Thread: Latinos sue AG over Western Union seizures

http://www.sonorannews.com/WebOnly.html#story1



Latinos sue AG over Western Union seizures



Cannot recoup funds without proof of legitimacy



By Linda Bentley
PHOENIX ? It’s been about a year since the Circle K adjacent to the Sonoran News had a Monday morning rush of a dozen or so illegal aliens sending cash transfers Mexico.
From the activities going on in the store’s parking lot and at the pay phones from payday Friday throughout the weekend, it didn’t take rocket science for employees to realize they were dealing drugs and the suspicious Monday morning rash of money transfers, all going to the same recipient in Mexico, were probably to order more.
It’s been about a year now since an employee reported the suspicious transfers to corporate headquarters, which is when Circle K decided this store location would no longer be a Western Union agent.
In Cave Creek, the small-time drug dealers retaliated by breaking the toilet in the store’s bathroom.
On a much larger scale, plaintiffs Javier Torres, Alma Santiago and Lia Rivadeneyra filed a class action complaint on Oct. 18 against Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard in U.S. District Court, claiming the seizure of their money transfers violates the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to and the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
Represented by attorneys from the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, the plaintiffs allege the seizures were based on overly broad blanket seizure warrants and without probable cause.
The complaint stems from the seizure of certain money transfers, through a task force comprised of Department of Public Safety, Phoenix Police Department and AG’s office personnel, aimed at impeding the activities of human and drug smuggling organizations.
The task force had been collecting transmittal data for several years during its investigation of coyotes and smuggling organizations operating in Phoenix.
But, attorneys for the plaintiffs claim innocent people have been swept up along with the guilty.
The Fourth Amendment ensures the “right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures,” and states “no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause ?”
The Fourteenth Amendment deals with “Citizenship Rights” and says: “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States ?”
Records indicate, however, at least one of the plaintiffs, Rivadeneyra, a Peruvian national who works as a maid, is not a citizen and may be residing and working in the United States illegally.
If living the American dream means racking up over $208,000 in mostly unsecured credit card debt, Rivadeneyra and her husband lived that dream in California before declaring bankruptcy under Chapter 13.
The task force began obtaining location-specific warrants in 2003, authorizing the seizure of wire transfers made through private companies such as Western Union, MoneyGram and banking institutions.
In October 2004, a warrant was obtained that authorized the seizure of $1,000 wire transfers sent through Western Union from any state outside Arizona to a recipient in Arizona.
In March 2005, a warrant authorized the seizure of all $2,000 transactions placed with Western Union from locations outside Arizona for payment in Arizona.
Another warrant, executed in September 2005, authorized the seizure of all person-to-person wire transfers of $600 and $700, sent from the states of Tennessee, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia to recipients anywhere in Arizona.
On Sept. 22, 2006 a warrant authorized the seizure of all person-to-person transfers of $500 or more from any one of 29 states to any one of 26 specific Western Union locations in Sonora, Mexico.
Although that warrant was temporarily stayed by a court order on Sept. 25, 2006, it wasn’t until after 240 transfers, totaling more than $200,000, had already been seized.
Torres, who lives in Illinois, said he wired $1,000 to “a friend” in Glendale, Ariz. in March 2006 to pay for a car he had already received.
When the recipient didn’t receive the money, Torres contacted Western Union and was told an Arizona law enforcement official would get in touch with him.
The agent who called said the state of Arizona believed the money was wired to pay a coyote or drug dealer, but told Torres he could recover the money by providing proof it was sent for a lawful purpose, and requested Torres submit a copy of the registration or title to the car he purchased.
Torres claimed he no longer had those documents because he already sold the car. He said the agent told him without those documents he could not get his money back.
In March 2005, Santiago, who resides in North Carolina, said she wired $2,000 via Western Union to Phoenix, Ariz.
She claimed she was sending the money to her cousin, whom she said relocated to Arizona from North Carolina, so he could return to North Carolina to visit family.
When her cousin didn’t receive the money, Santiago contacted Western Union and was told the money was being held by the state of Arizona and someone would be contacting her.
The officer that called Santiago said he needed to question her cousin before he could release the money.
Santiago claims her cousin did not have a telephone and because she could not provide a phone number to the officer, she was unable to recoup her $2,000.
On Sept. 23, 2006 Rivadeneyra sent $500 via Western Union to Sonora, Mexico from California.
She said she was sending the money to her brother, a national of and resident of Peru, who was visiting friends in Mexico.
After learning her brother didn’t receive the money, Rivadeneyra contacted Western Union, who gave her a phone number to call in Arizona.
Rivadeneyra said the agent she spoke with told her the money could not be released until after he could interview her brother.
Rivadeneyra claimed her brother left Mexico to return to Peru where he lived in a house with no telephone.
All three plaintiffs claimed they were never informed as to how to legally challenge the seizures.
While Phoenix has become a central clearinghouse for illegal aliens, who are held in drop houses by coyotes waiting to receive payments before transporting their human cargo to other states, the task force has seized approximately $17 million in wire transfers, which Goddard says is “a powerful tool to disrupt human smuggling operations in our state.”
Western Union currently has a $950 limit on international wire transfers from Arizona with no more than $2,999.99 sent within a 30-day period.

How can I get a job working for this task force?

Qualifications:

Two Master's degrees.

Bachelor's degree.

Intense concern for the abuse illegal aliens unleash on our country, and the government's lack of will in dealing with it.