After ruling, local Latinos fear police

LYNN – Many Latinos in Lynn are wary after a United States Supreme Court’s ruling this week on a controversial immigration law in Arizona and last month’s news that the federal government will launch a program aimed at identifying illegal immigrants in Massachusetts, according to interviews with Latino business owners, officials and workers in the city.Rosa Felix, who owns Punta Cana Travel & Multi-services in Lynn, said she is losing customers because many of them don’t want to do business even with a Spanish-speaking company anymore for fear of being reported to police.”They think they’ll get put in a van and taken to jail,” said Felix, who is also the treasurer of the North Shore Latino Business Association. ” ? I hear a lot of people say, ?I can’t go to the mall anymore because in the parking lot there is a police car asking for ID.'”On Monday, the Supreme Court struck down some provisions of an Arizona immigration law, making it legal for undocumented immigrants to look for work and attend school, but it kept a key provision that allows state officers to ask a suspected immigrant for proof of documentation. And, in May, the federal government announced that it would implement Secure Communities, a program that checks the immigration status of people arrested, in Massachusetts despite Gov. Deval Patrick’s opposition to the program.Lynn resident Nestor Flores said that especially the Secure Communities decision, which more directly affects Massachusetts, has changed the way he and his friends and family live. Flores said he has his immigration documents but that his brother doesn’t, which makes his brother more nervous than ever to go about his daily life.”If (illegal immigrants) behave badly, throw them out,” Flores said in Spanish. “But there are many people who behave well and have kids and families and, if they get arrested for a small traffic infraction, they get thrown out and leave their kids behind. It’s difficult. It’s very difficult.”Many immigrants – legal or not – already arrive in America with a hesitation toward police after dealing with corruption in their home countries, said Frances Martinez, the executive director of the North Shore Latino Business Association.”Even those who are legal, they don’t trust a police officer because they fear they will be detained,” she said.News like Monday’s Supreme Court ruling breeds more distrust, she said.”People are in fear in regards to, ?What would happen if they stop me or if I don’t have my documents on me or if I don’t understand what they’re saying to me?'” she said.Martinez said she tells her 100-plus business members to educate their clients about police roles in America to avoid misplaced fear.”The police department isn’t here for immigration issues, they’re here to provide safety,” she said.That’s exactly right, said Lynn Police Chief Kevin Coppinger. Coppinger said he can understand immigrants’ wariness with police after the recent rulings but that so far nothing has changed with the way Lynn Police do their job.”We’re not out checking papers and checking their immigration documents,” he said. “Our job is public safety.”Not every Latino feels unsafe walking the streets of Lynn.Nick Jimenez of Jimenez Market on Union Street said racial profiling isn’t as pervasive in New England as it is in the southern or western states.”In Lynn, I don’t hear anything about police stopping anybody in the street or anything like that,” he said.And Juan Acosta, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic, said he’d rather focus on the economy than immigration issues.”Mitt Romney says that he has to put people to work first and then we worry about getting something going with immigration,” he said about the former governor of Massachusetts and soon-to-be Republican nominee for president.But it doesn’t matter if police in Lynn stop immigrants on the street or leave them alone, said community activist Ceferino Rosa.Rosa said the damage has already been done by Monday’s Supreme Court r