Results 1 to 5 of 5

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

  1. #1
    Senior Member HippieChick's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Maryland
    Posts
    596

    MD - Illegal Alien suing over immigration arrest

    Woman sues officials over immigration arrest in Maryland
    By Mariano Castillo

    (CNN) -- A Salvadoran immigrant, backed by two immigrants' rights organizations, is suing the sheriff's office in Frederick County, Maryland, and federal immigration officials, claiming that she was unconstitutionally interrogated and detained last year because of her Hispanic ethnicity.

    In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court, Roxana Orellana Santos says that two Frederick County deputies improperly questioned her about her immigration status after they spotted her sitting on a curb, eating lunch. She is seeking compensatory damages of at least $1 million, according to the lawsuit.

    The suit also names federal officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement as defendants.

    According to the complaint, the deputies had no probable cause to question Orellana Santos, who didn't speak much English and could not communicate well with the officers, about her immigrant status. She was detained for five weeks without charges before being released, the court document states. The incident happened in on October 7 of last year; she was held by federal immigration authorities who released her on humanitarian grounds on November 13, 2008.

    "Despite having committed no criminal offense under Maryland law, Ms. Orellana Santos was detained, taken into custody and subsequently transferred to the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement," the complaint alleges.

    Repeated calls for comment to the Frederick County Sheriff's Office were not immediately returned.

    Her detention by immigration authorities suggests that Orellana Santos possibly was held for being in the country illegally, but her attorney, John C. Hayes, would not confirm her immigration status.

    "We're not commenting on that at all," Hayes told CNN.

    Orellana Santos had given the deputies a Salvadoran national identification card in hopes of appeasing the officers, Hayes said.

    Despite the language barrier between Orellana Santos and the deputies, the officers arrested her, according to the complaint.

    At issue is a nationwide federal agreement with local law enforcement agencies that allows trained local officers to enforce federal immigration laws in certain instances.

    Under the arrangement, known as a 287(g) agreement, local officers are limited to asking about immigration status to instances where a crime is being committed. But in Orellana Santos' case, the officers had no reason to arrest her, the complaint states.

    Furthermore, the two deputies who arrested her were not trained or certified in the proper procedures, as stipulated in the agreement, court documents say.

    In addition to attorney Hayes, two immigrants' rights groups, -- CASA de Maryland and LatinoJustice PRLDEF -- are representing Orellana Santos.

    While the current case is about a single incident, Jose Perez, an attorney for LatinoJustice, told CNN that it draws attention to the "misguided efforts" of 287(g) agreements.

    "This evidence shows all the reasons why this program is wrong," Perez said.

    Greg Weeks, associate professor of political science at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, who has followed the debate over the use of 285(g), said there's a disconnect between local and federal authorities that makes the arrangement fail.

    Federal authorities devised the partnerships as a way to deport criminals who were in the country illegally, freeing up prison space and court resources, Weeks told CNN.

    But at the local level, the goal of law enforcement in some places is to expel undocumented immigrants, period, he said.

    The result is an environment where local officials find themselves profiling potential illegal immigrants, creating a climate of fear among the Latino population, Weeks said.

    "What this case shows is that people are being picked up for any reason," Weeks said. "There is not supposed to be any profiling at all."

    Perez said that profiling is what happened in the case of Orellana Santos.

    "This is only the tip of the iceberg," he said. "We're going to see more as more people come forward."

    The lawsuit is not the first time the 287(g) agreements have been in the spotlight.

    Last month, federal authorities renewed such an agreement with Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Jose Arpaio, but with limitations.

    Under the umbrella of the agreement, Arpaio's deputies conducted street-level enforcement of immigration laws that typically fall to federal officers. The sheriff also checked the immigration status of everyone booked into his jail. Arpaio's strategy was scrutinized by critics who accused the sheriff's office of racial profiling.

    The new agreement allowed for the continuation of the jailhouse checks, but put an end to the street stops.

    http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/11/imm ... =rss_crime
    Calling an illegal alien an "undocumented worker" is like calling a drug dealer an "unlicensed pharmacist"........

  2. #2
    Senior Member HippieChick's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Maryland
    Posts
    596
    What this pro-illegal sob story forgot to include is that when officers were simply walking thru the park, when the woman saw the deputies, she left her lunch on the ground, got up, ran, and hid behind a dumpster. Because that behavior seemed suspicious, the deputies questioned her, ran her name through a national database, and realized she had a federal immigration warrant. BUT NOW SHE IS SUING FOR $1 MILLION!!!!!!

    UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
    Calling an illegal alien an "undocumented worker" is like calling a drug dealer an "unlicensed pharmacist"........

  3. #3
    Senior Member HippieChick's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Maryland
    Posts
    596
    Frederick sheriff defends deputies
    Alleged violation of El Salvadoran woman's civil rights spurs federal lawsuit; seeks at least $1 million


    by Sherry Greenfield | Staff Writer


    Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins said Wednesday that two of his deputies did not violate the civil rights of a Frederick woman last year when they arrested her on immigration charges.

    He said the deputies had probable cause to question and arrest Roxana Orellana Santos on Oct. 7, 2008, and he refuted the charges spelled out in a federal lawsuit filed on her behalf against him and others on Tuesday by pro-immigration groups.

    "This was nothing but good police work," said Jenkins (R). "My men did absolutely nothing wrong."

    Lawyers for LatinoJustice PRLDEF in New York, Casa of Maryland in Silver Spring, as well as lawyers from Nixon Peabody, a Washington, D.C. law firm, filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, then held a press conference on the steps of the federal courthouse.

    "The Frederick County Sheriff's Office is engaging in discriminatory practices, targeting individuals based on their race and ethnicity," said Jose Perez, associate counsel with LatinoJustice, at the press conference.

    Jenkins disputed the accusations, and said his deputies, who are still active on the force, did not target Orellana Santos because of her race.

    Jenkins said the deputies were doing a routine check of the area behind Gold's Gym in Evergreen Square on Buckeystown Pike when they noticed Orellana Santos sitting on the curb eating lunch.

    He said she jumped up and ran behind a storage container after seeing the deputies, who followed her and asked her for identification. One of the deputies ran her identification — Jenkins said he did not know what type of ID it was — through a database in their patrol car to see if she had any outstanding arrest warrants.

    Jenkins said that is normal procedure for anyone stopped by police.

    Information from the database showed an outstanding arrest warrant for Orellana Santos from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for failing to appear in court, Jenkins said.


    Orellana Santos was previously arrested by U.S. border patrol officers, and due to appear before an immigration judge. She failed to appear, which led ICE to issue a deportation warrant for her arrest, Jenkins said.

    Orellana Santos was arrested by the two deputies, taken to the Frederick County Detention Center, and turned over to ICE.

    Jenkins said he does not know what happened to her after she ICE picked her up.

    Calls to CASA, LatinoJustice and Nixon Peabody for their reaction to Jenkins' account were not immediately returned Wednesday.

    But their account of Orellana Santos's arrest differs from Jenkins'.

    The lawsuit alleges that Orellana Santos was sitting on a curb eating a sandwich on her lunch break when two deputies with the Frederick County Sheriff's Office approached her and questioned her immigration status.

    The suit states that when the two deputies approached Orellana Santos, one asked for her identification. She told the deputy that she did not have any with her.

    One of the deputies then asked for her passport. Orellana Santos told the deputy that her passport was at home, court papers state. The two deputies continued to stand over Orellana Santos, watching her and talking to each other.

    After a few minutes, she remembered she had a national identification card from El Salvador, where she is from, in her purse. She showed it the deputies, the lawsuit states, then one of the deputies placed a call on his radio.

    After 15 minutes, Orellana Santos tried to stand up, but a deputy put his hands on her shoulders to prevent her from leaving. She was then handcuffed and placed in the backseat of the cruiser, the suit states.

    She was transported to the Frederick County Adult Detention Center, where she was detained for one night and then transported to the Baltimore Detention Center.

    Two days later, she was transported to the Dorchester County Jail in Cambridge. On Nov. 11, she was granted supervised release for humanitarian concerns, the suit states.

    Jenkins is not surprised by the lawsuit, saying that CASA of Maryland has always been a critic of his office's participation in the federal 287g program, which enables some of his deputies to check the immigration status of people they arrest.

    Jenkins said the two officers involved in the arrest of Orellana Santos were not part of the 287g program.

    The lawsuit names Jeffrey Openshaw as one of the deputies who approached Orellana Santos. Lawyers said Tuesday they do not know the name of the second deputy; he is called "John Doe" in the suit. Openshaw did not return a voicemail for comment. Jenkins declined name the second deputy, but did say he was new to the force at the time of the arrest.

    The lawsuit is also against the Frederick Board of County Commissioners and current and former Immigration and two ICE agents. They include Julie Myers, former assistant secretary; Calvin McCormick, field office director with the Office of Detention and Removal in Baltimore; and James A. Dinkins, special agent in charge of the Office of Investigations in Baltimore.

    The suit states Jenkins went beyond the department's 287g agreement with ICE, and the actions of the sheriff's office were discriminatory and unlawful.

    Deputies have been checking the immigration status of every person arrested in Frederick County since April 2008 as part of the federal 287g program.

    The lawsuit names the Frederick County commissioners because they provide funding for the Frederick County Sheriff's Office, the suit states.

    Frederick County Attorney John Mathias said Tuesday he had yet to receive a copy of the lawsuit, and declined to comment.

    Under the 287g program, the immigration status of everyone arrested is checked by specially trained deputies at the Frederick County Detention Center. If a person is found to be in the country illegally, deputies notify ICE, which can begin the deportation proceedings.

    Perez, associate counsel with LatinoJustice, refused to say whether Orellana Santos was living in the country legally.

    The lawsuit alleges the actions of the sheriff's deputies violated Orellana's rights established under the 1964 Civil Rights Act as well as the Fourth and 14th amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

    "Frederick County is the center of injustice, where things have happened to a very large immigrant community," said Kerry O'Brien, Casa's director of services. "It's just not right that Sheriff Jenkins has taken it upon himself to rid the community of these people."

    The complaint alleges Orellana Santos spent weeks in the custody of ICE before being released.

    She is seeking a jury trial and compensatory damages of not less than $1 million.

    The lawsuit comes on the heels of new 287g guidelines ICE developed to address concerns that some police agencies participating in the program engage in racial profiling. Under the new guidelines, ICE has developed three levels of priority for deporting illegal immigrants who commit certain crimes.

    Level 1 priority will go to those who have been arrested or convicted of committing major drug offenses or violent crimes such as murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery or kidnapping.

    Level 2 priority will go to minor drug offenses and other crimes such as burglary, larceny, fraud and money laundering. Level 3 is all other offenses.

    http://www.gazette.net/stories/11122009 ... 2522.shtml
    Calling an illegal alien an "undocumented worker" is like calling a drug dealer an "unlicensed pharmacist"........

  4. #4
    Senior Member vmonkey56's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Tarheel State
    Posts
    7,134
    What the heck? Illegals are already breaking the law when they are caught doing something or just checking Ids.
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

  5. #5
    Senior Member HippieChick's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Maryland
    Posts
    596
    the sad news is that she has CASA de Maryland supporting her, and CASA pretty much runs the show here in Maryland. if you try to "cross" them, they file even more lawsuits.
    Calling an illegal alien an "undocumented worker" is like calling a drug dealer an "unlicensed pharmacist"........

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •