Thread: 'Danbury 11' face federal judge

'Danbury 11' face federal judge
Lawyers argue legality of arrests

http://www.newstimeslive.com/news/story ... rce=tabbox
By Mark Langlois
STAFF WRITER

HARTFORD, CT -- A federal judge heard arguments Monday dealing with 11 illegal immigrants arrested in Danbury a year ago.
Courtroom arguments focused on whether last September's arrests of the 11 were legal.

"The judge really grappled with the issues. We had an hour of serious arguments," said Simon Moshenberg, a third-year law student working for the Jerome N. Frank Legal Services Organization of Yale Law School.

Moshenberg is representing the 11 before Judge Michael Straus, who heard the case Monday.

Moshenberg said his goal is to get the judge to give the Danbury defendants a full hearing, where all the details of the arrest are made public. Without that, Moshenberg said, the question of the legality of their arrest may never come out.

Moshenberg argues the arrests are illegal because the immigrants were lured into a van and led to a fenced-in field where they were first arrested and then questioned.

He said that's the wrong order of events -- the proper order is for an officer to ask questions and then, based on the answers, make an arrest. Otherwise, Moshenberg said, it seems like racial profiling.

The 11 day laborers were arrested by Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents after they climbed into a van driven by a Danbury police officer posing as a contractor looking for workers.

Danbury Police Chief Al Baker said the reason for picking up the workers was that citizens had been complaining about day laborers running into traffic to reach approaching trucks and vans, putting their lives and those of the drivers at risk.

Outside the courthouse, supporters of the defendants rallied in their defense.

Among those rallying for the defendants were Patricia Bowen, former director of Welfare Services in Danbury; Christine Halfar, Democratic Party candidate for Common Council the 7th Ward; and Lynn Taborsak, Common Council candidate in the 3rd Ward.

"What were Danbury police doing in that sting? They planned it," Taborsak said. "Can you believe we didn't know that in Danbury?"

Taborsak said she attended Monday's court case because, "I always have to do the right thing."

Common Council candidate Halfar said she believes the 11 were arrested because they were Hispanic, not because the police knew beforehand they were in the country illegally.

"They had no warrants for their arrest. They had no case beforehand," Halfar said. "I'm supporting people from my town who were unjustly seized in an ICE raid."

Bowen, former director of city welfare and social services, said she was rallying for the immigrants because she supports the dignity of human beings and the right of people to protest a government's action in a democracy.

The case was continued to Oct. 15.

Contact Mark Langlois: at mlanglois@newstimes.com
or at (203) 731-3337

Illegal is illegal. We should acknowledge the fact that we were lucky to catch 11 illegal aliens.

Judge denies 'Danbury 11' motion
By Eugene Driscoll | STAFF WRITER
Article Last Updated: 02/04/2008 03:39:56 PM EST


HARTFORD -- A federal immigration judge denied a request to stop the deportation proceedings against nine men detained during a 2006 day laborer sting at Kennedy Park.
Danbury police did not exceed their authority during the undercover operation, Immigration Judge Michael Straus wrote in a ruling made public Monday -- and agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcment did not rely on racial profiling to make the arrests.

The men would have faced deportation within the next few months. However, lawyers from Yale University's Jerome N. Frank Legal Services plan to appeal the decision.The group cannot be deported until the appeal is heard.

The judge's ruling is the latest round in the legal wrangling over the so-called "Danbury 11," a group of day laborers detained in Kennedy Park in September 2006.

Two of the original 11 were already deported.

The morning of the sting, an undercover officer in a sport utility vehicle offered the laborers work.

The men entered the vehicle and were driven a few blocks to ICE agents, who questioned the men about their citizenship status.


This is a developing story.


http://www.newstimes.com/latestnews/ci_8163316

This is a a bad joke. Illegal aliens are fighting their deportation because the Police assumed they were illegal aliens when they were and thats some how wrong???Seems the Police were just on the ball and they are now grasping at straws using some liberal kid lawyer wanna bee to buy time.

I guess these illegals have been sitting in jail since 2006 and they want to stay there to go through an appeal?