Copyright 2004 Associated Press

The Associated Press State & Local Wire

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April 30, 2004, Friday, BC cycle

SECTION: State and Regional

LENGTH: 744 words

HEADLINE: Officials trying to calm immigration raid rumors

BYLINE: By KRISTEN HAYS and PAM EASTON, Associated Press Writers

DATELINE: HOUSTON

BODY:
Nagging rumors of raids have fueled such fear among illegal immigrants in Houston that many temporarily abandoned their jobs and homes, prompting city leaders and immigration authorities to try to calm the fright.

"We're telling people, if they know someone who's been arrested, to let us know so we can react in case they need consulate protection," Marco Nunez, spokesman for Eduardo Ibarrola, the Mexican consul general in Houston, said Friday. "We've received no calls about actual arrests."

Officials from the Homeland Security Department's Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement met with city and Latino leaders Tuesday to address the rumors, which snowballed after construction workers mistook a private helicopter flying over their work site about three weeks ago for a U.S. Border Patrol aircraft. ICE has said consistently that officers are not conducting mass raids or arrests.

Since then, at least two Spanish-language radio stations have taken calls from people reporting alleged raids. Construction work sites across the city and in some suburbs shut down when workers didn't show up. Flea markets that cater to immigrant customers lost business.

Many residents of the Willow Creek apartments, a south Houston apartment complex, fled their homes and pulled their children out of school for a day last week when neighbors warned immigration officers were coming.

The raids didn't happen. But Crespo Elementary School noted 178 of 860 children were absent the morning after raid rumors swept the complex.

"We want to assure parents that your children are safe at school," Principal Celestina Martinez told parents in a letter dated April 21. "We have a responsibility to educate every child who comes to us regardless of immigration status, and we will carry out those obligations."

Adriana Villarreal, spokeswoman for the Houston Independent School District, said Friday that about 15 children are absent from Crespo on a typical day. Most children returned to school April 22, when Crespo recorded 26 absences, she said.

Yusleidy Ferrer, who works at Willow Creek, said Friday that residents by and large have returned to the complex as well. "They've come back already," she said. "Everything was fine."

However, Ana Yanez-Correa, interim executive director for the Texas chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens, noted said immigrants don't just feel pressure from federal authorities. A a Web site, www.reportillegals.com., invites visitors to report illegal immigrants and offers to forward such reports to immigration agencies for an $8 fee.

"They have good reason to be scared," Yanez-Correa said of fearful illegal immigrants. "There are all of these different activities going on of people taking it upon themselves to do (immigration officials') job. "

Dave Weber, listed as the administrative contact for the company that runs the site, Jumpin' Jupiter Inc. of Pompano Beach, Fla., didn't return repeated calls Friday regarding the site.

The Houston Chronicle first reported the fallout from raid rumors earlier this month. Abel Herrera, a tile installation subcontractor in north Houston, told The Dallas Morning News in Friday's editions that his project was shut down from April 11 through April 17 because crews didn't show up to work. They returned after he agreed to put someone equipped with a cellular telephone at a subdivision entrance to be a lookout for immigration officers.

Luisa Aquino, spokeswoman for the Houston office of ICE, declined comment on the rumors Friday or efforts to alleviate the fear. However, she said federal officials haven't changed their position since ICE issued a statement two weeks ago assuring the community that ICE "is not executing general raids against immigrants resulting in hundreds being arrested."

ICE agent Joe Webber said then that the agency was routinely arresting criminals and absconders.

"However, we are not making the hundreds of arrests at construction sites and the like, and we haven't been able to establish a starting event for the rumor," Webber said.

Jose Flores, news director for the Spanish-language Telemundo television station in Houston, said Friday that the station is "constantly" getting calls about raids which turn out to be routine arrests of individuals on criminal warrants.

"We let the officials say (raids) aren't happening, but people do get scared. They're still a little bit afraid."

LOAD-DATE: May 1, 2004