Community leader Jonathan Hernández, known as "DJ Cachu", denounced on Thursday that federal agents arrested about 15 people during an immigration operation in San Juan that began before dawn. According to Hernández, the operation started around 4:30 AM after about 24 buses gathered on Del Parque street; from there agents moved into Barrio Obrero, Villa Palmeras, Eduardo Conde avenue, Puerto Nuevo and other areas.
He said Villa Palmeras and Barrio Obrero were hit first and described the stops as fast, saying agents could pick up a person who ran or did not show documents in 30 or 40 seconds. Sandra Colón, spokesperson for Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Puerto Rico, confirmed the agency is supporting an immigration operation led by ERO Miami, the Enforcement and Removal Operations office of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), but referred questions about details to ICE.
The newspaper is awaiting ICE’s response on the number of arrests, areas targeted, detainees’ nationalities and reasons for detentions. Hernández, a Puerto Rican born to Dominican parents, also denounced stops based on skin color, clothing or apparent immigrant looks, questioned agents’ weaponry and force, called the deployment a form of intimidation, and urged residents to keep recording the interventions while keeping their distance from agents.