TRANSLATED FROM:
http://www.laopinion.com/primerapagina/ ... 0003578220

At least four operations by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office (ICE) to arrest undocumented people were carried out yesterday in Los Angeles and Torrance, were denounced by organizations that support immigrants.

The actions of ICE, qualified as "raids", left an unofficial balance of around 50 arrests.

Lori Haley, spokesman of ICE, confirmed the execution of the operation based on a customs investigation of some companies.

Haley said that due to the fact that the investigation continued ICE did not have preliminary figures of how many arrests they had done themselves.

The operation by ICE, according to Haley, were part of a routine inspection of stores and factories to detect irregular merchandise.

"In the course of the investigation we found illegal alliens and they were arrested, it was not a direct investigation of the workplaces", assured the spokesman.

Angelica Salas, director of the Coalition of Human Rights of the Immigrants in Los Angeles (CHIRLA), called yesterday for a press conference in which she denounced the practices of ICE qualifying them as raids.

After speaking with various workers, she said, there are at least four workplaces in which ICE agents visited during yesterday's morning. Three of them in Torrance, a city located 20 miles south of the center of Los Angeles.

The raid took place at Frontier factories, where it is known that there were five arrests, as commented by Salas. Another business is Samsung and the other is Imperial CSS. Another operation was carried out in Amay' s Bakery and Noodle Company, a business located in Commercial street, in the center of Los Angeles.

In that bakery a man was arrested according to his wife who suffers epileptic attacks.

"My husband communicated with my brother-in-law, he asked to speak and they left her to call, he said that Immigration arrived at work and that they were taking several people", commented the distressed wife outside of the detention center in the center of Los Angeles. "My brother-in-law and my daughter already went to see him, I am not because I do not documents; they went to give him his medicine, because he suffers epilepsy, convulsions, imagine how I feel, last week he was in the hospital because of seven convulsions in two hours, now I do not know how he is going to be".

The director of CHIRLA said that already a group of lawyers is taking charge of the legal representation of the approximately 50 people under arrest that were apprehended yesterday during the "raid".

Salas added not to believe the version given by ICE that the operationone was based on an investigation of the division of customs.

"The people we have spoken tell us that they entered all the factory, in some cases with the contribution of the employer, and they began to ask for documents and that they went [against] the latin American workers", commented Salas.

During the operation by ICE, explained Salas various employees were freed, but they gave them a notice to apper in court.

CHIRLA gave the following telephone number (213) 201-4451 so that people can request reports on their relatives, in the event that they have been victims of the "raid".

Along with CHIRLA other organizations responsible for the legal representation participated , like the Nationatl Lawyers Guild, the Center of central american Resources (CARECEN), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), among others.

Salas indicated that through this coalition they will be requiring the state and local officials that they pronounce themselves against the raids and a resolution be prompted to stop ICE operations in Los Angeles.

"Officials have to speak against the raids, because they are frightening the community and devastating families and the economy", said Salas.

Gloria Saucedo, director of Mexican Brotherhood in the Valley of San Fernando, said she is worried about this situation.

"They are not stopping, it is one after another", she commented. "What we know is that there was a large raid, to trap the people of Los Angeles, what we are seeing is that these raids are continuing in the factories, like what happened in Van Nuys".

Saucedo trusted that these practices by ICE will motivate people to march on May 1st.

"What ICE is doing is a way to frighten people, they already know that we are going to march on the first of May. What we expect is that people will march, because if we do not march this thing is going to get worse, we will have more oppression against our people. Therefore we should come out to fight for legalization, because the country needs us, but many people wants us disorganized and with fear, to continue with low salaries", added Saucedo.

In turn, the General Consulate of Mexico in Los Angeles reported through a communiqué that lent punctual attention to the persons under arrest by ICE in Torrance, through the Department of Protection and Legal Matters.

"They interviewed 19 national Mexicans that were placed under arrest, guaranteeing thus their right to the assistance by a consular; which verified their physical condition and informed the mexicans about their rights and legal options", stated the document.

The consulate will continue attentive to the evolution of the cases of these mexicans and warning will be maintained, in order to act with sense of opportunity in these situations, indicated the communiqué.