a shift in tactics," said Shaheena Ahmad Simons, a Los Angeles lawyer with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund. "These sweeps have created a pervasive fear and even anger among Latinos regardless of their immigration status."

While the Border Patrol has employed what it refers to as roving units in the past, it had not used them recently, said Mario Villarreal, an agency spokesman in Washington.

Villarreal would not say exactly why the Border Patrol has started inland sweeps.

The Border Patrol has the legal authority to make arrests inland but traditionally operates close to the border, and it employs checkpoints instead of roving patrols. It is immigration agents, from a different agency altogether, who generally make arrests inland.

The Mobile Patrol Group has 12 agents based at a station in Temecula, about 55 miles from the border. The Temecula team ranges across 3,000 square miles.

Border Patrol officials said it makes arrests only when it has information about the presence of illegal immigrants.

"If you're here legally in the United States, you really don't have anything to worry about," said Raul Martinez, a Border Patrol spokesman.

Nevertheless, immigrant activists contend agents have violated people's rights by questioning Hispanics without probable cause.

"In Southern California, there are many people who appear to be of Mexican ancestry. That does not mean they are here illegally," said Simons, whose organization is considering a legal challenge.

Throughout the region, the arrests have set off rumors and panic.

Alerts, often false, about "la migra" (Spanish slang for immigration officials) checkpoints have become as common as traffic reports on Spanish-language radio. Activists have organized marches and protests. Local politicians have called immigration officials, demanding answers.

Shops and restaurants in Hispanic neighborhoods said their business has plummeted because many immigrants are staying close to home.

"We're just waiting for the moment when it's going to get us. We're terrified," said Luis Paredes, a 28-year-old construction worker in Escondido, 50 miles north of the border. He and wife go out just to work or buy groceries. And they stick together when they do so, for fear one will be deported without the other.

On June 4, the Border Patrol unit went north to the San Bernardino County city of Ontario, about 100 miles from Mexico, and captured 79 illegal immigrants. Among them were Celestina's husband and his two brothers, who were caught as they headed to a job unloading trucks. A day later, the patrol arrested 75 people in Corona, about 80 miles from the border.

The Border Patrol said about 10 percent of those detained had criminal records. "We've gotten numerous calls of support from the community," Martinez said. "It's overwhelming."

In an Escondido commercial district frequented by Hispanics, witnesses said Border Patrol agents cornered people at a laundry and a supermarket.

Teodulo Ruiz Perez, who is from Mexico and works at a car wash, said: "We're just here working. What harm are we doing? Is it a sin to work?"