MEXICO CITY — More than half of the Mexican citizens detained by U.S. immigration agents and recently interviewed by Mexican consular authorities in Los Angeles had been living in the United States for at least a decade — and more than one-third had lived in the United States for more than 20 years.
Almost one-third of those interviewed had U.S.-born children.
Those are among the findings of a study released Tuesday by Carlos González Gutiérrez, the Mexican consul general in Los Angeles.
The findings, the consul said, expose as false the widespread notion that many of those detained during the Trump administration’s worksite raids had only recently crossed the border.
“It’s clear that the majority of these people had made roots in this country and were integrated into United States society,” the consul said. “These types of operations create fear, create panic.”
Los Angeles County is home to the nation’s largest community of immigrants from Mexico.
The survey results come from 330 detained Mexican citizens interviewed from June 6 — when U.S. immigration officials launched an ongoing series of raids — to July 7.
The individuals — 309 men and 21 women, all adults — were interviewed at a federal building in downtown Los Angeles after being detained “as a result of operations carried out by various federal agencies,” the consulate said in a news release.
Not included in the findings were scores of Mexican citizens detained at other federal sites and during the recent raids at the Glass House cannabis facilities in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.
Of those surveyed, the consulate said, 52% had resided for at least a decade in the United States, and 36% had resided in the country for more than 20 years. Almost 1 in 3 — 31% — had children born in the United States.
The detained Mexican citizens included in the survey worked in a wide variety of occupations, the consulate said, but the largest sectors represented were car washes (16.4%), construction (13.3%), factories (13%) and landscaping (11.5%).
“The vast majority are hardworking individuals who have contributed to the economy of Southern California for years,” the consulate said.
There was no word on how many of the 330 Mexican citizens had been deported to Mexico or how many decided to fight removal in court.
“Every deportation is devastating for those involved,” the consul said. “In every case there is a person or family that pays a high price and is emblematic of the high human cost that is implicit behind every deportation.”
Diplomats assigned to Mexico’s broad web of consulates across the United States are tasked with speaking with detained Mexican citizens and trying to provide them with legal and other help.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has publicly decried the “persecution” of immigrants during the recent U.S. raids, has directed consular authorities to step up their assistance in light of the Trump administration’s mass deportation program.
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