Reports Spark Fear in Neighborhoods
In the wake of U.S. Border Patrol arrests in the Inland Empire, heavily Latino neighborhoods and shopping districts in Pasadena, Huntington Park, Pomona and elsewhere were muted Friday as many fearful residents changed their routines to avoid rumored illegal-immigrant sweeps.
Reports circulated throughout those neighborhoods Friday that federal agents were arresting people outside supermarkets and restaurants, bringing some businesses to a near standstill. One Pasadena elementary school with a majority Latino student population reported 30% absenteeism. The city's official day-laborer hiring site was deserted.
In Huntington Park, diners shunned restaurants and shoppers avoided markets along Pacific Avenue, one of the city's major thoroughfares.
Store managers in Bell Gardens and South Gate said customers were calling to ask if it was safe.
"They're nervous. Everyone is afraid," said Rene Morales, a security guard at Ranch Market in South Gate.
"There's fear all over Los Angeles."
Those fears are unfounded, according to the U.S. Border Patrol and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Authorities adamantly denied that their agents were out arresting suspected illegal immigrants in any of those cities this week.
"No, no, no. We've had no actions in any of those areas," said Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, successor to the Immigration and Naturalization Service. "Rumors have been feeding into wholesale hysteria for two days. We are not making any wholesale arrests."
She said she has been "flooded with calls" from the Mexican Consulate and some panicked Southern California residents as far north as Santa Barbara. Kice said ICE officers typically arrest suspected illegal immigrants after warrants are obtained, or if someone is suspected of criminal activity or has a court deportation order.
"We wouldn't routinely go to commercial places and ask people to see their papers," she said. "I'm very frustrated because people don't believe us."
Mario Villarreal, a spokesman from the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, said Border Patrol arrests had been confined to Ontario, Corona and Escondido, where more than 200 suspected illegal immigrants have been arrested since June 4.
A team of Temecula-based agents, called the Mobile Patrol Group, worked in uniform and marked vehicles, basing their arrests on "consensual conversations," not racial profiling, officials said.
