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Officials: Jump in immigration arrests not tied to protests

By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ, Associated Press Writer





HOMESTEAD, Fla. — Neighbors of Elvira Carvajal sought refuge in her house so immigration agents wouldn’t arrest them. Friends of Herman Martinez asked him to bring them milk for their children because they were afraid to step onto the streets.

In the weeks leading up to the huge pro-immigrant rallies in the spring of 2006, rumors swirled that authorities were on the streets rounding up illegal immigrants across the country. Fear of being caught and deported kept many illegal immigrants, and some legal ones, in their homes.



Non-worksite arrests did indeed jump in the first half of 2006, up 75 percent over the previous year, according to Homeland Security data released to The Associated Press.

However, Immigration and Customs Enforcement insists the increase did not come from random sweeps but from its standing policy of making specific arrests, and that more than two-thirds of those detained already had deportation orders.

“We’ve said over and over that we don’t do random sweeps. We do targeted enforcement,â€