[Excerpt]

Heartfelt and tearful testimonies from Pomona residents and workers about recent run-ins with federal immigration agents made for a tense atmosphere at a public hearing convened by Pomona Mayor Tim Sandoval.

About 100 people attended the May 2 event at The Union, including Sandoval, Pomona City Council member Nora Garcia, and staff from Inland Communities Organizing Network (ICON), a local affiliate of the Industrial Areas Foundation. It was organized by ICON, with support from Gente Organizada, the Latino and Latina Roundtable of the San Gabriel and Pomona Valley, and ICE out of Pomona.

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Joined by her two daughters, a woman named Maria recounted how ICE agents chased her husband and 10-year-old son near the Pomona/Ontario border on April 25. She said her husband was given conflicting instructions on how to proceed with his immigration court hearings, costing time and money, and he and their young son now live in fear of going outside.

Guadalupe said her husband was arrested by ICE on January 21, and remains in detention in Mexico. The mother of five said she fears telling her landlord her husband is gone as it could cause the family to be evicted.

Olivia said her 70-year-old husband and son were arrested by ICE in early January. Her son was released, but her husband Samuel remains in custody in California City. Her main concern is Samuel is not receiving his heart medication despite her many pleas with authorities to allow the medicine into the facility.

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Jessica Fallon, an organizer with ICON, said the hearing took about four months to coordinate.

“Everybody knows a couple people,” who have been impacted by recent federal immigration crackdowns, Fallon said. “We were able to find enough people that were willing to share their stories and were brave enough to do so … We had some people who were eager to do so, and we had some people where the reassurance we wanted to offer was that the goal of this is to make sure that we are recording testimony of what’s happening for posterity and for future accountability.”

Testimonies were recorded, transcribed and forwarded to U.S. Congressman Robert Garcia, a Democrat and the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, who has launched investigations into allegations of unlawful detention and constitutional violations related to recent immigration raids, according to Sandoval.

[Photo credit: Andrew Alonzo, Claremont Courier]

Public Hearing Documents Alleged ICE Abuses in Ponoma, Claremont Courier [pdf]