By Juliana Barbassa

During a series of immigration raids, federal agents identified themselves in a misleading way to gain entry into homes and detained people other than their intended targets, immigrant advocates say.

   U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents’ use of the word “police” during the raids in Contra Costa County, which yielded more than 200 arrests last week, is leading to mistrust between immigrants and local law enforcement, said advocates who held a news conference Friday to speak against the practice.
    Agents also detained individuals other than those they set out to arrest, stopping people on their way to work or parents about to pick up their children, spreading fear among immigrants in the county, they said.
   The enforcement action in Contra Costa County, part of the yearlong national Operation Return to Sender, resulted in the arrest of 119 targeted immigrants and 94 other undocumented immigrants they encountered in the process. About half were Mexican citizens; the rest were from Brazil, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Belize, India, Nicaragua, the Philippines, Afghanistan and Fiji.
    Nationally, more than 13,000 immigrants have been arrested since the operation was launched in June 2006.
    ICE spokeswoman Lori Haley said agents were correct to call themselves “police,” explaining they are federal police and that they often fully identify themselves once they are inside homes.
    She also said agents have the right to investigate people they encounter other than their specific targets, if they have reason to suspect they are in the U.S. illegally.
    If individuals found during someone else’s arrest process are found to be undocumented, they are also subject to arrest and removal, Haley said.
    But the sweeps have left many immigrants afraid to venture out of their homes or talk to police, said Jessica Peregrina, who works at the House of Hope, an outreach program at St. Mark’s Catholic Church in Richmond.
   “They don’t want to take their kids to school or go out to buy groceries,” she said.