Latino New Yorkers Can't Block Immigration Raids
Tuesday, April 17, 2012Last Update: 2:32 PM PT
By ADAM KLASFELD
MANHATTAN (CN) - The government should not face a sweeping injunction to protect all Latino New Yorkers from illegal immigration raids because a couple of dozen claim to have been victimized by the practice five years ago, a federal judge ruled.
The call for an injunction stems from a lawsuit filed in 2007 by 24 individuals of Latino background. They say they were targeted within eight months of each other for pre-dawn raids by armed agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Though the government has said "Operation Return to Sender" aimed to target fugitives, the plaintiffs claim that the "unstated goal of these raids" is a constitutional loophole for ICE agents to meet their quotas.
They say none of the agents had a warrant or factored immigration status when they chose targets for the raids.
Some agents allegedly gained entry by pretending there was an emergency in the house, while others rammed through doors to break into the homes. Some of the plaintiffs swept up in these raids say they were subjected to psychological and physical abuse in illegal detention.
All but three of the plaintiffs from the 2007 lawsuit sought to certify a class for injunctive relief, which would protect for Latino New Yorkers, a group totaling some two million people..
Though U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest found Monday that there is much evidence behind the individual claims, she declined to certify a class for the injunction.
"Based on the facts in the record on this motion (and the record on this motion is voluminous), there can be little argument that there are serious common questions regarding whether the 2007 raids were performed in a constitutionally and legally appropriate manner," her order states.
"The fact that the Latinos who were subject to raids in 2007 share common questions does not, however, automatically confer on Latinos in the New York area in 2012 and beyond the same potential commonality."
Forrest noted that the issue does not relate to class certification for damages claims.
The Supreme Court's recent decision to disband a class of workers suing Wal-Mart for discrimination informed Forrest's holding.
Though the plaintiffs submitted 120 affidavits attesting to widespread ICE raids of Latino homes, Forrest said they could not prove that Latino New Yorkers were at risk generally.
"As defendants point out in their papers in opposition to this motion, the proposed class here consists of approximately two million Latinos," Forrest wrote. "This results in one anecdotal incident for every 250,000 potential class members. That falls far short of the standard set by the Supreme Court."
Lawyers for the plaintiffs could not immediately be reached for comment.
Courthouse News Service
Operation Return to Sender
Operation Return to Sender
Operation Return to Sender is the name for a massive sweep of illegal immigrants by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency that began on May 26, 2006.
According to ICE, the campaign has focused on individuals deemed to be the most dangerous, including convicted felons and gang members, particularly those of the notorious Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang, as well as repeat offenders, some of whom had already been deported. As of late April 2007, over 23,000 illegal immigrants had been arrested.[1]
[edit] Overview
On Sept. 19, 2006 ICE conducted a sting operation and arrested 11 immigrants in Danbury, Connecticut who came to be known as "The Danbury 11."[2] A federal agent disguised himself as a contractor and enlisted the men to work on a construction site before handing them over to ICE. 9 of the 11 were later released on bail. In January 2007, due to a major push within Operation Return to Sender, raids in the Los Angeles Metro area netted 338 illegal immigrants who were arrested at their homes and apartments and 423 who were identified in area jails since Jan. 17. Those already jailed will be transferred to federal custody when they finish serving their state sentences, said Virginia Kice, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The sweep netted illegal immigrants from 14 countries in all, including Mexico, Honduras, Ukraine, India, Japan, Poland and Trinidad and Tobago.
An ICE press release from June 14, 2006 claims that Operation Return to Sender ended June 13, 2006 and brought in "More Than 2,100 Criminal Aliens, Gang Members, Fugitives and Other Immigration Violators".[3] However, this is contradicted by numerous citations that the operation is ongoing, including one[4] from the Contra Costa Times newspaper dated March 9, 2007, which quotes ICE as having arrested 13,000 more people from mid-June 2006 through January 2007, and also outlines the ACLU of Northern California's involvement in filing FOIA requests to find out more information about how ICE is conducting this operation. Raids in Marin County, California under "Return To Sender" occurred in early March 2007, showing that the operation continues.[5] On June 6, 2007 ICE arrested 29 individuals in New Haven, Connecticut as part of Operation Return to Sender and arrested a few days later in nearby North Haven. Some of these individuals had no criminal or immigration history.
Operation Return to Sender - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
