Thread: Escondido woman obtains restraining order against Border Patrol agent

EXCLUSIVE: Escondido woman obtains restraining order against Border Patrol agent

By EDWARD SIFUENTES esifuentes@nctimes.com
Monday, January 23, 2012

An Escondido woman obtained a restraining order ---- which was later lifted ---- against a U.S. Border Patrol agent who she said harassed her and her family after he stopped to ask for her immigration status at a local gas station in October.

In a sworn affidavit filed with the court, Aidee Arellano, 33, said the agent used foul and degrading language while she was detained; that the agent threatened to take her two young children away if she didn't sign a voluntary deportation document; and that he pressured her into giving him information about her husband's immigration status and work location.

The Border Patrol agent, whose name is not being published at the request of the agency, works out of the Murrieta station. He declined to comment for this article.

An agency spokesman said an investigation is under way, and that agents are not permitted to threaten people they contact.

Arellano, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, said she was detained for three days and then released while she fights her deportation.

"How can it be possible for him to use his authority this way? That is not his job," Arellano said during an interview at her attorney's office in San Diego last month.

Arellano's husband, who also is in the country illegally, was arrested Dec. 8 by immigration authorities based on the information she gave under pressure from the agent, she said. He was released on $1,500 bond about two weeks later.

The incident comes at a time of increasing friction between the Obama administration and Latino advocates. In recent months, the administration has touted record arrest and deportation numbers, while advocates decry the president's failure to fulfill his campaign promise of immigration reform.

Arellano said she felt so threatened by the agent's aggressive tactics that she took the unusual step of filing for the temporary restraining order against him at the San Diego County Superior Court in Vista. The restraining order was granted Oct. 21 and then lifted Nov. 23 at the request of the U.S. attorney's office, according to court documents.

Restraining order called rare

Peter Nunez, a political science professor at the University of San Diego and a U.S. attorney from 1982 to 1988, said he didn't recall any other temporary restraining order being issued against a Border Patrol agent under similar circumstances.

The case also sheds light on what immigrant rights activists say is a common tactic of immigration authorities pressuring illegal immigrants into signing voluntary departure documents, which is against Border Patrol policy.

On the other hand, Border Patrol agents say it is common practice for some illegal immigrants to lie about their treatment in an effort to fight their deportation.

The temporary restraining order, granted by a Vista court judge without the agent present, prohibited him from contacting Arellano, her husband, her sister and her two U.S.-born children. It also prohibited the agent from carrying a gun.

In the application for the restraining order, Arellano wrote that she was "afraid" of the agent and that "he seems not to be mentally healthy."

Matt Holt, an immigration lawyer representing Arellano, said the judge dissolved the order after a second hearing in which the U.S. attorney's office successfully argued that the state court did not have the authority to grant a restraining order against a federal agent.

Policy of respect

Steven Pitts, a spokesman for the Border Patrol in San Diego, said he was not aware of the allegations Arellano made against the agent. He said no formal complaint was filed with the Border Patrol, and that it was against the agency's policy for agents to threaten or harass people they contact.

"Border Patrol agents are taught to treat all individuals with professionalism and respect," Pitts said.

Holt said the agent's actions crossed the line from performing his duties to violating his client's Fourth Amendment rights, which protect people from unreasonable searches and seizures. Agents must have a reason to stop and question someone besides the person's Latino appearance, Holt said.

"When you stop someone just based on their Hispanic heritage, or how they look, or the sound of their name, or their accent, or the language they are speaking ---- when they use just those factors independent of rational inference, then it's an egregious violation of the Fourth Amendment," Holt said.

Pitts, who cited safety concerns in requesting that the agent's name not be published, said the agent's report on the incident noted that the Border Patrol agent approached Arellano and had a conversation with her at the gas station. The agent greeted her and she answered in broken English, prompting him to ask where she was from, Pitts said.

"It was a consensual encounter, and as they continued to talk, she stated her illegal status," Pitts said.

The report did not mention any foul language, Pitts said.

Feeling pressure

Arellano said she felt pressured and intimidated from the moment she met the agent.

She went to the Arco AM/PM gas station on 450 W. El Norte Parkway about 7:45 a.m. Oct. 14, after leaving her husband at work.

As soon as she got out of the car, the agent approached her and asked whether she had any documents, she said. She told him she did not.

He continued questioning her, asking whether she had a driver's license, she said. When she went through her purse looking for her son's ID, the agent pulled it away from her and began searching it, Arellano said.

The agent told Arellano to get into his vehicle. She told him that her two sons, a 7-month-old baby and a 5-year-old, were in her vehicle.

When she got into the agent's truck with her children, she found that the back of the cab was too small for the baby's car seat. Arellano had to carry the baby in her arms on their way to the Border Patrol's Murrieta station, an apparent violation of state law.

Pitts said the report did not state whether the children were properly seated in the vehicle, but he added that it was the Border Patrol's policy to follow the state's seat-belt and child-safety-seat laws.

Threats alleged

During the drive to the station, Arellano said, she overheard the agent using foul language to describe illegal immigrants while speaking with other agents. He later used the same kind of language to describe Arellano's husband while asking for information about him.

"Surely he is another undocumented ---- like you," Arellano said the agent told her in front of her children.

She said the agent also told her to sign a "voluntary departure" document, which allows the agents to deport people without having to go through formal deportation procedures in immigration court, or her children would be taken away. Arellano refused.

"He threatened me, saying that I had to sign or else he would put me in jail and the government would take my children ... (and) that I would never hear from my children again," Arellano said.

The agent also threatened to "hunt" down Arellano's husband, she said.

Pitts said it is against Border Patrol policy to threaten or coerce people into giving information.

"That is not the practice of the Border Patrol to use inflammatory language," Pitts said. "The Border Patrol does not hunt anybody."

Immigrant rights advocates say they often hear complaints from detainees about the use of threats, similar to those described by Arellano.

"It doesn't surprise me," said Pedro Rios, San Diego director of the human rights group American Friends Service Committee. "It's a common complaint (by detainees) that the state will hold their children, that they will be detained for years; and if they are married, they will tell one person that the spouse has already signed the voluntary departure form."

On the other hand, a representative for the Border Patrol union said illegal immigrants often lie about their treatment to fight their deportations.

Shawn Moran, vice president for the National Border Patrol Council, said the restraining order filed against the agent may be a ploy to help Arellano stay in the country. Restraining orders against Border Patrol agents are rare, but have occurred in the past, Moran said.

"This is somebody who has broken the law and is looking for any possible way not to be sent back to their country," Moran said.

Holt said he filed a petition for a "U" visa, which gives illegal immigrants who have been victims of crimes temporary legal status, for Arellano, but it has not been approved.

Call staff writer Edward Sifuentes at 760-740-3511.

EXCLUSIVE: Escondido woman obtains restraining order against Border Patrol agent

If this BP agent keeps this up, Janet Napolitano will intercede - on behalf of the illegal aliens. The agent will lost his job.

He continued questioning her, asking whether she had a driver's license, she said. When she went through her purse looking for her son's ID, the agent pulled it away from her and began searching it, Arellano said.

So what? Her 5 year old has a license, or maybe it was the 7 month old baby? Her son's ID makes it ok for her to drive without a license? Just because she dropped 2 anchors everything she does should be over looked?

PLEASE! Maybe someday they will realize they are NOT above the law.

During the drive to the station, Arellano said, she overheard the agent using foul language to describe illegal immigrants while speaking with other agents. He later used the same kind of language to describe Arellano's husband while asking for information about him.

Earlier in the story it said she could only speak in broken English. I do believe she made this up as she didn't understand what the BP was saying anyway. I'm also assuming he would talk to the other agents and home base in English and not spanish.

Surely he is another undocumented ---- like you," Arellano said the agent told her in front of her children.

Come on. Who the hell even talks that way? The chica is surely an undocumented liar.