http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/monte ... 738761.htm

Posted on Tue, Feb. 20, 2007



RUMORS WORRY IMMIGRANTS
No evidence of federal roundups in area
By CLAUDIA MELƒNDEZ SALINAS
Herald Salinas Bureau

When federal enforcement officials begin rounding up undocumented immigrants anywhere in the United States, local folks begin to fret.

The fretting has begun.

Although murmurs of possible raids have begun to fly through the rumor mill, there is no evidence that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has conducted operations in Monterey County or anywhere in the Central Coast.

Still, on hearing reports that immigration officials are combing the subway and other public spaces in Los Angeles, people up north are beginning to worry.

"People are very scared," said Silvia Huerta, a longtime Salinas activist. "My niece called me to tell me she can't sleep she's so nervous. That hasn't happened here, but we listen to the radio and we hear what's goes on."

On Friday, listeners to Salinas-based Radio Tigre were calling in during the noon show to say they were spotting immigration officials. Radio Tigre DJs said they were going to send somebody to verify reports, and were warning listeners to be on the lookout.

Virginia Kice, an ICE spokeswoman, said there are three fugitive operation teams assigned to Northern California and one in Bakersfield. Their focus, she said, was locating and arresting immigrants with deportation orders who have disappeared.

She wasn't aware of a team conducting operations in the Central Coast.

Reports about sightings of immigration officials, called "la migra," quickly become ubiquitous regardless of their veracity.

"The preoccupation exists because (local residents) are in communication with people in other states," said Jose Ibarra, a community organizer in East Salinas, home to a large concentration of immigrants. "Some people who went to other states came back because they saw the raids. I think the concerns are becoming national, because this didn't used to happen and now it's taking place."

Agency officials have rounded up 14,000 immigrants since last May in an operation they dub "Return to Sender." They're focusing on immigrants who have ignored a judge's deportation order or are accused of committing other crimes, but people who don't fall into either category also are being arrested.

"In Watsonville, they took families and some children were left without parents," Ibarra said. "When people realize what's going on, they begin to worry because they don't know what the future will hold."

They have reason to worry: Nationwide, there are 52 "fugitive operations teams" deployed nationwide, Kice said, and 23 more are expected to become operational by year's end.

The immigration crackdown has resulted in a labor shortage, particularly in the agricultural industry, and that local growers are also worried.

"This has been an ongoing concern," said Bob Perkins, executive director of the Monterey County Farm Bureau. "Employers are worried. As we tighten up border controls and conduct enforcement actions without having a guest worker plan and effective immigration program in place, it's making labor force that much tighter and it's tough on everybody. It's not anything new."

On a national level, even while immigration reform advocates worry that last year's pro-immigrant reform marches prompted the crackdown, they're beginning to call for renewed public actions. Some cities have already seen pro-immigration marches this year, and others are being planned for May 1 or even earlier.

"We are watching the agenda in Congress," Ibarra said. "Seeing what's happening at a national level, the massive deportations and all, I don't think we're going to wait until May."