Border Patrol IN San Juan Capistrano

[Borderwatch]

ttp://www.ocregister.com/news/border-233915-patrol-mayor.html

Some business owners at a San Juan Capistrano shopping center say routine checks by the U.S. Border Patrol are scaring away customers and hurting their bottom lines.

Store owners at Alipaz Plaza at Del Obispo and Alipaz streets told Mayor Lon Uso during his Mayor's Walk this week that they want the city to ask the Border Patrol to stop going to the shopping center.
Article Tab : Isabel Rizo Patron tells San Juan Capistrano Mayor Lon Uso that she thinks the presence of U.S. Border Patrol agents at Alipaz Plaza, where she owns a beauty salon, is scaring away customers.
Isabel Rizo Patron tells San Juan Capistrano Mayor Lon Uso that she thinks the presence of U.S. Border Patrol agents at Alipaz Plaza, where she owns a beauty salon, is scaring away customers.

The Mayor's Walk is a monthly event organized by the San Juan Chamber of Commerce in which the mayor visits local businesses to hear their concerns. Wednesday afternoon's walk was the first for Uso, who became mayor in December.

"Last year I started hearing my customers say, 'Don't go to Alipaz Plaza, that's where (the Border Patrol agents) are hanging out,'" said Isabel Rizo Patron, owner of Isabel's Beauty Salon.

Rizo Patron said she has a diverse group of customers but that many of her clients are Hispanic and don't like to be in an area frequented by the Border Patrol.

The Border Patrol not only supervises border and interior checkpoints, such as the one a few miles south of San Clemente, but also inspects city streets much like a police force would, said Ralph Desio, a Border Patrol spokesman.

He said the Border Patrol often checks shopping centers throughout Orange County as part of an increased push to check for illegal goods and immigrants beyond the borders.

Uso listened to the concerns of Rizo Patron and others but said there's not much he can do when it comes to the agency formally known as U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

"We don't determine what they do or where they do it," Uso said.

Douglas Dumhart, the city's economic-development manager, who has been on many Mayor's Walks, said this is the first time he's heard of concerns about the Border Patrol's effect on commerce. But he said Alipaz Plaza has more Hispanic-based businesses than others that city and chamber officials have visited in the past.

The center contains a few Mexican food restaurants, hair salons, a discount store and a coin laundry.

Rizo Patron and Tuning Acosta, who has owned A-Team Enterprises Income Tax Services in the plaza for 15 years, said they understand that Border Patrol agents have a job to do, but they would prefer it be done somewhere else.

Word of even one Border Patrol visit can spread through the community and cause some people to perceive Alipaz Plaza as an unsafe place for them, Rizo Patron said. So they spend their money elsewhere.

Acosta, a paralegal who focuses on immigration law, said he is thinking about moving to another shopping center. The Border Patrol's effect, combined with the slumping economy, has decreased his client base by hundreds, he said.

The Border Patrol's Desio said the fear of customers who are staying away from the plaza "perhaps has reason."

"Perhaps their customers are here illegally," he said.

He added it is unlikely the agency will change its methods because of such concerns. If there were allegations of harassment or misconduct, the agency would take a closer look, he said.

"Patrolling a shopping center once or twice a month doesn't seem egregious," Desio said.

Acosta said he has seen agents in a clearly marked vehicle park near his business at least three times in the past couple of months. Desio said he could not say how many times agents have visited Alipaz Plaza because agency policies prohibit releasing data about Border Patrol whereabouts.

Some business owners were under the impression that the Border Patrol agents worked for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice said ICE does not carry out general patrols but rather is typically in search of a specific person.

Ricarda Abiles, owner of the San Juan 99 Cent and Up store, said she has asked her landlord to talk to the Sheriff's Department and the city about the Border Patrol presence.

Uso told many of the business owners that though he is an immigrant (from Mexico), he can do nothing that might support illegal immigration.

"I hate to see businesses in my community suffering, but my hands are tied," he said.

Desio said complaints about the agency should go through the mayor and that if the mayor wants, he can write a letter expressing the concerns. However, Desio said, unless there is a strategy shift within the agency, not much will change.

"As much as these businesses are saying that just the mere presence of the Border Patrol is hurting them, there are people on the other side of the fence who'd like to see more patrols," Desio said.
Contact the writer: blevine@ocregister.com or 949-492-5135