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
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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
Y'all just stand there for a while while I make a call.
As someone else posted on this thread, that is exactly what he has done many times. His gun stays in its holster and he's never had any problems obeying the law.
That's the same logic gun-grabbers use when arguing that only the police and military should have guns.
Provide evidence that any citizen border patrol volunteer has been intoxicated while patroling.
We can. It will require a 20 foot reinforced and electrified barrier with razor wires around the border and patrols by armed soldiers with night vision goggles. It will require the gunning down of families that escape to our country, if they refuse to stop or they don't understand the words "halt and put your hands in the air or you will be fired at." It will require a dictator who can ignore the pleas of his countrymen to "have some compassion" (you may want to forget America's reaction when Elian was sent back, but it doesn't change the political fact that most Americans have hearts and souls.) It will require the Patriot III-IX acts, incredible violations of our privacy, a huge government database, and a national ID.
Closing the borders is not worth the price. It would be better to do what Dubya has proposed. Like Reagan, Dubya has proposed amnesty for working families, tougher enforcement of current laws for criminals, increasing the flow of legal immigration, and free trade to prevent families from wanting to leave Mexico. It may not be a perfect solution but it is far better than closing the door to the shining city. I am sure that your predecessors would agree.
What does this have to do with illegals circumventing this countries ports of entry? They are your words. All I did was change the word illegals to citizens. I agree they are not pertinent to this topic except if you are a slack jawed racist. I didn't want to call you that. I prefer you point it out yourself. Thank you very much.
Have a nice day.
You don't like Ronald Reagan Tancredo Fan? I bet Tancredo likes Ronald Reagan, and you can bet Reagan is a hero to me.
Reagan too much of a RINO for you Evil One? I could use a good laugh please respond more.
Good point. But don't look for it to be acknowledged anytime soon.
Frustrating, isn't it?
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