Posted on 05/12/2005 8:32:41 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
The American Civil Liberties Union is reviewing several hundred Border Patrol records from last June's arrests of undocumented residents in inland areas including Ontario and Corona.
The first of three batches was received in mid-April, about nine months after the group's first request for information and four months after it sued the government to get the records.
The documents include forms by arresting agents detailing how, where and when persons were apprehended, their country of origin and how quickly they were processed.
"We're very pleased that the government finally handed over these documents,' said ACLU staff attorney Ranjana Natarajan. "We're reviewing the documents as fast as possible, and we are keeping an eye out for any issues related to constitutional rights or immigrants rights issues that come up.'
The ACLU is expecting two more batches of documents by the end of the month and plans to release them once its analysis is complete.
Border Patrol spokesmen in Washington, D.C., did not return calls Wednesday, but a union representative said the documents would not reveal any Border Patrol missteps.
"They will try to make the case that Border Patrol engaged in racial profiling or some wrongdoing, but they are really grasping at straws here,' said T. J. Bonner, spokesman of the National Border Patrol Council.
Last June, the Temecula Station's 12-member mobile patrol group arrested more than 400 people on the streets of cities in San Bernardino, Riverside and Orange counties.
Such arrests, dubbed "sweeps' by the community, stopped after the former undersecretary of border and transportation security said the group acted within its legal authority but without prior approval from U.S. Customs and Border Protection Headquarters.
The Border Patrol documents reveal that people were processed for arrests and agreed in writing to return to their home country in less than one hour, Natarajan said. Some appear to have been processed in 10 or 15 minutes, and the vast majority of the nearly 400 people arrested between June 2 and June 15 were voluntarily deported, she said.
"I think it's very hard to believe that people were really apprised of their rights in such a short time,' Natarajan said, who is still analyzing the documents.
But Bonner said it takes less than a minute to read a person their statement of rights. Most opt for a voluntary return rather than a deportation hearing, which could result in a prohibition to re-enter the country for several years, he said.
"It's not like these people have the right to be here,' Bonner said. "They enter the country illegally, and they understand that.'
Arrests were made far from the border in cities such as Fontana, Upland and Temecula and even in Kern County, Natarajan said.
People were approached at bus stops, grocery stores and street intersections, she said. In at least one case, a driver of a vehicle they stopped was a U.S. citizen, she said.
Rep. Joe Baca, D-Rialto, said he is most interested in seeing what methods were used in stopping and questioning people. Thousands reportedly were questioned, raising "serious questions about the Border Patrol's methods and whether or not racial profiling occurred,' he said in a written statement.
A number of factors are taken into account when targeting people, including nervousness and the way one is dressed, officials say.
"The accumulation of all those factors lead them to question a person,' Bonner said, adding that people are not targeted based on the color of their skin. "Sometimes suspicion doesn't pan out, but more often than not, it does.'
Some records suggest agents believed someone could be undocumented because they spoke Spanish, Natarajan said. If that's the only basis, then that's "not good law enforcement.'
Bonner argued that someone's inability to speak English is one factor that can be used in the equation, but cannot be the only factor since it does not prove whether someone is illegal.
"It raises legitimate questions about why they don't speak English,' he said.
Quisling: a synonym for "traitor", someone who collaborates with the invaders of his country.
BUMP
The Federal Government (if they had any balls) should try to press criminal charges against the ACLU for aiding or assisting illegal aliens crossing the border (as an infringement of Congress's Police Power). If anything, it might bring to light the seriousness of the ACLU's actions and turn more people against them. It also might force the Feds to answer up to the people regarding how many illegal aliens make it over every year. Not likely to happen. Whoever posted the RICCO violation idea has something going as well.
...or obstruction of justice...
All illegal aliens apprehended by the Border Patrol are furnished with an Advisal of Administrative Rights (I-826). On the I-826 the illegal has the ability to choose a voluntary return to his country or a deportation hearing. Most illegal aliens choose a voluntary return (VR). Once the alien chooses the administrative act, they initial by the statement desctibing the act(VR or Deportation). After initialing, they sign the bottom of the form. Just because they choose a VR doesn't mean they are going to get it. If they have a criminal or immigration record they may recieve a deportation despite opting for a VR
with "friends" like the aclu, who needs enemies?
Filthy Pigs.
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