Immigrant sweeps prompt ACLU suit

The government has failed to disclose the reasons for immigration sweeps across Southern California this summer, a leading civil rights group said in a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday. The American Civil Liberties Union said the agency that oversees border security has refused to provide records about the arresting and deportation of more than 400 undocumented immigrants in San Bernardino, Riverside and Los Angeles counties in June. A roving patrol group based in Temecula arrested 79 people in Ontario and 75 in Corona. The group was also accused of stopping and questioning legal residents and U.S. citizens of Latino origin in the city of San Bernardino, including one school principal. The ACLU wants U.S. Customs and Border Protection to provide details on how many people were questioned, arrested and deported, their races and nationalities, the locations and whether a collaboration occurred between local law enforcement agencies. "We don't have enough information at this point to determine whether these raids were legally authorized and whether they actually resulted in some net benefit,' said Ranjana Natarajan, an ACLU attorney. "We know they caused a lot of fear in the community. People felt there was harassment. People were very scared to send their children to school and to the doctor. The impact on the community was severe.' The ACLU said it filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles because U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not respond to requests under the Freedom of Information Act in July. [more]