Immigrant rights activists and upset family members gathered Sunday in Baldwin Park to express outrage over the arrests of 37 people during an overnight sobriety and drivers’ license checkpoints.
Dozens of demonstrators, some carrying signs with slogans such as “driving is not a crime,” demanded answers from Baldwin Park police over what they called a round-up of undocumented immigrants.
But police said the arrests were the result of recent changes in policies regarding what types of identification the court will accept when police issue a misdemeanor citation, such as one for driving without a license. And officials maintained that such checkpoints are a valuable took in combatting intoxicated driving.
Tearful children were taken into the custody of county officials as parents were arrested during the checkpoint, said Debbie Leance, a volunteer with Inland Empire Rapid Response Network. The majority, she said, were arrested only for driving without a license. One video shot by the demonstrators depicted a girl crying while explaining that the police were taking her mother away, “Because she’s not from here.”
“It’s such a large roundup. It’s unprecedented,” Leance said. It’s so unnecessary. That seems like a federal agenda.”
Activists and family members of those arrested waited outside the police station for them to go through the booking process and be released from custody.
Baldwin Park police Captain David Reynoso said 37 drivers were arrested at the checkpoint “for a variety of reasons, including DUI.”
Three drivers were arrested for intoxicated driving during the checkpoint, and three others were arrested for other DUI-related offenses, such as driving without a court-ordered ignition interlock device.
A full tally of the booking charges from the checkpoint was not available Sunday, he said.
The checkpoints were held between 6 p.m. Saturday and 2 a.m. Sunday, the captain said. Officers first set up a checkpoint at Los Angeles and Littlejohn streets before moving it later in the night to Ramona Boulevard and Barnes Avenue.
“The checkpoint was properly posted,” Reynoso said, adding that advance notice was given.
Those arrested for driving without a license also had no valid identification with them, Reynoso said.
Changes in the types of identification being accepted by the West Covina Superior Court in recent months mean officers are no longer able to accept some forms of identification, such as Matricula Consular identification, when issuing misdemeanor citations, Reynoso said.
As a result, when officers encounter unlicensed drivers who do not have valid identification, police must take them to arrest them and book them at police station in order to confirm their identities before issuing a citation.
A checkpoint held by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in nearby La Puente on the night of Dec. 21 and 22 netted 78 arrests, 56 of them for driving without a valid license, sheriff’s officials said in a written statement.
But a checkpoint held by Arcadia police late Saturday and early Sunday resulted in three DUI arrests, six citations for driving without a valid license and three one-day vehicle impounds, according to Arcadia police Traffic Sgt. Brett Bourgeous.
While driving is not a crime, as protest signs stated, “Driving without a license is against the law,” Reynoso said.
“The whole purpose for this checkpoint is public safety,” Reynoso said. “We understand that this could create a hardship, but it only takes one impaired driver to change a family’s life forever.
Ivan Gonzales, 25, of Baldwin Park said his girlfriend was crying and shaking when taken to hail in handcuffs for failing to have a valid drivers license and identification.
“She’s never been arrested. Not even a ticket,” he said.
Fourteen hours after her arrest, Gonzalez said neither he nor his girlfriend’s family had heard from her as they continued awaiting her release.
Justice for Immigrants Coalition legal coordinator J. Daniel Guzman said police failed to release some vehicles to licensed drivers with the owners’ permission at the checkpoint, as mandated by a state law that took effect in 2012.
But Reynoso said officers released 12 cars that were being driven by unlicensed drivers to other drivers who with valid licenses.
Despite the new law regarding police impounds at checkpoints, a separate law governs vehicle impounds in cases in which the driver is arrested, Reynoso said.