Thread: Constitutional rights apply to noncitizens at ports of entry

http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_4209928

Article Launched: 08/20/2006 12:00:00 AM MDT

Constitutional rights apply to noncitizens at ports of entry
Louie Gilot / El Paso Times


The case of a Juárez woman who said she was physically abused in 2001 by an immigration officer at the Paso del Norte Bridge prompted a decision by the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals this month that non-U.S. citizens have constitutional rights at ports of entry.

"It doesn't matter whether you are a U.S. citizen or not, you have rights. It may seem obvious but nobody had said it before," said El Paso lawyer Lynn Coyle, who represents the woman, Maria Antonieta Martinez-Aguero.

The decision sets a precedent and could lead to more lawsuits on the border, legal experts said.

The decision came in response to a preliminary motion by the immigration officer seeking to dismiss the case on grounds that his alleged victim did not have constitutional rights to be free from false imprisonment and the excessive use of force by law enforcement officers because she had not made official entry into the United States, among other reasons.

The officer, Humberto Gonzalez, now a Border Patrol agent, denies the abuse.

"By no means did he do the things she said he did," said his lawyer, Jeanne "Cezy" Collins.

The two parties have starkly different versions of what happened on the Paso del Norte Bridge on Oct. 4, 2001.

According to a lawsuit filed in 2003, Martinez-Aguero, 49, was on a bus with her aunt at the bridge. Gonzalez, an INS agent at the time, took their border crossing cards and asked the women to get off the bus. The suit says he "verbally abused (Martinez-Aguero) and her aunt for not having the new 'laser' border-crossing cards."

Martinez-Aguero said the officer grabbed her, twisted her arms behind her back, shoved her against a wall and kicked her without provocation. She said she suffered an epileptic seizure because of the episode.

In his affidavit, Gonzalez said the two women approached him after having been denied entry into the United States because they had the older, expired border-crossing card. He said that Martinez-Aguero was very upset and so verbally abusive, profane and disruptive that he put her under arrest and she resisted. He said he received scratches in the altercation.

Louie Gilot may be reached at lgilot@elpasotimes.com, 546-6131.

Review the decision at www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/05/05 ... V0.wpd.pdf.

She said she suffered an epileptic seizure because of the episode.

Well.....if you have epilepsy there's alot of things that trigger seizures. Being caught breaking the law would set mine off too......but it's not the officers fault.

Gee, would it be safe to say that now the illegal movement is getting desperate? We're hearing more and more of these accusations now days.

The thing is, this woman was running the BP guy down the road for not accepting her Border Crossing Card and had to be physically restrained from entering the US. Border Crossing Cards all expired about 2001 without option to renew. She was just trying to invade and got called on it. Just another law officer doing his duty that this government dumped on for doing his duty.

The law also mandated that all pre- April 1, 1998 BCC's expire on October 1, 1999. In recognition of the magnitude of replacing over five million existing cards, Congress extended the deadline to September 30, 2001.

BCC Procedures After September 30, 2001 Deadline

All BCCs issued before April 1, 1998, will expire on September 30, 2001. Congress did not pass legislation to extend the expiration date, therefore these older cards are no longer valid for entry into the United States.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/types/types_1266.html