Posted on 08/07/2003 8:27:02 PM PDT by AZ GRAMMY
Second arrest made in immigrant incident
BY LOUIE VILLALOBOS, Staff Writer Aug 7, 2003
Email this page Printer friendly page Subscribe to The Sun
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
Thousands of apprehensions and you can point to perhaps ten arrests
Ten?! Jeez, I only knew of three. I missed some, post some links, please. And which ones were "not border-related"?
295 posted on 08/08/2003 1:07 AM PDT by PRND21
I didn't bother to count, but figured counting this thread we were getting close to then. Two on this thread, Glenn, Simcox and pal and you mentioned some guys who pistol-whipped some people. That's seven if the last group were only two, and it could have been more. If it was actually seven to nine it makes little difference to me. The count is still rather insignificant after so many apprehensions and turnovers to the INS.
Glenn's arrest was not border enforcement related. It was a weaons charge based on an incident outside his home.
That's not right. Placing the handcuffs on the illegals is unlawful imprisonment. Holding a gun on them is aggravated assault.
Once you make physical contact, you've committed assault.
That's not quite right either. A mere threat of physical harm amounts to assault. Physical contact is not required.
A person commits assault by...[i]ntentionally placing another person in reasonable apprehension of imminent physical injury...
Source: Arizona Revised Statutes 13-1203
Why are they being charged with aggravated assault? Any idea? It was the physical act of placing the handcuffs on the illegal aliens.
That's not right. Placing the handcuffs on the illegals is unlawful imprisonment. Holding a gun on them is aggravated assault.
Once you make physical contact, you've committed assault.
That's not quite right either. A mere threat of physical harm amounts to assault. Physical contact is not required.
305 posted on 08/08/2003 1:50 AM PDT by Sandy
I'm more inclined to agree with you after this thread. I appreciate your comments.
Sandy, let me ask you something. You live near the border and hundreds of illegals come through your property every day. Not only poor illegal aliens traverse your property, but drug runners do too.
You're property is being damaged. Your fences torn down, some livestock poisoned. Several guard dogs have been killed. Equipment has been stolen out of your barn. At night people sleep there on occasion. You home has been vandelized, broken into several times.
You've made a fortress of your home. There are bars on the windows and the doors are steal reinforced. At night you lock yourself in like a prisoner in prison.
When you tour your property, do you take a gun with you or not? Do you take a chance on running into illegal allien drug runners? If you do, you'll note that one day you'll likely round a corner and come face to face with people who are running drugs and may kill you.
The enforcement of gun laws that see you or your neighbors prosecuted for trying to put a stop to this just rubs me the wrong way. If the government doesn't want these citizens to do what they're doing, it should enforce the borders itself. Why should these people be prosecuted for trying to clean up the area?
They have been put in a catch 22 situation. It isn't right. It has to end. That's why I'm going to defend these men. What they government is allowing to happen to their area is far far far worse than anything they did to stop it.
Two words Elian Gonzales.
Not when you consider that the illegals this man ran over had just robbed his insurance office at gunpoint.
Having a gun shoved in your face is not a violent act, and that is why they are not being charged with aggravated assault, eh? Supposedly Reform Party hacks would claim rape is not violence so long as no one bleeds or no bones get broken, or perhaps the threshold has to be at least two broken bones.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.