Thread: ACLU slams Lake County Sheriff's Office for detaining immigr

ACLU slams Lake County Sheriff's Office for detaining immigrants
Martin E. Comas | Sentinel Staff Writer
6:56 PM EDT, April 2, 2009

TAVARES - The American Civil Liberties Union blasted the Lake County Sheriff's Office Thursday and said it conducted a "whitewash" in an internal investigation looking into why an undocumented immigrant mother from Honduras was unlawfully held for more than two weeks in the county jail.

"It's simply an effort to cover up the Sheriff's Office misconduct," said Glenn Katon, an ACLU senior attorney, referring to the Lake sheriff's report released this week. He added that deputies held the Honduran woman, Rita Cote, "with no legal authority."

But in a written statement, Sheriff Gary Borders' office denied the accusations.

"The investigation was not a 'whitewash'" the statement reads. "It was a diligent effort to analyze the situation and identify any deficiencies and/or contributing circumstances that led to the prolonged incarceration. This investigation came following a very public admission from the Sheriff's Office that a mistake was made on their part and that the situation was being investigated."

Katon also said a recent ACLU review showed that during the last two years 220 people -- almost all of them Hispanic -- were held in the county jail without being charged and were only detained to be picked up by the U.S. Border Patrol.

That means that sheriff's deputies, said Katon, "are acting like ICE [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] agents" and targeting Hispanics.

"They are conducting these sweeps, which they are not entitled to do under the law," Katon said.

In the past, Borders has denied that his deputies are profiling Hispanics.

Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. John Herrell denied the ACLU's accusations Thursday.

"Absolutely not," he said. "That's not the case. That's completely baseless and without any justification whatsoever."

The ACLU's criticism comes three days after a sheriff's internal investigation showed that jail deputies did not violate any policies when the 23-year-old Honduran mother was held for eight days in the Lake County Jail in Tavares during February.

Tavares Police arrested Cote, also known as Rita Enriquez-Perdomo, Feb. 16 after discovering she was an illegal resident and had an administrative warrant for her deportation. She was taken to the Lake County Jail and held with minimum- and medium-security prisoners. Tavares Police told jail officials that their department had notified federal immigration enforcement authorities about Cote.

Under to federal law, Cote could not be held longer than 48 hours as she waited to be picked up and deported by U.S. Border Patrol. After that, she had to be released unless she faced other charges.

But Cote was not released until March 5 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Sheriffs officials this week said Cote "slipped through the cracks" and have since put in procedures "to prevent this from happening again."

On Thursday, Katon slammed that statement, saying that deputy sheriffs cannot detain someone for the Border Patrol only because they suspect the person may be an illegal immigrant and without any other charges.

However, Herrell disagreed saying that if ICE or Border Patrol issues a detainer for an illegal immigrant, then a deputy sheriff must take that person into custody.

"We have to detain them," Herrell said. "We have no choice. That's federal law."

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Ironic isn't it how the ACLU cites "laws" only when it suits them? Hypocrits!

I am sorry, but the police do have the power to arrest those they believe to have a warrant against them. And so, it seems the Hispanic illegals, which ignore their court dates are at the top of the list (and Hispanics, mostly illegal these days with their anchor babies, are the fastest growing population in the US) what are the odds these days? It ain't racism, it is simply complying with law, the demand that the judge gave out to show up in court. Ignore that and you are already in violation of a court order, which many judges don't take kindly to.

But Cote was not released until March 5 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Does this mean Cote was released and not deported?