Thread: Demonstrators back Ecuadoreans nabbed in federal raids

04/03/2007
Demonstrators back Ecuadoreans nabbed in federal raids
Mary E. O’Leary , Register Topics Editor

HARTFORD — Nine Ecuadoreans picked up last fall by police posing as contractors were greeted with cheers Monday by demonstrators who marched outside federal court, calling for an end to raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.
Jose Llivisupa, 42, the oldest of the men who were arrested in Danbury and charged with immigration violations, was grateful for the support. "I felt very happy," he said when asked for his reaction to the crowd of more than 60 people, many of whom were local college students.

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Llivisupa was one of 11 construction workers picked up Sept. 19, then turned over to ICE officials and held for more than two weeks in a Boston jail without any outside contact before he was able to post $1,500 bail and get his day in court.

That day was Monday, when Simon Moshenberg, a Yale aw school student working on the case, persuaded Immigration Judge Michael Straus to allow defense attorneys to file motions outlining why, on constitutional grounds, the cases against the men should be either thrown out or the evidence suppressed. Straus is expected to rule by Sept. 17 on whether he will allow Moshenberg and Yale law professor Michael Wishnie to subpoena Danbury police and the ICE officials involved in the arrest.

Moshenberg claims the arrests were illegal because Danbury had no contract with federal officials to act as immigration agents. He further contends the men were racially profiled, that the arresting ICE officer also acted as the examining officer and that the men lacked legal representation for weeks.

The majority of the men were held for a longer period than Llivisupa and some posted bail as high as $15,000, while two were denied any bail and opted to return to Ecuador. Moshenberg said the arrests violated the 14th and Fourth amendments to the U.S. Constitution and federal regulations.

The defense has asked that the case be delayed until October, given that ICE has failed to answer their inquiries on the raid. The attorneys are seeking a federal court order for the records.

Leigh Mapplebeck, the attorney representing ICE, defended the arrests and said the claims by the defense did not describe "egregious conduct." She said their requests for delays showed they didn’t have a case. "It may not be nice, it may be discriminatory," she said of the raids, but that’s not in question. She told Straus if the agents spotted Ukrainians "as white as you or I, judge," at a site where illegal day laborers were known to congregate, they would focus on them.

"Racism per se is egregious," Moshenberg answered.

Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton said city officials don’t need a contract to work with ICE officials. "I would say it is our responsibility to cooperate with federal law enforcement agencies, whether they be the FBI or the DEA or the Secret Service. We don’t have defined relationships with any of those."





©New Haven Register 2007
http://www.nhregister.com/site/news.cfm ... 1007&rfi=6

Moshenberg claims the arrests were illegal because Danbury had no contract with federal officials to act as immigration agents.

I hate to tell Moshenberg, but Danbury police doesn't need a contract with ICE if there asked by ICE to work along side them. The only time they need a Contract is if Danbury Police is working alone.