Thread: Fed Judge Stands Up for Danbury's Arrest of IA Day Laborers

Judge Says Police Had Right To Arrest Day Laborers
Tue, 02/05/2008 - 16:17 — Judicial Watch Blog

Rejecting the argument that a group of day laborers were racially profiled and that local police exceeded its authority making immigration arrests, a federal judge has refused to block the deportation of nine illegal immigrants arrested in Connecticut last year.

The men were nabbed during an undercover operation in which local police and federal immigration officers teamed up to target illegal aliens in Danbury last year. A total of 11 were arrested and two have already been deported to Central America.

Now an Ivy League professor and his students are defending the nine remaining men, arguing that they were racially profiled and that Danbury Police was not authorized to make immigration arrests. The goal is for the illegal aliens, some with criminal records, to remain free in the United States.

But federal immigration Judge Michael Straus did not buy the argument, ruling that the "Danbury Police Department initiated contact with the day laborers because there was significant concern regarding the danger they posed to themselves and others when they loitered and even ran into the road to solicit employment.â€

The illegal aliens’ lead pro bono Ivy League counsel likened that argument to arresting someone who is black because they are standing near a spot where drug dealers are known to stand.

What a BS argument! Obviously the man would only be questioned and after it is ascertained he is merely in the wrong place at the wrong time, released. Just as any day laborer who could provide his American citizenship would be.

newsday.com/news/local/wire/connecticut/ny-bc-ct--danbury-illegalal0205feb05,0,7343548.story

Newsday.com
Judge won't block deportation of illegal aliens in Danbury
11:40 AM EST, February 5, 2008

DANBURY, Conn.

A federal judge has refused to block the deportations of nine men picked up during an undercover operation targeting illegal aliens in Danbury in 2006.

Immigration Judge Michael Straus ruled Monday that Danbury police did not exceed their authority during the 2006 sting at Kennedy Park.

The judge also ruled Monday that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents did not rely on racial profiling to make the arrests.

Straus ruled that "solicitation of day labor in our current culture has a strong correlation to undocumented presence in the United States and lack of employment authorization" and thus it was not unreasonable for police to question the men, nor was it racial profiling.

Straus also said the illegal aliens had no right to counsel prior to being placed in deportation proceedings, nor do officers have to advise individuals of their right not to cooperate.

Lawyers from Yale University's Jerome N. Frank Legal Services plan to appeal.

The case now goes to the Bureau of Immigration Appeals, which could take more than a year to rule. The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York is ultimately expected to decide the challenge to Danbury police and methods used by ICE.

"The ruling declares open season on day laborers," said Simon Moshenberg, a student at the Yale Law School's Worker and Immigrant Rights Clinic, which represented the men.

The judge's ruling is the latest round in the legal wrangling over the so-called "Danbury 11." Two of the original 11 have already been deported.

The ruling comes two days before the Danbury Common Council votes whether to deputize local police as federal immigration officers. They did not have such authority in the Sept. 16, 2006, arrest of the nine day laborers.

The men in Monday's case were among those nabbed after an undercover officer in a sport utility vehicle offered laborers work. The men entered the vehicle and were driven a few blocks to ICE agents, who questioned the men about their citizenship status.

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Information from: The News-Times, http://www.newstimeslive.com



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http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ ... 3548.story

WOW a Judge that gets it!!