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Sweeps by Border Patrol agents in California have stoked fears among undocumented migrant workers on the eve of Donald J. Trump’s presidential inauguration.
A Border Patrol chief posted a video this past week of a crackdown in California called Operation Return to Sender. Credit… Allison Dinner/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Published Jan. 17, 2025 Updated Jan. 18, 2025, 8:34 a.m. ET
When President-elect Donald J. Trump takes office on Monday, the U.S. Border Patrol is poised to play a central role in his promised immigration crackdown. On Thursday, Californians got a preview of the tensions likely to play out as undocumented migrants get rounded up in places that rely on their labor.
On one side, a Border Patrol chief posted a video on social media showcasing sweeps last week in California’s Central Valley. Named Operation Return to Sender, the effort involved dozens of arrests. “They think I’m hiding in the shadows, but I am the shadows,” a voice whispered during the video, echoing a popular Batman movie.
On the other side, United Farm Workers officials held a news briefing, describing the fears the operation had caused in immigrant communities. They suggested the arrests signaled that “rogue” law enforcement agents, inspired by Mr. Trump’s plans, could take matters into their own hands.
“This is part of a new political climate of people in some of these agencies feeling emboldened,” said Antonio De Loera-Brust, a spokesman for the organization, a labor union.
The Biden administration and the Trump transition team did not reply to messages seeking comment. U.S. Customs and Border Protection would not answer questions about the effort, saying broadly that agents conducted “targeted enforcement arrests of individuals involved in smuggling throughout our areas of operation as part of our efforts to dismantle transnational criminal organizations.”
Details about the sweeps have primarily come from the social media channels of Gregory K. Bovino, a Border Patrol chief in Southern California. In a series of posts, he called the three-day operation an “overwhelming success” that resulted in the arrests of 78 people, all of whom were in the country illegally and some with “serious criminal histories.”
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