Thread: ACLU Accuses Ohio High. Patrol of Racial Profiling

ACLU accuses OHP of racial profiling
Thursday, December 4, 2008 1:35 AM EST
By Nick Carrabine NCarrabine@News-Herald.com

The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio sent a letter to the Ohio Highway Patrol Ashtabula Post warning them that targeting people based on their race is illegal and should not be tolerated.

Jeffrey Gamso, ACLU of Ohio legal director, said his group has received numerous reports of Latinos who reside, work or travel through Ashtabula County being stopped, searched and detained without due cause.

Reports suggest the OHP also has called Immigration and Customs Enforcement and detained legal residents even if they produce proper documentation showing they are lawfully in the United States, Gamso said.

"This is a transparent attempt by the OHP to check the immigration status of Latinos in the area under the guise of investigating possible traffic violations," he said. "They are flagrantly violating the rights of innocent people by detaining lawful immigrants and targeting anyone who appears to be of Hispanic origin."


OHP Post Commander Lt. Mike Harmon said allegations of racial profiling are false.

"Ashtabula does have a large population of undocumented individuals and just through our normal duties, we have common contact with them and when we do, we follow our division policy," he said. "Our division policy is to contact immigration officials.

"I've met with the groups who were involved in sending us this letter and they asked us to look the other way when regarding immigration issues," he added. "We cannot do that."

Harmon ensured the ACLU that all traffic stops are due to probable cause and during those stops, they are often presented with forged identifications, which is a felony in Ohio.

"We can't look the other way," Harmon said.

Comments
http://news-herald.com/articles/2008/12 ... 188157.txt

The ACLU really needs to change their name to LCLU!

Added to Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/article-3792--0-0.html

Well, to be honest, somebody needs to inform the ACLU about the suspension of habeas corpus. Which means that they can whine and cry all they want, and it doesn't matter. The only way anybody has any legal recourse, is to have the habeas corpus suspension dropped, and have it reinstated. Otherwise legally nobody, and I mean nobody has a leg to stand on. Not even the ACLU.

So instead of trying to speak about frivolous things right now, they should be working to get the one key element we all need re-enacted. Otherwise we're all spittin' in the wind.

Below is the Ohio ACLU's Press Release. Their letter to the Ohio State Highway Patrol is available at the source in pdf.

12.02.08

ACLU Warns Highway Patrol to Stop Racial Profiling

Reports in Ashtabula County Suggest Police
Targeting Latinos Based on Appearance

ASHTABULA, OH- Today, the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio sent a letter to the Ohio State Highway Patrol (OSHP) post in Ashtabula County warning them that targeting people based on their race is illegal and should not be tolerated. The ACLU of Ohio has received numerous reports recently of Latinos who reside, work or travel through Ashtabula County being stopped, searched and detained without due cause.

ACLU of Ohio Legal Director Jeffrey Gamso said, “Law enforcement cannot pull someone over for simply being of a certain race or ethnicity. In most of these cases, those who were stopped, searched and detained were not charged with any traffic violation. â€

Ok, here's the deal. Who knows, maybe the illegal invaders are lying about being approached by law enforcement in the first place in an effort to ensure that the laws are never enforced against them. Or, maybe the aclu made up the whole thing in an effort to intimidate law enforcement into leaving the invaders alone. After all, political "correctness" (I've never understood how any certain brand of politics could be "correct" in a free society) has gone a long way in furthering the destruction of America thus far and that certainly seems to be the goal of the treason "community". I don't trust 'em.