man arrest for detaining illegal immigrants

Yuma Sun ^ | LOUIE VILLALOBOS, Staff Writer

[AZ GRAMMY]

Second arrest made in immigrant incident

BY LOUIE VILLALOBOS, Staff Writer Aug 7, 2003

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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."

http://yumasun.com/artman/publish/a...tory_6619.shtml

[DoughtyOne]

Bud it's a hoot to watch these folks defend the defenseless.

Our borders are invaded and our citizens are "bad" because they carry guns when they confront what could be drug smugglers.

[DoughtyOne]

They can hike in Mexico all they want.

[DoughtyOne]

Dennis you know better than that. No US citizens want that job. It would be outsourced to Mexicans with greencards.

[CWOJackson]

Even those that are citizens of this country?

[DoughtyOne]

LOL

[DoughtyOne]

These weren't citizens of this country.

[PRND21]

I guess if you're of Hispanic orgins you would definately not want to go hiking with your family anywhere these people patrol.

The military that some want on the border is comprised of large numbers of Hispanics...ironic, huh?

[CWOJackson]

No they weren't...this time. And next time, what if they're citizens of this country who are of Hispanic orgin?

[PRND21]

Bud it's a hoot to watch these folks defend the defenseless.

Which part of illegal don't you understand?
Lot's of felonious border jockeys lately...keep cheering them on, hypocrite.

[CWOJackson]

Can you imagine what would happen if these people did this to a family of U.S. citizens? It wouldn't just be criminal charges they would be facing. By the time the family got done with these two and their organization they wouldn't have a nickle between them all.

[DoughtyOne]

This is an area of the border when literally thousands of illegals pass through. As I understand it, it's sparsely populated. There is an outside chance some citizens could get caught up in one of these sweeps. Do I like that idea? No. What I like even less is that thousands off illegals come across our borders every night. If our government would put and end to that, it would make things safer for everyone. I am not going to damn folks who are trying desparately to do anything they can to end this mess. If they perpetrated violence against the illegals, I'd demand harsh penalties for it. These men didn't hurt anyone.

[DoughtyOne]

And you just keep cheering on the marxist organizations that are happy as clams that millions of illegals are pouring across our borders.

[CWOJackson]

"There is an outside chance some citizens could get caught up in one of these sweeps."

So citizens of this country should avoid going into any areas where these bands of vigilantes decide to have their sweeps. That might be difficult for them to avoid unless this organization posts exactly where they will be stopping all people who look Hispanic.

[DoughtyOne]

Which part of illegal don't you understand?

Lot's of felonious border jockeys lately...keep cheering them on, hypocrite.

Hmmm, I don't recall seeing lots of arrests of border jockeys lately.  Why don't you point us to that thread.

[DoughtyOne]

Which part of illegal don't you understand?

Lot's of felonious border jockeys lately...keep cheering them on, hypocrite.

Hmmm, I don't recall seeing lots of arrests of border jockeys lately.  Why don't you point us to that thread.

[dennisw]

Bud it's a hoot to watch these folks defend the defenseless.

I don't get. Defend our Mexican border and be done with it! This is a primary job for the Feds as enumerated in The Constitution. It doesn't take a genius IQ to figure out how. And seriously, trained bounty hunters would make a huge dent in the problem

[PRND21]

And you just keep cheering on the marxist organization...

Never. You are a Liar.

[DoughtyOne]

To: DoughtyOne

"There is an outside chance some citizens could get caught up in one of these sweeps."

So citizens of this country should avoid going into any areas where these bands of vigilantes decide to have their sweeps. That might be difficult for them to avoid unless this organization posts exactly where they will be stopping all people who look Hispanic.

273 posted on 08/08/2003 12:35 AM PDT by CWOJackson (The World According to Garp isn't that bad when compared with The World According to Todd.)
 

What do you think happens when border patrol agents stop people in this area?  The same thing could happen then.  US citizens could be stopped and challenged by them too.  The way to make sure that doesn't happen is to close the border to illegal activity, not bar the INS or US citizens from trying to stop illegal alien passage.

[CWOJackson]

The border patrol has the legal authority, and the proper training/experience, to stop people and challenge them. These people have no authority to demand anyone prove their citizenship.

[CWOJackson]

The border patrol has the legal authority, and the proper training/experience, to stop people and challenge them. These people have no authority to demand anyone prove their citizenship.