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Friday, 01/05/07
DUI checkpoint sites questioned
Advocates say immigrant areas targeted

By CHRISTIAN BOTTORFF
Staff Writer
and CHELSEA HADAWAY and JOHN BOAN
For The Tennessean

This week's announcement that the immigration status of foreigners booked into the Metro Jail will be scrutinized could cause once-routine police operations, like sobriety checkpoints, to be viewed with new suspicion, immigrant advocates said.

Tonight, Metro police will set up a roadblock near Murfreesboro Pike and Thompson Lane to check for impaired motorists. That spot, like many of the checkpoints set up this winter, is near some of the county's most heavily Hispanic neighborhoods.


Police say the locations are selected at random, though they do take into account places where DUI incidents and other crimes are frequent.

When the county's new immigration plan takes effect, possibly in as little as 90 days, those arrested at the checkpoints could face penalties more severe than jail: Many could find themselves deported.

"The risk factor is that they (police) ask for documentation from everyone in the car," said Nashville attorney Jerry Gonzalez, who often represents Hispanics immigrants. "It's not against the law to not have a driver's license or any identification if you're not driving.

"So what are they going to do if a passenger says they have no identification? Are they going to arrest that person?"

The sight of patrol cars could intimidate immigrants who, even if not driving under the influence, could be arrested for relatively minor offenses like driving without driver's licenses or arrested on outstanding warrants.

People may be scared

In the Metro checkpoints in December, eight of the 21 people arrested were accused of driving under the influence, according to Metro police figures.

"It has the potential to scare people from talking to authorities," said Yuri Cunza, president of the Nashville Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. He added: "The population will be frightened."

Under the program announced this week, people found to be in the country illegally after being booked into the Metro Jail will be turned over to immigration authorities for deportation proceedings.

In the coming months, local and federal officials will negotiate the final details, and Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall hopes to have the program running in about three months.

Metro police Lt. David Corman, who heads the department's traffic section, said there would be no effort to use the checkpoints to target illegal immigrants.

"We're always scrutinized with what we do, where we do it, and for what reasons," Corman said. "It could be perceived as an issue and that we will have to monitor.

"But I can defend how we use these tools to combat intoxicated drivers.

"They're not based on minorities or getting ethnic groups into the system.

"They are based on intoxicated-driver hot spots, fatal driver hot spots, etc."

Those who advocate a tougher line against illegal immigrants don't want to see any police tactic taken off the table.

"If a DUI checkpoint catches a drunk driver, it's a good thing, and if it catches an illegal, it's even better," said Theresa Harmon, co-founder of Tennesseans for Responsible Immigration Policy.

She added: "The people who are here illegally need to fear deportation, and sadly for the past 24 years, they have not."

Kelvin Jones, executive director of the Metro Human Relations Commission, suggested authorities take a close look at their practices regarding checkpoints.

"Here it appears to be a disparate impact on a particular community," he said.

"Some would make the same argument if they were at Belle Meade Boulevard and Harding.

"If you always had them there, those people would say, 'Hey, why are you picking on us?' "

Nashville attorney Vanessa Saenz, who works in family law and immigration law, said she will begin advising her local clients differently because of the changing legal climate.

"Now that (police) are going to be checking IDs, (immigrants) are going to be even more scared," she said.

"I used to tell my clients to call the police if something was wrong, but not anymore."