Feature: Border Patrol Demands Documents, Takes Family Members into Custody at Qualcomm

Reporters for univision and azteca told san diego indymedia volunteers that i.c.e. officers separated one family into members who had papers and those without documents, taking the undocumented into custody for deportation. A family sdimc spoke with said that they observed border patrol agents demanding documents from folks at the shelter. When a reporter approached and asked what they were doing, the agents promptly left.

A family who evacuated from ramona said that, in the chaos of leaving an area rapidly being overtaken by wildfire, they initially were scattered amongst evacuation centers in escondido, mira mesa and san diego because of difficult communications and closed roads, only reuniting at qualcomm today. Some of their neighbors without papers stayed behind because of a fear of crossing police lines or a need to work. The family cannot return home until friday because of a lack of potable water in ramona, and they have no idea whether their home survived.

The number of evacuees at qualcomm has dwindled from earlier in the week, and those folks left appear to be largely working class people of color. Qualcomm is highly militarized, with soldiers in camouflage uniforms carrying locked and loaded m-16s - some had recently returned from iraq. In a surreal vignette, an overzealous phalanx of sdpd officers desperately attempted to keep a spiffy clean, preppy looking lieutenant governor john garamendi separated from the disheveled evacuees as he was being interviewed by the corporate media.