Immigration raids continue targeting day labor centers

In the constant search for undocumented immigrants in the Southland, ICE raided the Pomona Economic Opportunity Center (PEOC) on Thursday morning. Witnesses and videos in social media said the federal agents took three day laborers.

Activists started receiving messages around 6 a.m. of a potential raid and they finally showed up a little after 9a.m., said Claudia Bautista, spokesperson with PEOC.

She identified two workers as Fernando Salazar and Benjamin Alcocer. The third one was in the process of being identified. 

PEOC activists worry especially for Salazar, who is an active PEOC member and earlier in the year had a major surgery that left him unable to work. While he was recovering, his wife passed away and he hasn’t been able to recover. He was in the process of getting a second surgery. 

He was at the center with his two dogs when the officers arrived. He tried to escape but he didn’t get far. A nearby home video showed he was caught at 9:16 a.m.

Bautista said Salazar called them a little before they held the emergency press conference and told them he was at the downtown L.A. detention center. He also said he needed his medicine. 

“There were other workers. Thankfully most of them remained calm and stayed inside,” she said. 

At the press conference activists holding signs said the roving patrols and racial profiling needs to stop.

“We need help. We need the three jornaleros to be freed,” said Bautista. 

The center is identified as a sanctuary for the working immigrant community. It has been open since 1998 and activists consider it unfair that it has been targeted. 

About an hour later, videos showed another location raided in Chino Hills. Social media posts indicated five people were “kidnapped” by ICE agents and the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice (IC4IJ) is in contact with four of the families.