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BAKERSFIELD — Maria Casares was washing dishes and cleaning up before her four children got home from school at noon Tuesday in her three-bedroom duplex when she got a call from her husband’s nephew.
“Acaba de agarrar a mi tío — inmigración,” he said. My uncle’s immigration agent had just arrived.
They were talking in a Home Depot parking lot less than a mile from their home in Bakersfield when a Border Patrol agent showed up and began asking questions.
Casares rushed to the scene and said he saw more than a dozen operatives there. “It was ugly,” she said. They had already taken her husband away.
A border patrol operation near Bakersfield continued for days, arresting 78 people this week and raising alarm across the Central Valley, where a largely immigrant workforce helps harvest a quarter of the food grown in the United States. rang.
Immigration advocates say it was the largest enforcement action in the Central Valley in years and fear it could be a harbinger of things to come under President-elect Donald Trump, who has promised mass deportations. I am doing it. Regional agricultural and processing industries.
The Border Patrol confirmed that the Border Patrol conducted a targeted enforcement operation in Kern County, saying it was aimed at dismantling a transnational criminal organization. U.S. Border Patrol Chief Agent Gregory K. Bovino said in a statement on social media that dozens of agents had detained two child rapists and “other criminals” as part of Operation Return Return. He said they recovered 36 pounds of drugs.
Bovino, who heads the agency’s El Centro division, which spans 111 miles of the Imperial Valley along the Mexican border, said agents encountered and arrested people who were in the U.S. illegally during the operation.
In the small farming town outside Bakersfield, everyone at gas stations and miles of fields seemed to know about the arrest, which quickly spread on social media and sparked fear among immigrant families. Many of them had children and spouses, including: I was born here. And amid the panic, even law enforcement stationed at strip malls and freeway exit ramps was sometimes confused online with roundups of immigrants.
It is unclear how long the enforcement action will last. Bovino said investigators are planning additional operations in Fresno and Sacramento.
Bovino responded to someone who posted on Instagram that they were confused as to why the Border Patrol was conducting operations so far north of the border: “With the border being controlled in El Centro, we are operating in areas where there is a threat. I’m going to,” he wrote.
The executions have puzzled local immigration advocates, who are wondering why the Biden administration is using the final weeks to target migrant workers in the Central Valley for deportation. .
“We understand that we have to protect our borders,” said Manuel Cunha Jr., president of the Nisei Farmers League, which represents agricultural employers and their workers. “Stay away from our farms. Go after the cartels and raid them.”
He said producers reported that workers were staying at home for fear of arrest.
He fears the effects of the operation could ripple throughout the economy, which supports farms, dairies and food processing plants. Vines and vines will lose yield if they are not pruned in a timely manner. If workers don’t come to milk the cows, the cows may die.
“There’s no question that it has an impact on the food chain,” Cunha said. “But their families are the most affected because if they can’t work, they can’t feed their children.”
Casares said she knows there are many people who are afraid to leave their homes. My friend’s daughter injured her arm at school. The woman was so afraid to take her to the hospital that Casares offered to accompany her.
The day before her husband was taken into custody, she had met with a lawyer to fix his legal status. He worked in the construction industry in this country for over 10 years.
Lawyer Parvin Wiriani spent the next three days searching for him. She asked that his name not be used for fear of retaliation.
“He was the only support for his family and no one knew where he was,” she said. When she called the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office where detainees are usually held, she was told he was unavailable. She then called at least six ICE processing centers in addition to Customs and Border Protection detention centers. there is nothing. It took three days for his name to appear in the system.
Mr Williani said it was the first time he learned he was being held in an “unknown location” near the border. “That’s very unusual. We can usually find a customer within 24 hours.”
Other immigration lawyers reported similar problems, adding to collective anxiety. Migrants filled community rooms throughout the week as advocates held packed meetings with lawyers and offered legal assistance if they were pulled over or detained by officers.
Karina Sanchez attended one of the meetings in Delano with her 5-year-old son. A counselor at a nearby elementary school, she said many of the students and their parents do not have legal status.
“It makes me think about my kids and my students.”
It is unclear exactly how many people were detained, where they were detained, or why El Centro officials were operating so far from the border. And the Border Patrol did not provide details.
Border Patrol has the authority to search vehicles within 160 miles of the U.S. border. Bakersfield is more than 320 miles from the border but about 100 air miles from the coast.
Elected officials from both sides of the political spectrum expressed concerns about the enforcement action.
Republican Bakersfield Mayor Karen Go said cartel members engaged in criminal activity, who she understands are central to the operation, should fear arrest. But she expressed concern about “people being unnecessarily scared”.
“We are very concerned that these arrests may have been made randomly or based on racial profiling,” said state Rep. Joaquin Arambula (D-Fresno). “Everyone in our state and our people deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. Everyone has due process and constitutional rights.”
Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford) said he has been told by Customs and Border Protection that they are arresting criminals and people with ties to organized crime.
“We call on the Biden administration to ensure that CBP prioritizes criminals, not those responsible for our nation’s food supply,” he said. “We urgently need common-sense immigration reform that creates a path to legal status for hard-working individuals who contribute to our economy and removes those who threaten the safety of our communities.”
The United Farm Workers Foundation called on residents to exercise their right to remain silent if they are detained before speaking to a lawyer. Amber Tovar, the group’s lead attorney, said the community is reeling from the growing fear and anxiety.
Tovar questioned whether Border Patrol agents met the legal standard of reasonable suspicion required for such stops without a warrant, and questioned whether Border Patrol agents had jurisdiction over some of the stops they made inland. He said he plans to investigate whether he had any.
“There’s no reason to stop a vehicle carrying farmworkers on their way to work,” she said.
Wiriani received a call from border officials late Thursday.
“He said he had orders to call me and then had my client speak to me,” she said. He was still in a processing center somewhere in Imperial County, but when he was scheduled to be released the next day, he called Casares and told him he had a bus ticket to go home.
“He was free,” she said. “I was very happy.”
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