Adolfo Guzman-Lopez | KPCC
It appears federal immigration authorities are ramping up arrests in Southern California. Two state lawmakers -- including Senate leader Kevin de León -- say constituents contacted their offices to report raids Thursday.
Immigration lawyers are raising concerns as well. Lawyer Karla Navarrete said she and other immigration lawyers received a higher than usual number of calls from families of people arrested by immigration authorities.
Navarrete says she talked to a man in custody who was arrested in Van Nuys.
"This person has an old deportation order from 2011, I believe, and they have identified him and picked him up," says Navarrete. "He has no convictions but he has a deportation order."
Navarrete said the man has three children who are U.S. citizens.
Under the Obama administration, the policy had been to prioritize the arrests of undocumented residents who’d committed serious crimes.
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement official says claims that ICE personnel arrested 100 people in one day are “grossly exaggerated.” But they would not say how many people were detained.
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