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Protesters charge cops harassing immigrants

By Antonio Olivo
Tribune staff reporter
Published September 13, 2006, 9:00 PM CDT


About 80 protesters rallied Wednesday in front of a Chicago police station in Albany Park over what they said had been harassment of immigrants by officers wearing U.S. Border Patrol caps.

Police officials said they're investigating the account of Ernesto Cruz, 21, who was arrested last week by two officers who allegedly questioned him about his immigration status, a violation of a city ordinance.

Although Cruz was released in less than an hour after being charged for riding his motorcycle without a license or proof of insurance, the incident has resonated in the predominantly immigrant Northwest Side neighborhood after several recent federal deportation raids across the nation.

The protesters marched from Roosevelt High School, near where Cruz was arrested, to the Albany Park District police station, where they demanded that the two officers be disciplined.

"What they did was wrong," said Diane Limas, a board member of the Albany Park Neighborhood Council. "It's especially troubling in this climate of immigration reform, knowing the sensitivity about this issue. It is obvious to everybody these two police officers have no other motivation than to strike fear in the community."

Cruz said he was sitting on his motorcycle outside his girlfriend's home near Kimball and Leland Avenues when the officers approached him wearing green-and-yellow baseball caps with "U.S. Border Patrol" stitched across the front. After he failed to produce a Social Security card or driver's license, the officers handcuffed him and took him to the station, Cruz said.

"They kept saying I was illegal," said Cruz, a business finance student at Northeastern Illinois University who was born in Mexico. "I told them I had lost my wallet."

Some at the rally said they had witnessed other incidents in recent months where people have been pulled over by men in "Border Patrol" hats, sparking nervous gossip in the neighborhood populated by immigrants from Latin America, India and Pakistan.

"It was really almost terrifying," said Prateek Sampat, 23, who said he saw officers wearing such hats talking to pulled-over drivers twice in the last three weeks. "I thought they followed someone into the city or something like that."

Xavier Rios, a U.S. Border Patrol spokesman in Washington, said the agency has no operations going on in Chicago.

In an e-mail to Ald. Richard Mell (33rd), who has inquired into the charges, an Albany District commander said the two officers were part of the department's tactical unit.

The officers approached Cruz because he was causing a disturbance by revving his motorcycle, the e-mail from Cmdr. Charles J. Dulay said, adding the officers would be disciplined if the charges are sustained.

"It is against department orders to question anyone on the grounds that they may not be a U.S. citizen," Dulay's note said. "Also, there are specific definitions and responsibilities officers are required to follow with uniform standards. Plainclothes officers are prohibited from wearing any logos, slogans or identifiers of any organization."

With tensions over undocumented immigrants heightened as Congress debates federal immigration policy, local government officials around the nation are debating whether to enforce federal immigration laws.

Tribune staff reporter David Heinzmann contributed to this report.

aolivo@tribune.com