man arrest for detaining illegal immigrants

Yuma County sheriff's deputies have arrested a second man in connection with the alleged unlawful detention of six illegal immigrants on July 31 in Gadsden.

Alexander David Dumas, 26, was arrested Tuesday evening after driving to Yuma from his home in Big Bear Lake, Calif., for an interview, said sheriff's spokesman Lt. Eben Bratcher.

Dumas was charged with six counts of aggravated assault and five counts of unlawful imprisonment following the early morning July 31 incident where deputies said he and Matthew Paul Hoffman, arrested on the same charges on Monday, detained a group of six illegal immigrants that had just entered the United States through the Colorado River.

A third man, Martin Hoffman Jr., was with the two suspects but won't be charged because he was not armed and did not take part in the handcuffing of the illegal immigrants, Bratcher said.

Bratcher said the department will continue to investigate the case and warned citizens against taking the law into their own hands.

He said anyone who sees a group of suspected illegal immigrants should call the Border Patrol, and not take it upon themselves to apprehend the group by using guns and handcuffs. Asking a group to stay put while making a phone call is permitted and would constitute a citizen's arrest, he said.

"When you have someone holding someone against their will with the use or the threat of the use of force, you've crossed the line between a citizen's arrest and unlawful detention," he said. "There was no justification for the use of force."

Deputies said the two men handcuffed five members of the group, which included three children and two women, and held them at gunpoint until U.S. Border Patrol agents arrived.

Agents have said they were dispatched to the scene when a surveillance camera operator noticed the incident unfolding. The agents called the sheriff's department, who then identified and interviewed all three men before letting them go, officials said.

Bratcher said the men are not believed to be part of a larger group, such as the citizen patrol groups that operate on private property along the Tucson border and use various forms of technology to alert Border Patrol agents to the presence of illegal immigrants in the area.

Also being charged with five counts of endangerment is a 16-year-old Mexican national who Bratcher said was paid $600 to bring the illegal immigrants into the United States. Bratcher also said the illegal immigrants were planning to meet with a taxi cab in Gadsden and were to be taken to a unidentified Yuma hotel, according to interviews done of the illegal immigrants by detectives.

William Robbins, Border Patrol spokesman, said the six illegal immigrants were in the agency's custody as of Wednesday morning but couldn't be interviewed.

Hugo Oliva, Mexican consul in Yuma, said the group was in good condition following the incident and that his office is encouraged by the sheriff's department's efforts regarding this case.

"This is a very disturbing thing to happen here," Oliva said. "We can't have people with guns do the job of law enforcement agencies."

[Admin, After this post I'll leave you off any discussion with CJ. Apparently he likes people to listen in. If at any time you need to address something I say I'm sure you'll let me know. Have a great day and thanks for the job you do.]

Unarmed women and children crossing the borders without papers are not enemy combatants, fool, but if they are going to be accosted and lynched by Nazis then I hope they do become armed in order to defend their inalienable rights from the psychotic monsters who would do them harm.

The border is the first line of defense against attackers. If these 'women and children' were not combatants then they would seek to enter the country through the proper legal process. Since they are sneaking in they must be considered terrorists and foreign combatants

Secondly, At no time did I call you any names and yet you here call me fool and nazi and psychotic. I'd suggest that you try to stick to the substance of the discussion and skip the ad hominem attacks. Also I never said anything about lynching. Or maybe are you trying to call me a KKK member too without coming right out and saying it?

If the people want to have life liberty and be able to pursue happiness then they would be well advised to avoid attacking another countries borders. Once they attack the border they are combatants and are handled under the rules of war. (Shooting the enemy is acceptable under the rules of war.)

Mexico calls for review of patrol action

Group reportedly held 29 crossers at gunpoint
By Ignacio Ibarra
ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Mexican officials are demanding an investigation into an Aug. 1 incident in which a group of 29 illegal border crossers - including children - were intercepted and detained by armed members of Tombstone-based Civil Homeland Defense.

Such encounters with private groups patrolling the border are fraught with the potential for violence, the Mexican government said through its consul in Douglas, Miguel Escobar Valdez.

The request for an inquiry comes as a new group announces plans to launch armed patrols along the Arizona-Mexico border.

In the incident prompting the consul's complaint, eight members of Civil Homeland Defense detained 29 people at gunpoint on Bureau of Land Management land on Aug. 1. Group founder Chris Simcox was one of the people on patrol, according to a Sheriff's Department report.

Holding a person at gunpoint is a felony crime, the report stated, but because none of those detained would testify, the Sheriff's Department could not press charges, said Sheriff Larry Dever.

"You can't prosecute on anecdotal information, you have to have proof," he said.

Five of the illegal entrants later told Escobar they were intimidated, felt threatened and that one member of the group waved and pointed a gun at them. Escobar said the refusal so far of illegal entrants to pursue criminal charges allows groups like Civil Homeland Defense to hold people against their will.

Simcox, who is also the publisher of the Tombstone Tumbleweed newspaper, confirmed the encounter and detention. But he said no one brandished weapons during the encounter nor did they threaten or intimidate the illegal entrants.

"It was just at dusk, and no one pulled a gun on anyone, we never have and never do, especially with a group of women and children."

He said the group voluntarily sat down while members of Simcox's patrol offered them water and first aid and "we assured them we meant them no harm."

He said members of his group have cooperated with the Sheriff's Department's investigation, and he is confident nothing will come of the case.

"The only thing we can figure is that it was dark enough that they may have mistaken our walkie-talkies for guns," he said.

Encounters between illegal border crossers and self-appointed border patrollers might increase along the Arizona-Mexico border because a Missouri-based group called U.S. Special Service claims it's going to bring "a small army" of volunteers to carry out their stated mission of "fighting terrorism, suppressing invasion and insurrection."

The group is reacting to a highly publicized arrest by the Yuma County Sheriff's Department of two men in a July 31 incident in which they allegedly detained six illegal border crossers in the community of Gadsden. Officials said the pair brandished weapons and handcuffed members of the group, including three children.

Matthew Paul Hoffman, 23, of Yuma, and Alexander Dumas, of California, remain in custody. Each is charged with six counts of aggravated assault and five counts of unlawful imprisonment, said Lt. Eben Bratcher, a spokesman for the Yuma County Sheriff's Department.

"They used weapons and handcuffed children," he said. "This case has nothing to do with illegal immigration. Our arrest is based entirely on the fact that these people had handguns pointed at them and they were handcuffed. That's a violation of Arizona revised statutes and we arrest people for that."

Keith French, who heads U.S. Special Service, said his group will be assisting Hoffman and Dumas in fighting the charges as well as filing civil and criminal claims against Yuma County officials.

French said he has been in close contact with Texas-based Ranch Rescue founder Jack Foote, and with Chris Simcox's group and that both organizations have expressed support for his plans.

Meanwhile, a volunteer for an illegal entrants' advocacy group, said it's going to continue its push to protect the rights of illegal border crossers by targeting the pocketbooks of border patrol groups.

Border Action Network has turned to radio stations in southern Mexico to spread the message that if a person is accosted by an armed vigilante, they need to enter a formal complaint and are entitled to file a civil lawsuit against their captor.

* Reporter Michael Marizco contributed to this story.
* Contact reporter Ignacio Ibarra at ignacioi@prodigy.net.mx.

http://www.azstarnet.com/border/30813BORDERCOMPLAINT.html

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