Article Launched: 05/23/2006 12:00:00 AM MDT

Samaniego accused of doing illegal work on border
By Brandi Grissom / Austin Bureau

Samaniego

AUSTIN -- Some of El Paso County Sheriff Leo Samaniego's border security operations could be illegal and lead to expensive lawsuits, state and local officials said Monday as a top civil rights group announced it is deciding whether to sue.
"As immigration issues hit border states, we must fight to ensure that the civil rights of border citizens are guaranteed," said state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso.

State Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa, D-McAllen, accused Samaniego of conducting illegal immigration raids and roadblocks, and in a letter Friday asked Gov. Rick Perry to rein in local law enforcement. El Paso County Attorney José Rodríguez said he has Related Articles
Deputies instilling fear in residents, groups say

received a flood of complaints and is monitoring the department to safeguard the county from liability.

Sheriff's Office spokesman Rick Glancey said the allegations are baseless and politically motivated by Shapleigh. Samaniego has endorsed Shapleigh's Republican opponent Dee Margo in the coming November election.

"There's been a tremendous amount of push from various organizations to make accusations, and it's kind of like that old saying, throw some mud and see if something sticks," Glancey said.

Hinojosa, chairman of the Senate Hispanic Caucus, said Samaniego is misusing money Perry provided border sheriffs for Operation Linebacker. He said legal concerns motivated

Hinojosa

him to write Perry, not political worries of Shapleigh, vice chairman of the caucus.

Texas law prohibits peace officers from engaging in activities designed to uncover undocumented immigrants.

"He's getting caught up in all this hysteria against immigrants, and I will almost guarantee to you that if he does not cease this type of action, there will be a lawsuit," Hinojosa said.

He asked Perry to develop a strict policy for use of Operation Linebacker funds. Under Operation Linebacker, sheriff's deputies work as a second line of defense to the U.S. Border Patrol, arresting undocumented immigrants who commit crimes.

Perry has sent more than $367,000 to each of 16 sheriffs in the Texas Border Sheriffs' Coalition through the federal Byrne Grant program, intended to fight the drug war on the border.

Perry spokeswoman Kathy Walt said border sheriffs know the grant money is to be used to increase law enforcement presence on the border and deter crime, not to enforce immigration laws.

"To our knowledge, there has not been any misuse of those funds," she said.

Hinojosa said he has heard widespread complaints about detentions based on a person's "looking Mexican" from the operation in El Paso County.

In the letter to Perry, Hinojosa said community organizers have reported roadblocks in which sheriff's deputies ask vehicle occupants for their driver licenses, insurance information and social security cards.

Glancey said that because more than 90 percent of El Paso's population in some areas is Hispanic, it only makes sense a majority of arrests would be of Hispanics.

What Hinojosa called immigration raids, specifically referring to an incident last month in which sheriff's deputies led Border Patrol agents to arrest 26 undocumented immigrants at an East El Paso quarry, Glancey said were welfare checks in which citizens have reported unhealthy or suspicious living conditions.

Additionally, Glancey said, there was no way to determine which of the departments' operations are funded by the federal grant Perry awarded the county.

"We have to respond to complaints from people who live in that area," he said.

Brandi Grissom can be reached at bgrissom@elpasotimes.com;(512) 479-6606.

El Paso Times reporter David Crowder contributed to this story.


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