Immigration

Central Valley immigration arrests trigger panic in parts of Bay Area

Several unfounded reports of ICE sightings have popped up ahead of President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration

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Next Monday, Donald Trump will be sworn in as the nation’s 47th president, and among his repeated campaign promises is a plan for mass deportations. That promise is triggering fear in many communities, as false rumors of ICE activity have triggered real panic in multiple cities, including San Jose. Damian Trujillo reports.

Next Monday, Donald Trump will be sworn in as the nation’s 47th president, and among his repeated campaign promises is a plan for mass deportations.

That promise is triggering fear in many communities, as false rumors of ICE activity have caused real panic in multiple cities, including San Jose.

The Tropicana shopping center on Story and King roads is the heartbeat of the city’s immigrant community.

But last week, it was also the target for many false claims that immigration agents were conducting raids.

America Lopez of San Jose said the entire community is worried.

The Los Angeles Times reports that last week, ICE agents did make arrests in Kern County, which led to protests over the weekend in several California cities.

The arrests prompted numerous false claims of ICE raids in San Jose and San Francisco, among other places.

“Unfortunately what we did see is that when that scare came out, parents did come to pick up their students,” said Corina Herrera-Loera, Alum Rock Union School District board member.

She said one false report actually was linked to a SWAT team serving an actual routine arrest warrant — but the action was unrelated to immigration.

Others were false social media posts. Loera feels those were meant to trigger community fear, among both undocumented and documented immigrants.

“Social media posts that are not true,” she said. “They then get forwarded or texted to friends and family, so it's dangerous.”

In Santa Clara County, stakeholders formed what’s called a Rapid Response Network — a team that responds to any reported sightings.

They’ll report back if it's false. And if it’s a legitimate ICE operation, they will trigger a chain reaction involving several local agencies, including observers who will make sure constitutional rights aren’t being violated.

Lopez said she’s one of the worried ones, not knowing of her next text is another false alarm, or the real thing.

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