Appeals court sets arguments in traffic stop alleged to be racially motivated

Wednesday, October 7, 2009 - Updated 16h ago

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PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A Rhode Island state trooper three years ago pulled over a van carrying undocumented Guatemalan immigrants to work, asked everyone inside for identification and then escorted the vehicle to a federal immigration office after the passengers could not present proof of citizenship.

Now that highway traffic stop, which civil liberties group and immigrant advocates have labeled racial profiling, is about to be argued before a federal appeals court.

The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has scheduled arguments for Thursday morning, 10 months after a federal judge in Rhode Island dismissed a lawsuit from 12 immigrants that called the July 2006 stop unconstitutional.

The van was pulled over on Interstate 95 after the driver switched lanes without signaling. The driver presented his license and registration to the trooper, but most of the passengers didn’t respond when the officer then asked for identification. They also did not have green cards or other documents establishing their citizenship.

The trooper, who has since been cleared of wrongdoing by an internal investigation, contacted U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the van was escorted to an agency office in Providence. The group was detained at the office and the driver was issued a ticket for changing lanes without signaling.

U.S. District Judge Mary Lisi ruled in December that there was no "evidence of intentional race-based discrimination" and said the trooper was justified in requesting immigration paperwork and also had the right to pat down the driver for weapons.

The Rhode Island branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, which sued on behalf of the immigrants, wants the appeals court to reverse Lisi’s decision and send the case back for a jury trial.

"The trooper’s job was done as soon as he checked and found valid the driver’s license and registration," Brown said. "It wasn’t from our perspective, only because there were a number of Latinos in the van."

"There’s no business for troopers to begin asking citizenship status of passengers in a car when there’s absolutely no evidence of illegal activity," he added said.

Michael Healey, a spokesman for the Rhode Island attorney general’s office, which is defending the state police, said "making a traffic stop is one of the fundamental actions that law enforcement officers do."

He said Lisi’s decision affirmed that the "traffic stop was a proper law enforcement action by a well-trained state trooper."


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