Thread: After protesters block detainee buses, immigration agents mum on plans

After protesters block detainee buses, immigration agents mum on plans


Video: Protesters blocked the road near a U.S. Border Patrol station in Murrieta on Tuesday, forcing buses carrying migrant detainees to turn around.

JOSEPH SERNA, MATT HANSEN, KATE LINTHICUMcontact the reporters

ICE tight-lipped on plans for detainees after protesters block buses in Murrieta

A day after hundreds of protesters forced three buses carrying 140 immigration detainees away from a Border Patrol processing station in Murrieta, immigration officials are declining to discuss their next move citing “safety and security considerations.”

CAPTIONImmigrant detaineesMark Boster / Los Angeles Times
Protester Jessica Davis shouts at counter-demonstrators in front of the U.S. Border Patrol office in Murrieta.


On Tuesday, 100 to 150 protestors met three buses a few blocks from the border patrol station with chants of “Go home” and “We want to be safe.”

The buses were carrying immigrant detainees — many of them women and children from Central America — who had recently crossed the border in Texas. They were flown to San Diego by the Department of Homeland Security.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials met with city officials in Murrieta and Temecula before the protests, said Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for the agency.

“We’re sensitive to those issues and we’re seeking to address them,” she said.

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NATION Explaining the crisis on the Southwest border as children seek refuge SEE ALL RELATED

“At this point, due to safety and security considerations ... we are not providing any further information,” Kice told the Los Angeles Times in an email Wednesday.

This year, Border Patrol agents across the Southwest have detained more than 52,000 unaccompanied minors, with a particular concentration along the Rio Grande border in Texas, according to federal records.

Murrieta is one of several cities whose facilities will receive migrants as the government seeks to lessen the burden on the Texas border.

Migrants will also be sent to a border patrol facility in El Centro in neighboring Imperial County, as well as a center in New Mexico, which has caused lawmakers there to protest.

Though the day was tense and loud, the protests were nonviolent.
At a City Council meeting after the protests, Long thanked the crowds for refraining from violence.

"The people who live here are passionate about their community, and that's what you're seeing outside today," the mayor said.

Councilman Rick Gibbs also cited the limited accommodations at the local Border Patrol facility, which, he said, had metal benches and limited lavatories.

"Murrieta is not El Paso, we're not Tucson. This is a small community," he said. "We do not have the facilities to feed and clothe people for an extended stay."

For breaking California news

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/l...702-story.html

RELATED

http://www.alipac.us/f12/protesters-...ctures-306033/

California town blocks illegal immigrant transfer: 'Go home — we don't want you'

New York Daily News

- ‎6 minutes ago‎

http://www.alipac.us/f12/border-cris...x-news-306064/

First article added to the HP
http://www.alipac.us/content.php?r=3...illegal-aliens

I can't get any info about the buses headed into El Centro, CA. today.

Everyone is under strict orders not to talk.

Heard someone on the radio say the buses returned to Murrieta during the night. Haven't found anything on the news re this, has anyone else?

Never mind my post above. Just heard they are being processed at about 4 other locations in the San Diego area, some are being treated for scabies.

Murrieta Braces for More Immigrant Buses and More Outrage

A California city is bracing for a wave of buses bringing in undocumented immigrants from overcrowded border facilities — setting the stage for a replay of an ugly confrontation that erupted before the first bus was rerouted Tuesday evening. Police in Murrieta did not intervene as dozens of protesters blocked the road and shouted "Go back to Mexico" at the bus or when the demonstrators clashed with a smaller group of immigrant supporters who yelled "Bienvenidos California!" Tensions ran high as one protester spat in the face of another, and it seemed as though fistfights might break out at several points.

The bus eventually turned around and took the immigrants to San Ysidro for processing. Immigration authorities have refused to comment on where they were taken next or whether more buses will be sent to Murrieta. City officials said they have been told to expect buses arriving every 72 hours as the feds struggle to relieve overcrowding at border facilities coping with waves of unaccompanied children.

Protesters block bus carrying migrants to US

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/imm...utrage-n146421