Immigrants and Racial Profiling

By C. Ibanez

Many immigrants in San Diego are being neglected. Their employers are putting them in danger. Authorities and volunteers are treating them rudely. They are also being refused at aid and evacuation sites.They have no where to go and no one will offer them help. Instead of being treated with respect or at least compassion they are being abused and racially profiled. Immigrants are being neglected by authorities and forced to work in farms adjacent to fires. There have been numerous instances in which immigrant laborers are being forced to stay working in farms adjacent to evacuated areas. Employers are threatening to fire laborers who refuse to work under precarious conditions. This poses a great health risk for them. Primarily because the air they are breathing is polluted. Many people are afraid of losing their jobs so they continue working under such conditions.

The San Diego Union Tribune reported that many immigrants living in remote canyons and fields near the fires are not evacuating. they are not evacuating either because they are afraid of losing their jobs or scared of getting caught by the Border Patrol. They are also staying in their homes because they have no where to go because they are being rejected at refuges centers because of their legal status. They are being rejected because they now need an ID of proof of their legal residence. Many don't have them because they lost them in the fire.

immigrants are being racially profiled by police and deported by the Border Patrol. Six undocumented immigrants were arrested by border patrol when they were looking for help in San Diego. They were left homeless after the wild fires in San Diego destroyed their home. They were getting food for their family a lady called the cops and accused them of stealing food meant for evacuees. Police responded to the call they came to find 6 people in a van who did not speak English nor did they ave a drivers licence. They then confessed that they were Mexican citizens. The police let them go a while later border patrol showed up. Police had called border patrol after finding out that they were illegals. They arrested the immigrants they were deported the left a couple and 4 kids because the kids were U.S citizens. Apprehensions and deportations of these immigrants are potentially illegal, since San Diego Police Officers are not supposed to report undocumented immigrants to Border Patrol agents unless they are formally arrested and charged with a crime.

That this is happening in the U.S is just wrong. This was supposed to be a land of immigrants and honestly no one is truly 100% American. Everyone is an immigrant or descendant of an immigrant. These people do not deserve to be treated like this. Immigrants should be treated with respect. Just because they are immigrants does not mean that they are less human than anyone else.