Thread: TN: 287(g) causes illegal alien to go into labor..(updated)

Juana Villegas DeLaPaz, a Nashville, Tennessee resident, should be happily tired these days since the recent birth of her fourth child. And Villegas DeLaPaz is tired but it's one derived of an emotional ordeal that has drained and depressed this 33-year-old mother — not because of her undocumented status, but because of what local law enforcement subjected her to as she was about to deliver her baby.

Our thanks to Tim Chavez, publisher of Nashville-based Political Salsa who alerted Latina Lista to the fact that on July 3, 2008, Villegas DeLaPaz was pulled over by Berry Hill, TN police and, who during the course of being questioned, was found to not have a driver's license and was subsequently arrested.

Acting as operatives of ICE's 287(g) program, the Berry Hill police department is authorized to identify those persons who may be undocumented immigrants for deportation proceedings — AFTER they've been arrested.

Yet, in a review of what Berry Hill police did on the eve of our nation's Independence Day, it is clear that their actions violated the purpose of 287(g) and needlessly subjected Villegas DeLaPaz to such emotional terror that it caused her to go into labor and endure the next few days of unspeakable treatment at the hands of those entrusted to protect their communities.

According to ICE's own definition of the 287(g):

What is the program designed to do?
The 287(g) program is designed to enable state and local law enforcement personnel, incidental to a lawful arrest and during the course of their normal duties, to question and detain individuals for potential removal from the United States , if these individuals are identified as undocumented illegal aliens and they are suspected of committing a state crime.

What is the program not designed to do?

The 287(g) program is not designed to allow state and local agencies to perform random street operations. It is not designed to impact issues such as excessive occupancy and day laborer activities. In outlining the program, ICE representatives have repeatedly emphasized that it is designed to identify individuals for potential removal, who pose a threat to public safety, as a result of an arrest and /or conviction for state crimes. It does not impact traffic offenses such as driving without a license unless the offense leads to an arrest.


As stated earlier, Villegas DeLaPaz didn't have a valid driver's license but she did have two other pieces of documentation that should have sufficed and garnered her only a written citation: a valid vehicle registration sticker and a consulate photo identification.

With these two pieces of documentation, it should have been enough to let her go with a citation, especially since the officers saw her advanced stages of pregnancy. Yet, in this climate of zero tolerance and zero common sense, they chose to use her lack of a driver's license as cause to arrest her, though 287 (g) guidelines explicitly say the individual should "pose a threat to public safety" and "does not impact traffic offenses such as driving without a license."

Once they arrested her and started proceedings, Villegas DeLaPaz went into labor. What followed is both disturbing, outrageous and beneath what the U.S.A. used to stand for.

According Poltical Salsa:

Villegas DeLaPaz was arrested, incarcerated and forced to go through labor under armed guard handcuffed to by her wrist and ankle to a hospital bed. When she arrived at the hospital, the nurse asked the accompanying officer to step outside while Villegas DeLaPaz changed into her hospital gown - he refused, forcing Villegas DeLaPaz to unclothe before him. Then she was shackled on her legs whenever she went to the bathroom. The nurse asked that the shackles be removed because she wanted Villegas DeLaPaz to be able to clean up after childbirth and do other hygiene to prevent infection. Again, the attending officer refused. Her newborn was taken from her and did not receive needed breast milk for several days. She was re-jailed and denied a breast pump to express her milk. Nurses attending her were crying. She could not sleep in the jail because of the intense pain from her swollen breasts. She was not allowed to call her family so her husband could be with her for the birth.
By the police department's own admission, Villegas DeLaPaz endured more days in jail than she should have because of the 4th of July holidays.

The Berry Hill police department is not making apologies for their actions but instead are portraying themselves as compassionate because they surrendered Villegas DeLaPaz to her family instead of deporting her.

Chances are they realized that if they deported her their public image would have sunk so low that it would have been a public relations nightmare to rectify it.

However, the Berry Hill police department's actions underscore why it is dangerous to put a federal program in the hands of local law enforcement who either may be required to fulfill quotas or show superiors "progress" in justifying the expense of paying their salaries while they were offsite receiving training.

No matter the reason, the Berry Hill police department's abuse of the 287(g) program calls for an immediate suspension of the program by ICE until a proper investigation can be conducted to determine if the program was abused in implementing it and, if so, a fine should be levied against the department and/or a revised supervision of the program be implemented.

In their haste and zeal to "authorize" local law enforcement to act as branches of federal authority for them, ICE has done nothing to hold those local law agencies accountable for abuses such as this.

It is time they did before more atrocities against nonviolent, low-level violators of U.S. law are treated like death row criminals.

http://www.latinalista.net/palabrafinal ... olice.html

I hate to be cruel, but we have citizens suffering worse than this, who never broke a law and are doomed because they don't have money.

Juana Villegas DeLaPaz, a Nashville, Tennessee resident, should be happily tired these days since the recent birth of her fourth child. And Villegas DeLaPaz is tired but it's one derived of an emotional ordeal that has drained and depressed this 33-year-old mother — not because of her undocumented status, but because of what local law enforcement subjected her to as she was about to deliver her baby.

Our thanks to Tim Chavez, publisher of Nashville-based Political Salsa who alerted Latina Lista to the fact that on July 3, 2008, Villegas DeLaPaz was pulled over by Berry Hill, TN police and, who during the course of being questioned, was found to not have a driver's license and was subsequently arrested.

I'm sorry! I only had to read the first two paragraphs to become ill! This piece is such a SOB story that I honestly do not believe I can finish without losing my breakfast.

This writer seems to GLOAT over the fact this illegal invader is pumping out babies faster than the stork can deliver them. To boot, she is driving around town without a license! Somehow, the writer is going to suggest we should feel sorry for this invader because police were doing their job!

If "Common sense" were the benchmark, the writer would be demanding this woman be deported rather than celebrating her outrageous actions!

Her newborn was taken from her and did not receive needed breast milk for several days.

NEEDED Breast milk? Sorry honey.....they have FORMULA. So your baby didn't SUFFER or starve.

She was re-jailed and denied a breast pump to express her milk. Nurses attending her were crying. She could not sleep in the jail because of the intense pain from her swollen breasts

Even legal and law abiding citizens are denied the right to pump breast milk at their jobs. Many women across America suffer with intense breast pain because of swollen breasts.

This disturbs me on a number of levels. First, lets start with the reason she was driving in the first place. She had no license, therefore she should not have been behind the wheel. Also, during my pregnancies, at the end, I was advised NOT TO DRIVE by my doctor. It has been too many years to recall the reasoning, but I believe it had to do with the waistline interfering with the steering wheel lol. Either way, she was a danger to herself and others, including her child, by being behind the wheel in the first place. This leads to my second question, what did she do to draw the attention of the officers who arrested her? The article fails to state the only crime was driving without a license. Could it be she was driving in a dangerous manner? Could it be that she has been pulled over on the same offense before? The article does not state the original cause. It also is clearly omitting any claim that the sole cause of being pulled over was no license.

Villegas DeLaPaz was arrested, incarcerated and forced to go through labor under armed guard handcuffed to by her wrist and ankle to a hospital bed.

I have a friend who is a prison guard, this is standard procedure for inmates in labor. Should she have gotten special treatment because she is Hispanic? I think not. The bottom line is that officer was responsible for his prisoner and could not let her out of his site. To avoid this, maybe she should not have been driving illegally in a country in which she was illegally residing, then she could have had a warm, family filled birth experience.

She was not allowed to call her family so her husband could be with her for the birth.

It is usually standard procedure not to let inmates have visitors while in a hard to secure area such as a hospital. Again, she should have considered this BEFORE HER JOY RIDE.

Her newborn was taken from her and did not receive needed breast milk for several days.

Some jails allow the babies to stay with their inmate mothers, others do not. Obviously, in the case of this mother in the process of being deported, they are not going to put a US citizen in her cell to complicate things. Like any other criminal who gives birth, the baby was more than likely put into state custody until another parent or family member could take custody of the child.

They let the baby starve? Of course not, the baby was fed formula, like millions of other babies are each year.

She was re-jailed and denied a breast pump to express her milk. Nurses attending her were crying. She could not sleep in the jail because of the intense pain from her swollen breasts.

As for the breast milk, they wouldn't let her express it???? What kind of nonsense it that? At the risk of being crude, all she had to do was walk over to the nearest sink or toilet and milk herself. It isn't that hard, I had to do it once or twice when I returned to work after having my middle child.

By the police department's own admission, Villegas DeLaPaz endured more days in jail than she should have because of the 4th of July holidays.

How many of us in college were always warned not to get a public intoxication charge on a weekend or holiday because the judge is off and we would have to spend extra time? Once again she is whining because she did not get special treatment.

The Berry Hill police department is not making apologies for their actions but instead are portraying themselves as compassionate because they surrendered Villegas DeLaPaz to her family instead of deporting her.

Well that is the first thing they did wrong in this case.

And how many thousands of taxpayer $$$ did her baby cost/ Now its WIC and food stamps, a free lawyer and healthcare. You can bet she will continue to drive without any clue as to the rules of the road and put the baby and everyone else in danger. Why would a police office trust an ID from an admitted illegal alien? Thats like a court taking a check for a fine from a check bouncer.

What a darn shame they didn't have time to deport her!!! Now she has FOUR anchor baby brats for us to support!!! On the bright side, the anchor brat was born in a jail, which must be cheaper than a private room in an American hospital!

I'd love to be on the jury when she sues the police dept. for millions of $$$...Oops, I forgot - it has to be a jury of your peers! That leaves me out!

I followed the link to the original story which has a comments section. I gather Tennessee may have an issue with illegal invaders and those who support them...

Originally Posted by crazybird

I hate to be cruel, but we have citizens suffering worse than this, who never broke a law and are doomed because they don't have money.

This is the same type of laughable journalism that used to appear in Left-wing college campus "rags" but is now the expected style for journalists if they want to keep their jobs since most newspaper owners are older hippies who think that they helping rid the world of the evil white "Man".