Immigrant rights advocates and federal lawmakers are calling for the release of day laborers arrested by Border Patrol outside a Pomona Home Depot, saying the agency is targeting workers and families as part of a broader immigration crackdown.
On April 22, Border Patrol agents arrested 10 workers outside the store. The agency says the day laborers, or jornaleros in Spanish, had prior convictions for serious crimes.
Alexis Teodoro, the worker’s rights director with the Pomona Economic Opportunity Center, says they’re pushing for the release of Juan Domingo Ros, a Guatemalan national now held at a detention facility in Imperial County.
“We have launched a public campaign asking, demanding his release. He has no criminal record, said Teodoro. “He was not taken with an arrest warrant, and his due process rights are being violated right now.”
Teodoro says two Mexican jornaleros have been also deported and are in touch with a Salvadoran day laborer who is also being held at the Imperial County facility.
Border Patrol said in a statement they were targeting an undocumented person with an active arrest warrant, but wouldn’t confirm to KVCR if Ros was their suspect. They say they encountered nine other people in the country without legal status who had prior felony charges including child abuse, assault and DUI.
Congresswoman Norma Torres (D-Pomona) wasn’t shocked to learn about the arrests by Border Patrol. “I anticipated that happening, as soon as the President started targeting families,” said Torres.
Torres also says it’s been “almost impossible” to get more information on Ros from Border Patrol, but is trying to work all angles and trying to ensure that he and other day laborers detained have legal representation.
On Wednesday, Torres helped introduce legislation that attempts to give immigrants in deportation proceedings access to free legal counsel. She said she pushed to expedite the bill’s introduction due to Border Patrol’s operation in Pomona.
“Due process is something that is promised. So the fact that the President of the United States is ordering these arrests…he is not abiding by our constitution,” Torres said. “And we have to hold him accountable, and we’re trying to do that.”
Torres admits however that with Republicans in power, it’s going to be an “uphill battle.”
U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff joined Congresswoman Torres in condemning Border Patrol’s actions that they claim has caused “widespread fear” and disrupted local business operations and economic activity in Pomona.
“While no one disagrees with targeting violent criminals for deportation, the enforcement actions in Pomona demonstrate that the Department is indiscriminately targeting all noncitizens for removal — including those who have no criminal records and who have been living in and contributing to our communities for decades,” reads a shared statement by all three lawmakers.
Pablo Alvarado, with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), says fear prevents day laborers from seeking work after an immigration raid.
“After a raid of this nature, of course, there is a decrease in terms of the numbers of workers that come,” said Alvarado, “but as the months go by, people start coming back.”
But Alvarado says workers who do choose to go back out to work can protect themselves by making sure they know their rights.
“The most important thing if you decide to go to the street is that you have to know your rights and how to exercise them,” he said.
Now that a federal judge ordered Border Patrol agents to stop making warrantless arrests, Teodoro says lawmakers like Torres should defend due process for undocumented day laborers.
“I would like to remind the public that being a day laborer in the United States is not a crime. Looking for work on a public sidewalk is not a crime. It’s a constitutional right.”
