ACLU Sues NM Sheriffs for Targeting Immigrants

Since 10-20-07

By Randy Hall
CNSNews.com Staff Writer/Editor
October 19, 2007

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=/Nation/archive/200710/NAT20071019a.html

(CNSNews.com) - The ACLU and three other organizations have filed lawsuits against the sheriff's department in Otero County, N.M., for violating the civil rights of Latinos during immigration sweeps in September. They claim the officers raided homes without search warrants and interrogated families without evidence of criminal activity.

"Otero County sheriffs broke a basic bond of trust with the community" in the town of Chaparral, ACLU Executive Director Peter Simonson told Cybercast News Service on Thursday. "We need to restore policing to its proper mission so citizens and immigrants alike can trust that someone is watching out for their safety."

"The enforcement of immigration laws is strictly a responsibility of the federal government," stated David Urias, staff attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense Fund (MALDEF). Sheriff's deputies "do not have the authority or the training to investigate or arrest people because they suspect them of being undocumented."

Legal documents filed by the two groups on Wednesday on behalf of five adults and four children charge that an operation executed by the sheriff's department on Sept. 10 violated the plaintiffs' Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights to due process and equal treatment under the law.

One of the incidents described in the suit involved a family - whose members did not want to be identified - claiming that, before dawn, they found a deputy trying to enter their home through a window. After he was spotted, he and other officers moved to the front door, where they knocked loudly.

When no one responded, another deputy called out: "Delivery! Mia's Pizza!" When that didn't bring anyone, an officer shouted: "Animal Control. Come outside!" Finally, one of the deputies yelled: "Otero County Sheriff. Come outside!"

One of the family's teenage children, a U.S. citizen, opened the door a few inches, and he was told their dog had bitten someone, which he said was untrue. Even though the deputies did not have a warrant, they eventually entered the home, emptying bureau drawers and dumping the contents of the woman's purse onto a bed.

Three hours after the incident began Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials arrived on the scene and took away the family members who didn't have the proper documents.

Urias told Cybercast News Service on Thursday that he considered that and other occurrences described in the lawsuit to be "simply illegal and un-American."

Two other organizations - the Border Network for Human Rights and the Paso del Norte Civil Rights Project - filed another suit on Wednesday against Otero County that accuses the sheriff's department of engaging in such tactics since January, including asking Latinos for their Social Security numbers along with their driver's licenses.

While calls seeking comment from the sheriff's department were not returned by press time, Otero County Attorney Dan Bryant said in a statement that he was still examining the groups' documents.

"The county's reaction is that we will be looking into the allegations and investigating the facts," Bryant stated. "We'll find out what's going on and respond accordingly."

However, in an interview with the Associated Press last month, Undersheriff Norbert Sanchez denied claims that his county officers were taking on a federal responsibility.

"We don't enforce immigration laws, we enforce county and state statutes," Sanchez said. "We are not going down there targeting or profiling these people."

The undersheriff acknowledged that officers in his department were asking for Social Security cards as a means of identification, even though the cards are usually seen as work authorization documents and not proof of identity.

"We do detain illegal immigrants, for the simple fact that Border Patrol generally doesn't patrol Chaparral unless they are doing something over there," Sanchez said. "We call the Border Patrol, and they generally send a unit down to meet with us."

Sanchez said he found it hard to believe that a deputy would spend three hours at a resident's house.

"There's no way a deputy would sit there for three hours," he said of his squad of 36 deputies who patrol 6,000 square miles of southern New Mexico. "They are usually going from one call to the next."

Also in September, Lt. Leon Ledbetter - who is one of the officers accused of entering a Latino woman's home without her permission or reasonable cause - told the El Paso Times that any discoveries of illegal immigrants by his department are the result of "regular police business."

"If folks don't have an ID, we'll ask them," he said. "Eventually, it may come to that, but we don't knock on doors and ask: 'Are you here illegally?'"

On Thursday, Bob Dane, director of communications for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, told Cybercast News Service that despite the sensational nature of some of the lawsuits' claims, he recommended that people keep in mind that they are, at this point, unsubstantiated.

"We work with law enforcement agents all across the country, and the greatest hazard they face is profiling somebody on something other than objective criteria," Dane said. As a result, officers work hard not to profile people "based on their race, culture or what they look like."

Also, lawsuits can be "self-serving documents," he added. "Everybody has a defense when they get caught."