Immigrants' rights group demands resignation of Chaparral sheriff's sergeant
By Louie Gilot / El Paso Times
Article Launched: 04/02/2008 04:48:33 PM MDT


Immigrants' right groups demanded the resignation of the Otero County sheriff's sergeant in charge of Chaparral, saying that he continued to harass immigrants despite two ongoing lawsuits by civil rights groups.

The Border Network for Human Rights said 807 residents of Chaparral signed a petition asking for the resignation of Sgt. Robert Hansen.

The group accuses the officer of false arrests, for allegedly detaining people for up to two hours after giving them traffic tickets just to wait for the Border Patrol.

Group leaders said they would give the petition to Otero County Sheriff John Blansett and to county commissioners.

"Will I act on it? No I won't," Sheriff Blansett said in a phone interview. "He (Hansen) is doing what he's been instructed to do. He's doing his job."

Blansett also denied the false arrest allegations, saying they were made by people "with an ax to grind."

Patricia Calderon, of Chaparral, was one of six people who told Border Network officials that they were made to wait after a traffic stop by the side of the road for the Border Patrol in February and March. Calderon said that she was pulled over by Hansen on March 7 and that the officer handed her his cellular phone so a Border Patrol agent could ask her about her immigration status. She said Hansen took away her car keys and she had to wait two hours for the Border Patrol to arrive. Eventually, she was deported, she said.

"I asked him why he stopped me and he said he recognized
me, that I was the one who refused to open my door when he came to my house," she said. "I feel that this was retaliation because I didn't open the door."
Border Patrol spokesman Ramiro Cordero said Border Patrol agents do take some calls from local law enforcement agencies in Otero County to interview people about their immigration status.

Briana Stone, director of the Paso Del Norte Civil Rights Project, which is suing Otero County, said that doesn't mean police can detain people for no other reason than to wait for the Border Patrol.

The lawsuits allege that sheriff's deputies violated civil rights during a federally-funded border-control operation last summer. The lawsuit goes to settlement conference on April 17, Stone said.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/newupdated/ci_8785898