Raids in the Central Valley: What can undocumented immigrants do to protect themselves?

FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) - Following unexpected enforcement enactment successful Kern County earlier this week by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, an lawyer successful Fresno lawyer says immigrants successful Fresno and the remainder of the Central Valley should expect much raids to come- and to get ready.

Attorney George Rios says migration raids are thing new, but it is somewhat antithetic that it was U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents who conducted these raids.

Rios says U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials typically lone grip migration affairs astatine planetary ports of entry.

"As acold arsenic I know, determination are nary planetary airports successful Bakersfield."

In a statement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it was targeting enforcement arrests "of individuals progressive successful smuggling passim our areas of cognition arsenic portion of our efforts to dismantle transnational transgression organizations."

A deportation serviceman with Enforcement and Removal Operations successful U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's New York City tract bureau conducts a little earlier an aboriginal greeting operation, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024, successful the Bronx borough of New York. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

But Rios says that portion U.S. Customs and Border Protection's attack whitethorn look similar a bully idea, they bash not cognize however galore of those radical are really criminals.

"They're conscionable showing up astatine random state stations, Home Depots, perchance adjacent going doorway to doorway and there's besides reports of [CBP agents] pulling radical implicit connected the highway," Rios said.

According to Rios, the biggest interaction of the raids is instilling fearfulness successful the undocumented community.

"Their lone transgression is that they're present undocumented," Rios said. "It's terrifying. I mean, you're getting picked up and taken into custody. You're distant from your family, successful that archetypal detention, you astir apt don't person a batch oregon immoderate interaction with anybody."

But Rios says determination are steps undocumented immigrants tin instrumentality if they are approached by instrumentality enforcement. Rios says these steps should beryllium taken erstwhile speaking to immoderate instrumentality enforcement officer, arsenic migration enforcement officials often place themselves arsenic a generic constabulary bureau erstwhile dealing with individuals.

"First happening you should do, is not accidental anything," Rios said. "Invoke your close to an lawyer and successful migration cases, invoke your close to spot an migration judge."

Rios says if authorities are attempting to participate a person's location determination are adjacent much steps radical tin instrumentality for their protection.

"You don't adjacent person to unfastened the doorway to them unless they person a warrant with your sanction oregon your code connected it," Rios said. "Speak to them done a window, done a surface doorway and inquire that they descent immoderate benignant of warrant either nether the doorway [or] enactment it up to the window."

Rios says with the Trump Administration connected the skyline and speech of wide deportations becoming much and much prevalent, helium expects raids and sweeps based connected profiling to go progressively common.

He encourages anyone successful the undocumented assemblage to retrieve to not accidental anything, invoke their close to an migration attorney, and inquire to spot an migration justice - and thing more.