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In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors.
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Restrictions on California agents lifted
Saturday August 16, 2003
SAN 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The directive was rescinded Friday by Robert Bonner,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.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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