http://www2.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_2997078

ACLU:
Inland area border sweeps targeted people based on race

By Brenda Gazzar, Staff Writer
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

A civil rights group contends that hundreds of government documents released on last summer's Border Patrol sweeps in inland areas "seem to confirm the agency targeted people based on race," though border officials vigorously dispute that claim.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California filed a lawsuit in December in an effort to obtain documents about a Temecula-based Mobile Patrol Unit that arrested more than 400 illegal immigrants in June 2004 in cities including Ontario, Fontana, Corona and Escondido.

The arrests took place 14 months ago at bus stops, street intersections and near supermarkets, evoking massive protests from some Latino activists and politicians, counterprotests from citizens calling for stricter immigration enforcement, and helping fuel the fires of an immigration debate increasingly thrust into the national spotlight.

ACLU of Southern California attorney Ranjana Natarajan says the agency is concerned about racial profiling for a number of reasons after reviewing the documents earlier this summer.

For example, Border Patrol agents suspected someone was not a U.S. citizen or legal resident simply because they responded to agents' inquiries in Spanish, she said.

"I spoke to them in English but they responded in Spanish. Because of this I questioned them about their citizenship," a form, dated June 3 and completed by a senior patrol agent, said.

In addition, Ranjana had concerns, she said, that day labor sites were targeted and that Border Patrol agents were seen in majority Latino neighborhoods and supermarkets. In one instance, agents went to a location because an unnamed U.S. citizen reported that undocumented aliens were being dropped off there.

"Racial profiling is never reasonable suspicion, and evidence of racial profiling can be based on language, ethnicity, appearance and even dress, and even location inside a city. But none of those things are enough by themselves to provide reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing," Natarajan said.

But T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, said there are many reasons why people are approached in the first place, and responses in Spanish, for example, simply heighten suspicion. Not all reasons are listed in agent reports, he added.

"If you go back and read (the agent's) arrest report, you will find he wasn't arrested for speaking Spanish," Bonner said. "He was arrested for being in the country illegally."

The ACLU is now trying to obtain "tip sheets" from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which oversees Border Patrol, that show phone calls and other tips related to these sweeps and evaluate their legitimacy, Natarajan said. Although border officials said the arrests were based on specific intelligence from local police agencies, nothing in the nearly 1,500 pages of documents released supports that claim, she said.

"The concern is such law enforcement actions should be targeted based on specific, cognizable and reliable tips and ... if U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents were also stopped and questioned, as (U.S. Customs and Border Protection) seem to admit they were, then the tips they use probably were not that reliable," Natarajan said.

At least 45 people questioned during the operations, or one in 10 people, were said to be legal permanent residents or U.S. citizens, according to the documents.

Bonner argued that 90 percent accuracy is "pretty darn good." More importantly, he said, it shows the system works.

"We didn't arrest people here ... who were actually here legally," he said. "Once it was determined that 10 percent were here legitimately, they said, "Have a nice day.'"

Despite the federal government's claims to the contrary, Ontario police officials have repeatedly denied providing intelligence to U.S. Customs and Border Protection last summer.

"We would not give out any intelligence information, especially on a random basis," said Ontario police Detective Diane Galindo.

Escondido police officials, however, said they did contact immigration officials last year with citizen complaints, which were followed up by Border Patrol last summer.

"If we believe that we have a congregation of illegal immigrants involved in crimes in a specific area, we would give that information to (immigration officials), and act with them in solving the problem," said Lt. David Mankin, investigations commander for the Escondido Police Department.

Documents obtained by the ACLU reveal that people were detained on streets in 12 cities - some as far as 250 miles from the border - in moving and parked cars, and at bus stations and intersections where day laborers congregate.

Of the 423 people arrested, 409 were Mexican nationals, and all but one of the arrested were men, according to ACLU data. Nearly 350 of those arrested were pedestrians approached by agents, arrested by the Mobile Patrol Group from June 1 through June 15, according to the ACLU data. Most of the remaining suspects were in vehicles when arrested.

The Border Patrol sweeps were halted after federal officials said the 12-member Temecula unit overstepped its boundaries by not notifying D.C. headquarters in advance, or coordinating such operations with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency charged with conducting interior immigration enforcement.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Mario Villarreal said racial profiling was "absolutely not" used by the Temecula station Mobile Patrol Group.

"Our Border Patrol agents are some of the most highly trained law enforcement officers in the world, and over 400 aliens who were illegally in the United States were arrested," he said.

The Mobile Patrol Group conducted their June operations in the following cities: Cainbrake, Corona, Escondido, Fontana, Ontario, Poway, Rancho Bernardo, Rancho Pensaquitos, Rancho Santa Fe Farms, San Marcos, Temecula and Upland.