Thread: Immigration lawyer Elliott Ozment sues Maury County government, judge

The Tennessean
Written by Brandon Gee
2:56 AM, Jan. 28, 2012

Nashville immigration attorney Elliott Ozment’s crusade against state officials who attempt to enforce federal immigration law continued this week with the filing of a federal lawsuit against Maury County government and General Sessions Judge Bobby Sands.

According to the lawsuit, Victor Manuel Ramirez-Mendoza appeared in Sands’ court Jan. 26, 2011, after he was arrested for driving on a suspended license a week earlier. The judge ordered Ramirez-Mendoza turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to the lawsuit, and the Maury County Sheriff’s Department complied.

“It’ll be better to send him to Mexico because he’s costing us a lot of money here,” the lawsuit quotes Sands as saying during an exchange with Ramirez-Mendoza’s public defender.

Ozment said that limited-jurisdiction General Sessions courts have no authority to enforce federal immigration law and that the Maury County Sheriff’s Department also cannot investigate, apprehend or detain suspected illegal immigrants absent a formal partnership with ICE.

“That was purely illegal. (Sands) has no authority to do that, and therefore he does not have judicial immunity,” Ozment said, referring to the doctrine that protects judges from being sued for official conduct.

Sands said he had not yet been served with the lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court. Even if he had, Sands said, it would be inappropriate to comment. Maury County Sheriff Enoch George did not return a call.

Ozment claims the Sheriff’s Department and Sands have handled other noncitizen criminal defendants similarly. The suit, alleging constitutional violations and false imprisonment, seeks class-action status.

Contact Brandon Gee at 615-726-5982 or bgee@tennessean.com.

Immigration lawyer Elliott Ozment sues Maury County government, judge | The Tennessean | tennessean.com

Okay here we go again, "What part of Illegal do they not understand" Repeat after me Illegal is Illegal....

ILLEGAL
Pronunciation (US):

Dictionary entry overview: What does illegal mean?

• ILLEGAL (adjective)
The adjective ILLEGAL has 1 sense:

1. prohibited by law or by official or accepted rules

Familiarity information: ILLEGAL used as an adjective is very rare.

Dictionary entry details

• ILLEGAL (adjective)

Sense 1 illegal [BACK TO TOP]

Meaning:

Prohibited by law or by official or accepted rules

Context example:

an illegal chess move

Similar:

extralegal; nonlegal (not regulated or sanctioned by law)

penal; punishable (subject to punishment by law)

misbranded; mislabeled (branded or labeled falsely and in violation of statutory requirements)

ineligible (prohibited by official rules)

illegitimate; illicit; outlaw; outlawed; unlawful (contrary to or forbidden by law)

hot (recently stolen or smuggled)

unratified (lacking legal authority)

extrajudicial (beyond the usual course of legal proceedings; legally unwarranted)

embezzled; misappropriated (taken for your own use in violation of a trust)

dirty; ill-gotten (obtained illegally or by improper means)

criminal; felonious (involving or being or having the nature of a crime)

black; black-market; bootleg; contraband; smuggled (distributed or sold illicitly)

banned; prohibited (forbidden by law)

amerciable (of a crime or misdemeanor; punishable by a fine set by a judge)

under-the-counter (done or sold illicitly and secretly)

Also:

illegitimate (of marriages and offspring; not recognized as lawful)

irregular (contrary to rule or accepted order or general practice)

unlawful (contrary to or prohibited by or defiant of law)

Attribute:

legality (lawfulness by virtue of conformity to a legal statute)

Antonym:

legal (established by or founded upon law or official or accepted rules)

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What does illegal mean? definition, meaning and pronunciation (Free English Language Dictionary)