Advocates See Gowing Fear in Immigrant Community

New York, NY —

As the Bush administration unveils plans to increase enforcement of immigration laws and secure the Mexican border, local advocates say illegal immigrants are growing more frightened. WNYC's Marianne McCune reports.

REPORTER: Immigration agents are targeting immigrants with criminal records or old deportation orders. But in the process they may arrest and detain any illegal immigrant they encounter. That's resulted in arrests of several dozen at a time in towns across the Tri-state area.

Nadia Marin-Molina of The Workplace Project on Long Island says recently someone called frozen on a street corner, afraid to go anywhere because he'd heard immigration agents were in the neighborhood.

MARIN-MOLINA: Who knows whether immigration was really there or not, but that's the way people are living, people are living in fear at this point.

REPORTER: Many advocates are scrambling to teach illegal immigrants the rights they do have when they encounter immigration agents -- they can remain silent and get an attorney. The federal government also plans to increase sanctions against employers of illegal workers. A Long Island Union leader says he's delighted the government is putting its foot down.

For WNYC, I'm Marianne McCune