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Vigilantes behind immigration raids?
As federal officials keep silent on rumors, Austin officials question whether groups impersonating officers are terrorizing residents.By Juan Castillo
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Saturday, April 29, 2006

With widespread reports of immigration raids in Austin multiplying and federal officials refusing to say whether the rumors are true, city and immigrant rights leaders Friday raised the possibility that vigilantes might be impersonating law enforcement officers and terrorizing immigrants and citizens.

At a City Hall news conference, they called on government officials to be open about information that might help explain the numerous raid reports sweeping Austin and the region.

"I think everyone just wants answers," Council Member Raul Alvarez said. "If it isn't the government doing it, who's to say it's not some other group that's doing this and is potentially violating the rights of our citizens?"

But a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Friday that the agency remained steadfast in its position of never commenting on its operations as a consideration of officer and public safety.

"That's just policy," Nina Pruneda said.

A written statement from the agency said individuals have the right to ask for identification if approached by a law enforcement officer and should call 911 and ask for police assistance if they are suspicious.

"To report suspicious activity to ICE, call 1-866-DHS-2ICE," the statement said.

Austin police, meanwhile, said they had not heard of reports that vigilantes might be impersonating officers.

The immigrant rights leaders who joined Alvarez and former Mayor Gus Garcia at Friday's news conference saidcontinued reports led them to raise the possibility that vigilantes are behind the raids.

The leaders said they continued to field numerous firsthand accounts from sources that they deem credible about immigration raids at construction sites, store parking lots and in neighborhoods.

The reports have created a climate of fear among illegal immigrants who fear being arrested and separated from their families and from their children who are U.S. citizens.

"I can't have that many accounts of raids from very reliable people and then be told that nothing is happening," said the Rev. Lydia Hernandez of Manos de Cristo in Austin, which provides dental care, clothing and food to the poor.

Hernandez said some reports have described immigration agents knocking on apartment doors and taking people away.

"The question is, who's doing it," Garcia said. "We want to know who's doing it, where are they doing it, so that we can address those concerns that people have."

Garcia urged people to call police if they think that their rights are being violated.

Citizens are getting caught up in the raids, Alvarez said, relating how one citizen told of agents in an unmarked van who asked workers at a construction site for two forms of identification. Six were unable to produce IDs and were taken away, he said.

On Tuesday, while discounting the reports of raids as unfounded rumors, Mexican Consul General Jorge Guajardo also called on U.S. authorities and his office in Austin to work "to the extent possible to let the people know that these are not taking place."

Guajardo said the reports had led to severe unintended consequences. In addition to not going to work and school, some immigrants were neglecting medical care and even risking their children's health, he said.

Hernandez said many students stopped coming to her agency's English as a second language classes and others were forgoing trips there for food, clothing and other basic needs.

jcastillo@statesman.com; 445-3635