Groups May Sue to Halt Arrests by Border Patrol

Activists consider action to stop a crackdown in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

By Sandra Murillo
Times Staff Writer

June 16, 2004

Latino community leaders and civil rights groups on Tuesday said they might take legal action to stop a U.S. Border Patrol crackdown on suspected illegal immigrants in San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

"The only way to stop this is if the community comes together," said UC Riverside political science professor and local organizer Armando Navarro. "All of a sudden, the Border Patrol is hitting different parts of Southern California away from the border. Something is going on."

Navarro and other activists met at the Villasenor Branch Library in San Bernardino on Tuesday evening to coordinate their efforts against the Border Patrol, vowing to file lawsuits and engage in civil disobedience if the arrests continue.

Since June 4, agents have arrested more than 200 suspected illegal immigrants in the two counties. Agency officials said arrests are a result of a shift in tactics by one Border Patrol station based in Temecula, and not a new national crackdown.

Richard Kite, a Border Patrol spokesman with the San Diego sector, said Tuesday that there had been no recent sweeps but that the operations would continue "based on intelligence received" from law enforcement agencies or citizens.

He said the protests would not stop the inland patrols.

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I had breakfast with two old friends yesterday morning. The younger of the two works for the Border Patrol and we discussed some recent events. He told me of twelve (12) Brazilians who had been caught the night before, and each and everyone of the twelve (12) requested Political Asylum, because they were "homosexuales". (Actually, according to Bablefish, the spelling in Portuguese is the same as in English- my friend just used the Spanish pronunciation). After breakfast, as we were leaving, another old friend, whom I had not seen in awhile and who also works for the Border Patrol, came out to the parking lot to say hello and talk a bit, and it was nice to see him. I have several other friends who work for BP and the stories that I have heard, would really shock most citizens- particularly the ones, and there are many, that show the many agents are really not allowed to do their job properly. In fact, I know of one man, who constantly pointed out that they were not doing their job, whose hours and shifts were rotated so often, he finally shut his mouth about the lax and lack of enforcement in his sector, and this was a year after September 11th, 2001.

Now, Armando Navarro can say: "Something is going on." However, I think most folks, at least those that think, realize that this is an election year, and the new step-up in enforcement is nothing more than politics in action.

Moreover, we have these types of "businesses�, which operate all of the time. Further, one has to wonder how many folks are aware of this, and the folks who promote it.

Of course, so many of these antics, though firmly believed by the actors of such groups, are nothing more the tools of others, to divide this country and it citizens.


--WP