Thread: Lawsuits claim Otero's 'Stonegarden' violated civil rights

Lawsuits claim Otero's 'Stonegarden' violated civil rights
By Louie Gilot / El Paso Times
Article Launched: 11/12/2007 12:00:00 AM MST

ALAMOGORDO -- Immigration enforcement efforts have stirred up controversy in the region after Otero sheriff's deputies arrested 28 immigrants, including at least 14 children, in September during a one-day operation in Chaparral.
Civil-rights groups in New Mexico and El Paso have filed two lawsuits against the Sheriff's Department, claiming deputies violated civil rights of people during what they say was a thinly veiled immigration raid.

The cases go to the heart of the ongoing debate about whether local law enforcement officers should enforce federal immigration laws.

Bill Slease, an Albuquerque attorney, is handling the lawsuits for Otero County. He declined to comment on the pending cases. Officials at the Otero Sheriff's Department have said they would not comment further on their Operation Stonegarden activities.

Documents obtained by the Times do not describe obvious civil rights violations.

Briana Stone, director of the Paso Del Norte Civil Rights Project, one of the groups suing on behalf of Chaparral residents, said she has reviewed the Sheriff's Department reports.

"The documents themselves directly contradict their claim that they were not going after immigrants who were not involved in criminal activities," Stone said. "They show that they (deputies) were actively seeking tips from the community about where immigrants lived."

Community tips

The short messages on the Otero Sheriff's Department's invoices to the state's overseer of Operation Stonegarden often focused on undocumented immigrants.

A June invoice about a patrol on the Mesa, for instance, read, "No contact with any illegal persons." During another June patrol, "No illegal persons were located." In September, deputies were "attempting to locate undocumented aliens or other illegal activity," the invoices read.

In one instance, deputies reported the result of some intelligence gathering.

"Deputies also learned second batch of chile will soon be ready for harvest in and around Dell City, and it is believed illegal aliens will be in the area to help with the harvest," the Sept. 7 invoice read.

In the sheriff's longer incident reports, greater details can be learned about the police work that led to the detention of undocumented immigrants at their homes or cars.

Many times, it all started with a tip from the community.

On June 5, a deputy drove around Chaparral while an informant pointed out houses "involved in housing illegal immigrants," according to one report. The informant also gave up a friend of his who was undocumented. Eight undocumented immigrants were turned over to the Border Patrol as a result of that operation.

On Aug. 8, a deputy in Chaparral followed "a report from a concerned citizen that there were illegal immigrants" at some trailer park. "The citizen stated that there were illegals living in all of the trailer houses at this address," the report read. Three immigrants were turned over to the Border Patrol that day.

Other meetings were more random, such as the case of a family who had car trouble July 17 in Chaparral.

A deputy stopped to help and ended up referring the entire family to the Border Patrol, according to documents.

Overtime money

Operation Stonegarden is a federally funded program that pays officers overtime for general security operations in border counties that choose to participate.

Otero County was allocated $150,000 for overtime for sheriff's deputies this year under the program and has spent $20,164 so far, said Larry Austin, border security liaison for the New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

The state of New Mexico got a total of $1.5 million in Homeland Security money for five border counties, the city of Lordsburg, the city of Sunland Park and the New Mexico State Police. Some are using the program more aggressively than others. Sunland Park, for instance, only spent about $500 of their $110,000 allocation, Austin said.

The point of the program, Austin said, is not to do immigration work, which is a federal responsibility.

"In no way this was intended to be going out and looking for undocumented (immigrant) activity. It's clear that our officers are not going to be doing the Border Patrol's job," he said. "It is for reducing some activity in the area -- people coming across the border, dying in the desert or people coming with drugs."

In Otero County, most of the immigrants referred to the Border Patrol under Operation Stonegarden were at home when they were approached by deputies and only one incident involved drugs. Aug. 8, a deputy on patrol in Chaparral seized a "small baggie of marijuana under 1 ounce" from the pocket of a non-immigrant. The deputies also issued 130 citations.

The program's impact on local crime is not clear. The number of reported incidents in Otero County during Operation Stonegarden -- 668 incidents from May to August this year-- was just slightly up from 628 reported incidents during the same period last year, before Operation Stonegarden started.

In El Paso, sheriff's officials said they did not participate in Operation Stonegarden because they focused on their own Operation Linebacker and other Texas initiatives. Officials at the Police Department used Operation Stonegarden money in 2004 to assign officers at the international bridges to handle drunken driving and warrants. But the department has not participated in the federal initiative since then. Police officials said they were getting funding from Operation Border Star in Texas.

'Knock and talk'

Border Patrol officials said they were not directly participating in Operation Stonegarden, meaning that they did not accompany sheriff's deputies on house calls.

"We don't do 'knock and talk,' " Border Patrol spokesman Doug Mosier said.

But the Otero County Sheriff's Department records showed that many times, Border Patrol agents were not far behind.

On Aug. 8, a deputy investigating a tip that undocumented immigrants lived in a trailer, wrote "I went to this address on this date and time along with two agents from the United States Border Patrol."

The Border Patrol took custody of three people that day.

In a June e-mail to his deputies, Otero County Lt. Leon Ledbetter wrote the Border Patrol "is aware of this operation and said they would have persons in the area in case of undocumented alien apprehensions."

Mosier said his agency had an agreement to respond to reports generated by Operation Stonegarden activities. He also said the Border Patrol responds to calls from any law enforcement agency.

Martina Morales, an immigrant advocate with the Border Network for Human Rights, said she thought the collusion between the agencies was evident.

In many of the reported cases, deputies said they needed a person's identification in order to issue a written warning for a loose dog, littering or some other petty offense.

"Even when they show the ID, they (deputies) continue asking questions. They just want to find out if they are legal or not." Morales said. "In the case of one woman, they even came back to her house a second time to continue asking questions."

Immigrants' advocates and some law enforcement experts feel that participating in immigration raids jeopardizes a local agency's community policing because residents become afraid of calling the police when they or family members are undocumented.
http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_7437322

It's growing more unfortunate each day that the government won't slam the border door and stop funding all of these hispanic illegal alien special interest groups with our tax dollars. (which seem to be springing up in the US every 5 minutes)

I am sick of them skirting and reinterpreting our laws to suit their corrupt, demands and needs.