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Immigration advocates dispelling false rumors following border patrol arrests in Central California

Scott Eisen
/
Getty Images

Reports of immigration arrests in the Central Valley is increasing misinformation about Border Patrol sightings. Immigration advocates in the Inland Empire are working to dispel these rumors, while providing legal advice to undocumented people.

Border patrol agents conducted an operation in Kern County last week that netted dozens of arrests and put undocumented workers and businesses on high alert.

Last week, a social media post claiming to have spotted a border patrol vehicle in San Bernardino sparked concern. Another post alleged the agency arrested a group of day laborers outside of a Home Depot in La Quinta.

As of publication and broadcast, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency has not responded to KVCR’s requests for confirmation of operations in those cities.

Anytime there’s false news or unverified information about immigration operations, it fuels unnecessary fear and panic, shares Yazmin Mercado with the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice (IC4IJ). She says her group has set up a “rapid response” network to train community members to document incidents accurately and correct false online claims.

“It's important for us to go out there and check and investigate,” said Mercado. “We'll talk to the neighbors, we’ll talk to the businesses, to make sure we're verifying what people saw.”

Russell Jauregui is an immigration lawyer based in San Bernardino. He says sometimes people mistake other federal vehicles, such as those of the USDA, for U.S. Customs and Border Protection vans and trucks.

He points to President Donald Trump’s recent announcements about mass deportations as reasons for “widespread anxiety.”

“But I think it's misinformation based on fear,” said Jauregui. “[Immigration officials] want people to get scared so they'll just get up and leave without pursuing their individual rights to an immigration hearing.”

Both Jauregui and Mercado believe the tips provided by the rapid response network will help address any misinformation regardless of source.

“So when the time does come and it actually is true, we know how we’re going to respond,” said Mercado.

CORRECTION (January 14, 2025): This story was updated to correct the name of the agency in charge of border patrol operations, which is U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

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