| In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors. |
Restrictions on California agents lifted
Saturday August 16, 2003SAN DIEGO (AP) A U.S. Border Patrol official reversed an order barring Southern California agents from arresting suspected illegal immigrants on city streets.
The directive was rescinded Friday by Robert Bonner, commissioner of the Bureau of Customs and Border Patrol.
``This is incredibly good news it will let us do our jobs,'' said Joe Desaro, president of Local 1613 of the National Border Patrol Council, which represents San Diego agents. ``We think it's a good thing.''
An Aug. 8 memo notified agents in San Diego County and southern areas of Orange and Riverside counties that they were authorized to conduct operations only at border and highway checkpoints.
``Border Patrol agents are not authorized to conduct any 'interior enforcement' or 'city patrol' operations in or near residential areas or places of employment, including immigration inspections at day labor pick-up locations,'' said the memo from William T. Veal, chief patrol agent for the greater San Diego area.
Veal said he simply was restating a policy in effect since 1999.
The memo followed protests over recent arrests, including the Aug. 1 detention of five members of a Mexican family as they walked to the consulate in downtown San Diego to apply for identification cards.
The Border Patrol also came under scrutiny for a series of vehicle stops and arrests in San Juan Capistrano. Critics said parents reported being detained while picking up and dropping off children at school.
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