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  1. #1
    Senior Member swatchick's Avatar
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    Palm Beach County Sheriff Sued for Illegals Policy

    http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/palm-b ... 1788.story

    Palm Beach County sheriff sued over jail policy for immigrants

    Palm Beach Post
    7:59 p.m. EDT, September 9, 2009

    WEST PALM BEACH - Marcotulio Mendez has spent four months in the Palm Beach County jail on charges of driving without a license and fleeing from police. And even though the 28-year-old father of four has friends willing to post his $3,000 bail, he's not going to be leaving the jail anytime soon.

    Shortly after his arrest, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement slapped a hold on him for unspecified immigration violations.

    The Guatemalan who has lived in West Palm Beach for 11 years has become a poster child for immigrant groups which last week filed a federal lawsuit against Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, claiming he is violating immigrants' constitutional rights by keeping them in jail even though state judges have said they can be released on bail.

    "The bottom line is that all the evidence suggests that the sheriff is depriving people of their liberty," said Daniel Cohen, an assistant public defender who represents Mendez. "Government is prohibited from depriving people of their liberty without a judicial order."

    And, Cohen said, a hold from ICE isn't a judicial order. It's simply a notice from a federal agency that there may have been a violation of immigration laws.

    "It's like the former Soviet Union, summarily whisking people off the streets, arresting them and putting them in jail with no way out," Cohen said. "It's outrageous that this man has been kept in jail for four months."

    Outrageous or not, it's not Bradshaw's fault, said attorney Fred Gelston, who represents the Sheriff's Office.

    "The sheriff isn't a law-maker," he said. "They need to challenge the constitutionality of the federal regulation."

    Bradshaw didn't refuse to accept Mendez's bail, he said. Jailers told Mendez's friends that they shouldn't post it, knowing they couldn't release him because of he was being detained by ICE. Further, his friends could lose their money if he is ultimately deported.

    "No good deed goes unpunished," he said of the advice given to those who want to post bail for those being held by ICE.

    The lawsuit is similar to one the American Civil Liberties Union filed in California earlier this year. In July, the ACLU of Florida sent a letter to law enforcement agencies statewide, warning that jailing people based on federal immigration orders is unlawful and could subject them to lawsuits.

    Barry Silver, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of Mendez and three immigrant rights groups, said he is hopeful the action sends a message to other Florida sheriffs.

    The El Sol Neighborhood Resource Center in Jupiter, the Florida Immigration Coalition and Corn Maya Inc. joined the lawsuit because what they deem to be the sheriff's policy forces them to waste limited resources fighting for the release of clients they claim are being unfairly jailed.

    In the meantime, Mendez's wife, Crisanta, said life has been hard since her husband's arrest.

    "Let me tell you that my children are taking it badly," she said. "We're waiting. But God is great and God is just."
    Copyright © 2009, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
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  2. #2
    ELE
    ELE is offline
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    Imagine an American pulling this stunt in Mexico?

    violating immigrants' constitutional rights

    They have no constitutional rights here they are in our country illegally.
    Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

  3. #3
    Senior Member American-ized's Avatar
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    ELE wrote: "They have no constitutional rights here they are in our country illegally."

    STRONGLY SECONDED!!!!! Try illegally invading Iraq, Iran, China, North Korea and see what kind of "rights" you get -- your "civil rights" ended the moment you INVADED ANOTHER COUNTRY AND FURTHER, YOU HAVE TO BE A LEGAL CITIZEN OF THE U.S. TO HAVE "CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS" FOR THAT COUNTRY!!!!

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