Allaying the fears of Walhalla Latinos

A meeting yesterday was designed to lessen the anxiety among Walhalla Latinos that the President’s executive order and plan to build a wall could lead local authorities to round up members of the local Spanish-speaking community, which could lead to their deportation.  But Walhalla Chief of Police Ronald Wilbanks says nothing has changed with his department since Donald Trump replaced Barack Obama last month.  “We re-assured them (members of the local Latino community) that we are still doing business as usual and nothing has changed about that.”  According to Wilbanks, Latinos had incorrectly heard that members of their community were bring processed.  “None of that was true,” Wilbanks said.  Fears among Walhalla Latinos and other Latinos across the upstate have been further raised by the appearance recently of an individual who is falsely portraying himself as an immigration officer, with the intent of extracting money.  Wilbanks says law enforcement is on the lookout for that person.  Yesterday’s meeting was attended by representatives of the Walhalla police, the Oconee Sheriff’s Office, the South Carolina Department of Public Safety, and the Department of Homeland Security.