Posted on 04/12/2005 3:31:02 PM PDT by BurbankKarl
MEXICO CITY -- Authorities are investigating reports that 13 Mexican migrants may have been apprehended by U.S. civilians guarding the Arizona-Mexico border against illegal crossers, a top foreign relations official said Monday.
Volunteers part of the "Minuteman Project," some of whom are armed, began patrolling April 1 for migrants crossing the Arizona-Mexico boundary, considered the most porous stretch of the 2,000-mile (3,200-kilometer) U.S.-Mexico border.
Mexican Deputy Foreign Secretary for North America Geronimo Gutierrez said he had received reports that 13 Mexicans were "detained and referred to the Border Patrol" by U.S. volunteers.
"We are doing an investigation in each one of these cases," Gutierrez said. "The Border Patrol of the Tucson sector up to this moment has confirmed that this is not true, but nevertheless we will finish with the investigation."
Fred Elbel, a spokesman for Minuteman Project, said late Monday he didn't know anything about the accusations migrants had been detained improperly.
"I have not heard a thing about that," Elbel said in a phone interview. "Maybe it happened, maybe it didn't. But I'm fairly sure that if it had happened with Minuteman Project that I would have heard about it."
The Minuteman Project volunteers claim they are out to identify illegal crossers to U.S. authorities and call attention to the illegal migration issue.
Elbel said project volunteers "do not detain anybody."
"We simply observe," he said. "we look and we report."
But Mexicans commonly refer to the volunteers as "migrant hunters," and officials in Mexico City have been on guard against human rights violations.
Migrants are being interviewed as they are repatriated to Mexico to monitor how they are being treated, Gutierrez said.
"We haven't so far received any reports of there having been an aggression against Mexican migrants on the part of these people," he said.
Gutierrez said Mexican authorities are prepared to file complaints in U.S. courts against volunteer patrols that take the law into their own hands or abuse Mexicans in any way.
"In the United States without a doubt there exists just like in Mexico the freedom to congregate," Gutierrez said at a press conference. "That is why it's important to identify the crimes for which these people can be tried according to their own U.S. legislation. This includes battery, false arrest, assault and many more. ... As soon as a crime of that nature is constituted there, we will proceed without a doubt."
Call someone who'll listen, who might give a damn!
Even if they did detain some ILLEGAL immigrants that doesn't mean it was illegal to hold them. It's the same as catching someone who breaks into my house.
However I doubt the claims to come out of Mexico anyway.
citizens arrest?
It appears that way to me if true. (which I find doubtful)
"In the United States without a doubt there exists just like in Mexico the freedom to congregate," Gutierrez said at a press conference. "That is why it's important to identify the crimes for which these people can be tried according to their own U.S. legislation. This includes battery, false arrest, assault and many more. ... As soon as a crime of that nature is constituted there, we will proceed without a doubt."
He must not have been in East Lansing, MI a couple weeks ago for the police riot.
How about we investigate Mexican government and pandemic Mexican police corruption and bribery.
Then we investigate Mexican drug smuggling, phony cancer clinics and donkey shows.
Then we investigate their food and water systems.
If the mexicans were in our country illegally, then it wouldn't be "false arrest".
"Gutierrez said Mexican authorities are prepared to file complaints in U.S. courts against volunteer patrols that take the law into their own hands or abuse Mexicans in any way. " Then keep your illegals away from the fence. You keep up this crap and when it reaches a boiling point the lock will be on the border and the keys will be thrown away. Don't threat.
A strong argument can be made that the right to make a citizen's arrest is a constitutionally protected right under the Ninth Amendment as its impact includes the individual's natural right to self preservation and the defense of the others. Indeed, the laws of citizens arrest appear to be predicated upon the effectiveness of the Second Amendment. Simply put, without firepower, people are less likely going to be able to make a citizen's arrest. A random sampling of the various states as well as the District of Columbia indicates that a citizen's arrest is valid when a public offense was committed in the presence of the arresting private citizen or when the arresting private citizen has a reasonable belief that the suspect has committed a felony, whether or not in the presence of the arresting citizen.
In the most crime ridden spot in the country, our nation's capitol, District of Columbia Law 23- 582(b) reads as follows:
(b) A private person may arrest another -
(1) who he has probable cause to believe is committing in his presence -
(A) a felony, or
(B) an offense enumerated in section 23-581 (a)(2); or
(2) in aid of a law enforcement officer or special policeman, or other person authorized by law to make an arrest.
(c) Any person making an arrest pursuant to this section shall deliver the person arrested to a law enforcement officer without unreasonable delay. (July 29, 1970, 84 Stat. 630, Pub. L. 91-358, Title II, § 210(a); 1973 Ed., § 23-582; Apr. 30, 1988, D.C. Law 7-104, § 7(e), 35 DCR 147.)
In Tennessee, it has been held that a private citizen has the right to arrest when a felony has been committed and he has reasonable cause to believe that the person arrested committed it. Reasonable grounds will justify the arrest, whether the facts turn out to be sufficient or not. (See Wilson v. State, 79 Tenn. 310 (1833).
Contrast this to Massachusetts law, which while permitting a private person to arrest for a felony, permits those acquitted of the felony charge to sue the arresting person for false arrest or false imprisonment. (See Commonwealth v. Harris, 11 Mass. App. 165 (1981))
Kentucky law holds that a person witnessing a felony must take affirmative steps to prevent it, if possible. (See Gill v. Commonwealth, 235 KY 351 (1930.)
Indeed, Kentucky citizens are permitted to kill fleeing felons while making a citizen's arrest (Kentucky Criminal Code § 37; S 43, §44.)
Utah law permits citizen's arrest, but explicitly prohibits deadly force. (See Chapter 76-2-403.)
Making citizen's arrest maliciously or without reasonable basis in belief could lead to civil or criminal penalties. It would obviously be a violation of a suspect's civil rights to use excessive force, to torture, to hold in unsafe or cruel conditions or to invent a reason to arrest for the ulterior motive of settling a private score.
Civil lawsuits against department stores, police departments, and even cult deprogrammers for false imprisonment are legend. Anybody who makes a citizens arrest should not use more force than is necessary, should not delay in turning the suspect over to the proper authorities, and should never mete out any punishment ... unless willing to face the consequences.
As the ability of the powers that be to hold society together and preserve law and order diminishes, citizen's arrests will undoubtedly be more common as a way to help communities cope with the wrongdoers in out midst.
Yeah, these people are leaving Mexico cause they're so good to them.
Who's abusing who?
Took the words right out of my mouth...
It is good to know that the Mexicans are concerned about the activities of some criminals. They don't care about the Mexican murders, crooked cops, Fox's drug dealers or bribe taking Mexican politicians. It is good to see that they track the evil doer wetbacks who break into the US. They really should, however, do something to prevent them from breaking our laws in the first place.
Since when does Mexico investigate our citizens?
I think it is time for a second war with Mexico. This time let us go for regime change like Iraq, sieze the property of the rich and redistribute it to the poor and let the Mexicans truly have multiparty democracy. The rich Euro centric Mexican elite want to keep their hold on power and wealth and relieve their social pressures by exporting their poor into the US.
There could be a civil war brewing there. Vicente Fox is trying to prosecute the Mexico City mayor to prevent him from running for the Presidency. There was a 250,000 sized crowd last week that they thought might turn violent.
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