When Jesús Alberto Campos was telephoned by an alleged detective to say that he needed to see him to identify one of the possible suspects in the shooting he had been the victim of a month earlier, he never imagined that it was a migration scheme.
The next day, on July 23, at eight o’clock in the morning, he did not reach the Starbucks of Long Beach and Firestone streets in the city of South Gate, south of Los Angeles County where he was summoned, when he was intercepted by about ten agents of the Immigration and Customs Service (ICE). That same day they took him to the Adelanto Detention Center.
“They showed him an arrest warrant, and they took him into custody. Now they want to deport him, “says Verónica Osuna, Jesús’ partner with whom she has a one-year-old son JJ.
Jesus entered the United States on a tourist visa along with his mother Beatriz Alvarez when he was just eight years old, on August 13, 2004. He studied until high school.
Three years ago, he joined Veronica, a US citizen.
“About a month ago, on June 18, he was the victim of a Norwalk shooting. He was shot from a car when he had his one-year-old son in his arms. Jesus and the boy were waiting for me to come out of the bank in a plaza, ”he recalls.
Fortunately, Jesus and his son JJ were unhurt, but the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department filed a report.
Veronica has no doubt that it was the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department that provided ICE with Jesus’ information.
“They posed as sheriff’s agents to arrest him,” he says.
Because she is the main provider of the home as a manager of a business, since Jesus was in charge of childcare JJ and six-year-old Adrian Polycarp who is only Veronica’s son, she has not been able to visit him in Adelanto. “I can’t quit my job. We need it to support the home and the children, “he says.
However, she acknowledges that both she and Jesus are very confused, and in a state of shock. “He was a victim of a shooting; and instead of looking for those responsible, they come for him to arrest and deport him“
Beatriz Álvarez, the mother of Jesus, acknowledges that she feels powerless, and is living a nightmare.
“One comes to this country to progress, and because they don’t have papers they point it out and denigrate it. I can’t go to visit him or how to help him because I don’t have a dollar. With the coronavirus, I ran out of house cleaning jobs. I can only trust God. “
For Emilio Amaya, director of the organization San Bernardino Community Service Center, which provides legal assistance to families, the case of Jesús shows that even despite the many measures that the State of California has taken to avoid the cooperation of the departments of Police with the office of the Immigration and Customs Service (ICE), this continues to be done informally and seriously affects the community.
“This type of informal collaboration impacts the trust that the immigrant community can have in its authorities because it causes that many victims of crime do not dare to denounce for fear of deportation.n ”.
He adds that it also causes the victimization of the immigrant community to increase. “It is also worrying that ICE uses businesses like Starbucks to arrest people. It is unfortunate that I resort to this type of practice. ”
Emilio recommended that crime victims make sure they are not immigration agents before going to any appointment with police officers.
“Police officers cannot make immigration arrests nor can they formally assist ICE in arresting a person“
Last March, more than 100 organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California (ACLU Socal) sent a letter to the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors, denouncing that the Sheriff’s Department has continued the practice destructive of turning community members over to ICE.
What’s more, they noted, LASD spends nearly $ 1.5 million a year to facilitate arrests and deportations while on the other hand, the county earmarked $ 1.5 million to the Los Angeles Justice Fund to provide attorneys to defend families against deportation.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said in an interview with the newspaper The opinion in March that they only transfer to the Immigration and Customs Service (ICE) those immigrants who have serious crimes and qualify under the Sanctuary law (SB54). However, Jesús Alberto was a victim of crime.
“As a sheriff, I have to balance public safety and not increase fear for the undocumented community because we are involved in migration. The undocumented themselves do not want to live near dangerous prisoners. We let those go with ICE contractors. ”
Alexis Pons Abacal, an ICE spokesperson, said Jesus has multiple convictions from the California Superior Court, including driving twice without a driver’s license in 2017, and hindering a police officer in June 2019. Also for having entered illegally. to the country.
He mentioned that on three occasions, June 14, 2017, November 7, 2018, and June 9, 2019, local authorities failed to comply with the order to arrest him and hand him over to immigration, and instead released him.
