LAKE ELSINORE: Border Patrol raid targets undocumented workers
By MICHAEL J. WILLIAMS - Staff Writer
January 1, 2009
The Californian
LAKE ELSINORE ---- A Border Patrol raid this week on a downtown street scattered immigrant workers and apparently resulted in the detention of at least a couple of suspected illegal immigrants, witnesses said.
The owners of a cell phone shop on Graham Street between Spring and Main streets captured video of a U.S. Border Patrol officer chasing a man into their store at 10:25 a.m. Wednesday and capturing him. The manager of a nearby supermarket catering to Latinos said a Border Patrol officer entered that store about 10:15 a.m. that day and detained a man.
The raid apparently targeted a cluster of workers, mostly from Guatemala and Mexico, most of whom authorities presume to be in the country illegally. The workers gather daily on Spring between Graham and Franklin streets near Ibarra's Market while waiting to be hired for odd jobs.
Calls made Wednesday afternoon to the U.S. Border Patrol were referred to the service's public information office in San Diego, but the office had shut down in advance of New Year's Eve. Referrals to media representatives were only available for major incidents, officials said.
Based on a description of the Lake Elsinore incident, a Border Patrol official said it appeared to be routine enforcement activity. Wednesday's arrests came about four months after a group of activists staged protests downtown and at a City Council meeting against stepped-up Border Patrol enforcement, which they contended was provoking widespread fear among Latino immigrants and breaking up families.
http://www.northcountytimes.com/articles/2009/01/01/news/californian/lake_elsinore/z78e36886c55ab1388825753100049d87.txt
