Inland Latinos Alarmed by New Border Patrol Sweeps
Janet Wilson and Sandra Murillo, L. A. Times, Jun. 10
U.S. Border Patrol agents have arrested more than 150 suspected illegal immigrants during a major sweep in Riverside and San Bernardino counties that has caused panic in some heavily Latino neighborhoods.
The sweeps, which began Friday, came after a change in policy at the Border Patrol and will continue indefinitely, agency officials said. Similar “interior checkpoints” and related activities have occurred in parts of Texas and elsewhere in the Southwest, said Mario Villarreal, a spokesman with the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection in Washington.
In August, Border Patrol officials rescinded a 4-year-old policy prohibiting agents from pursuing or arresting suspected illegal immigrants except near the border and at highway checkpoints. The recent sweeps in Ontario and Corona, two cities far from the border, are the first such action in Southern California since the policy shift.
“U.S. Customs and Border Protection is committed to preserving the integrity of our nation’s border, and interior checkpoints are a critical enforcement tool to our priority mission,” Villarreal said.
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