A day of shopping turned into panic for hundreds of illegal immigrants in East Austin.
Word spread through El Gran Mercado market that an immigration raid took place on Sunday. The flea market, on the corner of Pleasant Valley and Elmont Drive, is a known gathering spot for newly arrived immigrant families.
The market erupted into panic when people thought a raid was happening, witnesses said. Parents were seen running off without their children, vendor Rose Leva said.
"I've never seen this in my life, you know. I just started looking everywhere and everyone was running, so I decided to do the same thing," Nancy Barrientos said.
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Raid scare
News 8 Austin's Reagan Hackleman reports from East Austin.
 
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Barrientos, an illegal immigrant, works at a booth at the market. She ran to her family's car and hid inside for 10 minutes, scared to move a muscle. The only thing she could think about was her family.
"Separating from them and going back over there ... It just went through my head. I'm going to be far from them. It will be hard for me to get back in here," she said.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement could not be reached for comment Sunday. However, no one actually saw any immigration officers at the market.
"It's hard to describe it. You should have seen their faces, they were scared. Sometimes you feel sorry for them because they always have to live scared. They don't know what's going to come tomorrow, the really don't," Leva said.
