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San Diego | U.S. | Immigrant Rights | Labor & Workers

The Forgotten Victims of the California Wild Fires: Undocumented Migrant Workers
by via Democracy Now
Monday Oct 29th, 2007 8:07 AM
Monday, October 29, 2007 : Andrea Guerrero of the San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium says law enforcement deported evacuees and checked identifications of evacuees fleeing fires.
Thousands of people are beginning to return home as the wildfires across Southern California slowly die out. But for the thousands of undocumented migrant workers in San Diego's lucrative agriculture industry, the process is fraught with the threat of harassment and deportation.

According to the Los Angeles Times over 100 border patrol agents have been redeployed to evacuation centers and neighborhood checkpoints for returning residents. Rumors of immigration raids only increased when an undocumented family was deported to Mexico Wednesday after local law enforcement arrested them for allegedly stealing food. Immigrant rights groups claim that local law enforcement is racially profiling immigrants. They say there is no need for them to involve border patrol agents.

Andrea Guerrero is the Chair of the San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium. She is also the Field and Policy Director of the ACLU in San Diego. She joins me now from San Diego, California.

  • Andrea Guerrero , Chair of San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium. She is also the Field and Policy Director of the ACLU in San Diego.

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