On the Run, but Not Out of Reach
It's 5:15 a.m., but on Castor Street, it might as well be the dead of night. The sound of soft rain and wind rustling through a willow tree is broken only by the breathing of six immigration agents standing in the dark.
They have quietly slipped through an open iron gate at a ranch-style house in Santa Ana. And suddenly:
"Police! Open the door!" shouts one.
Again, this time in Spanish: "¡Policia! Abre la puerta, por favor!"
Their quarry is 42-year-old Abel Hernan Alvarez Monarez -- and it's he who opens the door, shirtless, in a pair of shorts. After a short exchange of words, he grabs a shirt and a pair of pants and leaves, as distraught family members watch in silence.
Alvarez entered the United States illegally 17 years ago and was ordered deported six years ago. Finally, on this dreary morning he is being escorted out of the country.
The tactics leading to his capture last month counter the images of officers raiding sweatshops or swarming street corners, scattering workers who warn others, "La migra!"
In increasing numbers, agents for the U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement office of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security are quietly arresting undocumented immigrants, one at a time, on a daily basis. For the 12 months ending Sept. 30, agents in the Los Angeles area -- which includes Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties -- deported 2,341 illegal immigrants one by one -- people like Alvarez Monarez whose names and whereabouts were known to them.
The strategy of tracking down individual illegal immigrants has its critics, who say it will not stop or even deter illegal immigration.
"Going after these people is a never-ending treadmill," said Greg Simons, spokesman for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. "It would take years to find them."
Immigration officials, fortified with enriched budgets in a post-9/11 era of heightened concerns about immigrants, say they are finally addressing a long-ignored problem: undocumented immigrants who ignore court orders to leave the country.
"In the past, [we] were criticized for failing to connect the dots," said ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice. "What we want to show is that people should take these orders seriously. We are out there looking for you."
