Thread: MN-Court overturns conviction stemming from immigration raid

Court overturns conviction stemming from immigration raids in Willmar

By Jessica Mador
Minnesota Public Radio
September 17, 2009

St. Paul, Minn. — The Minnesota Appeals Court has overturned the conviction of an illegal immigrant arrested after raids in Willmar two years ago.

The court ruled that because immigration agents did not have a warrant when they searched her house and interrogated her, the evidence used to convict her later in Kandiyohi County violated the Fourth Amendment.

Maldonado-Arreaga was arrested after immigration raids in Willmar two years ago. She has since been deported to Honduras.

Immigration attorney Rachel E.B. Lang, who was not an attorney in this case, says the court's ruling sends a message the constitution needs to be respected, regardless of a person's immigration status.

"The reason for that is that you don't know what someones immigration status is before you talk to them, so you cant break into someone's house to talk to them because you think they are an illegal immigrant because you don't know who is in the house," Lang said.

A spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement declined to comment on the ruling.

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/displa ... r/?refid=0

Well now at least she was deported which was the bottom line all along