On behalf of the SDIRC Communications Coordinator:
For the past two days, we have posted what little information we do know about the supposed Walmart raids, which is what we have seen published on behalf of Walmart stores, and from the San Diego office of the American Friends Service Committee. We have asked for anyone who has been a witness to these raids to send us an email, submit a comment, or call us. Normally, people have been contacting us through the website for personal immigration related questions.
Between March 9th and March 10th, our site received 2,637 hits, with half of these being unique hits. We typically receive between 100 – 200 hits a day.
People have been accessing the site from 27 different states across the country, including Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, New York and other states.
Up until today we have received no single eye-witness testimony of raids happening in any store. A couple of people have commented that they heard about ICE being seen near a store, but again, they did not say that they themselves saw immigration officials. This does not mean that ICE or Border Patrol are not visiting stores or that they will not do so in the future, but on our end, there has not been one single confirmation as of yet of raids taking place. Again, if anyone does have first-hand information to confirm raids are taking place in stores, please let us know by sending us an email, commenting below, or by phone.
Please watch this report that comes from Houston, Texas.
Wal-Mart Raid Rumors Concern Houston Hispanics
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Thanks for the update. Reports have also come in that cell phones have been hijacked to send unsolicited text messages carrying the “alert” about immigration enforcement operations at Wal-Marts and at other local grocery stores. It appears that in the Northeast (Newark area), a similar complaint has surfaced where text messages people are receiving are requesting to know the immigration status of people. Please don’t respond to these if they start popping up here, and if you think your phone has been hijacked, I recommend contacting your provider for technical support.
WE NEED IMMIGRATION REFORM! THE TIME IS NOW……..YOU ARE HEARING THIS FROM A 31/WHITE MALE………….AS FOR WAL-MART I ENCOURAGE ALL UNDOCUMENTED WORKERS TO GO ELSEWHERE FOR THEIR SHOPPING….IT IS NOT WORTH THE RISK!