Thread: OH-Hispanic residents complain of police harassment

Hispanic residents complain of police harassment
By James Ewinger
October 29, 2009, 8:45AM



ASHTABULA, Ohio --Dozens of Hispanic residents complained Wednesday that they are harassed by local police acting on behalf of federal immigration authorities.

Law enforcement agencies in Lake and Ashtabula counties deny singling out Hispanics, and say they are treating Latinos like everyone else.

Veronica Dahlberg, executive director of the Organization of Hispanic Women in Lake and Ashtabula, or HOLA, said the increased roundups have created such fear in the Latino community that people will not call police even when they are crime victims.

About 50 Hispanic residents from Lake, Ashtabula and Geauga counties appeared at a HOLA news conference to complain about unwarranted traffic stops, houses raided in the middle of the night, and about families being split up by deportations.

Roberto Arrieta, 18, of Ashtabula, said he was stopped last Saturday by Ashtabula police, and complained that they checked the identification only of the three Latinos in the car, not that of his non-Hispanic girlfriend.

Arrieta said he was told that he was stopped because his high-beam headlights were on, but he denied that.

Ashtabula police did not respond to inquires for this story, but Ashtabula County Sheriff Billy Johnson said his deputies stop people only if they believe a law has been broken.

Johnson said his department gets state funds for special programs, including running drunken-driving checkpoints. He said even if they pull over a bus with 100 people on it, they check the IDs of everyone aboard.

David Leopold, a Cleveland lawyer specializing in immigration issues, said the Ohio attorney general's office issued an opinion in 2007 that he thinks applies to all local law enforcement, stating that undocumented immigrants could be held, arrested or detained only if they were suspected of having committed a crime.

John Kuntz, The Plain DealerAbout 50 Hispanic residents air grievances at an HOLA news conference in Ashtabula about police harassment and stepped-up deportations splitting up families.The opinion was directed at county sheriffs. It said they could enforce federal immigration laws only through an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security extending some federal authority to them.

Khaalid Walls, a Homeland Security spokesman in Detroit, said the department has such an agreement with the Butler County sheriff, but not with any other Ohio agency.

The Ohio attorney general's opinion said local authorities can hold illegal immigrants -- if federal authorities issue a detainer -- or if the immigrants have committed a crime.

Lake County Sheriff Dan Dunlap said his deputies do not make so-called pretextual traffic stops, in which they have no real reason to pull someone over.

Dunlap said targeting immigrants would be futile "because if they do get deported, they're back here in six weeks."

Dahlberg said that the Latinos, undocumented or not, are wage earners whose taxes help subsidize the police who are not protecting them.

Terry Gilbert, a Cleveland lawyer with an extensive background in civil rights issues and criminal law, said, "These people are powerless. They get ensnared in the legal system and deported, even if there's a legal basis to challenge the deportation because they don't have the knowledge or resources."

Leopold complained that while the number of Homeland Security personnel dealing with immigration issues has increased markedly since the terrorist attacks of 2001, they nab few terrorists.

Andrew Scharnweber, patrol agent in charge of the Customs and Border Patrol office in Erie, Pa., said that since 2001, his station has grown from six agents to 50.

Scharnweber said they apprehended about 500 undocumented immigrants last year, and another 500 this year. But he said he didn't know how many Ohio residents were among those. About 40 percent of those apprehended are Mexican, while 5 percent are from countries with ties to terrorism, he said.

http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/10 ... in_of.html

What claptrap...if you are legal you are not afraid of the police!

Enforce all of our laws! not just the ones YOU think should be enforced!!

About 50 Hispanic residents from Lake, Ashtabula and Geauga counties appeared at a HOLA news conference to complain about unwarranted traffic stops, houses raided in the middle of the night, and about families being split up by deportations.

Hey, don't like it? Go back to the country you came from! Americans get stopped for head light/ taillight infractions, they get stopped in DUI check points. We may not like it either, but WE understand this is done to get drunks and clunkers off the road ( or made to pass safety inspections). The only reason YOU don't like it is that YOU know you're here illegally...

And about those families being split up? That's also YOUR choice! YOU knew the risks in bringing up a family that was illegal or partially illegal. Simple solution? Pack the enire family up... and ALLof you go back!

This reasoning is OLD, and it still holds no water so quit whining.

Are these people ever happy? They get free education, health care, welfare, food stamps, etc. and all they do is complain that they don't get enough. Now they want a free pass to disobey ALL our laws - not just sneaking over the border in the dead of night.

Americans are not given a pass on obeying the law and our own families are split up when a parent goes to jail. That's life.

These folks need to get over themselves.

This isn't that far from me and there are a lot of huge nurseries in that arera....'nuff said?

It's also close or the area where that pallet company was busted a few years ago and I watched it on the news. They interviewed a young AMERICAN man who had gotten his job back with this company and they asked him if he was glad they got busted. At first, he hesitated and you could tell he didn't want to say anything. Then, he said, "Yes, I'm glad! They came in here and they took our jobs; now we got 'em back."

I have seen too many instances where the new workers, legal or not, are doing jobs like bagging groceries. They speak no English, and when I ask them not to stick a big bottle of detergent into a bag, when it already has a handle, they called the manager to teach me Spanish. Quiero no bolsa, por favor. Ever the stockers have no idea what I am asking, and call the manager. Time to buy an English-Spanish dictionary to carry with me.

I worked in a plant nursery, as there is nothing better for getting away from stresses than to dig around in the mud. I also had a side business in FL selling small potted herbs at local markets, and growing plants to sell at Christmas bazaars.
I know what you mean, PatrioticMe. When I would go out toward the Everglades to buy stock, which I picked out, I always had to make sure I had an English-speaker from the office with me, as none of the workers knew anything to answer my questions. They just knew to take good soil and stick seeds in pots and water the pots.
It was sad in the 1980s and I fear it is getting worse today.

Heck, I was harassed by the local Police yesterday simply for parking on the street and working on my wireless laptop computer. They wanted to know why I was parked there. Since I wasn't breaking any laws they left but not before harassing me. Maybe I should file a complaint since the biggest harasser was Hispanic.