Groups sue Otero sheriff over migrant raid By Louie Gilot / El Paso Times CHAPARRAL, N.M. -- Civil-rights groups filed two lawsuits Wednesday against the Otero County Sheriff's Department, claiming that deputies violated civil rights by detaining 28 undocumented immigrants in a raid last month. The Border Network for Human Rights and the Paso Del Norte Civil Rights Project, both based in El Paso, filed one lawsuit with 13 plaintiffs. The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, or MALDEF, filed the other, with nine plaintiffs. Both suits, filed in federal court in Las Cruces, seek monetary damages and a policy change. "The potential is there to challenge whether New Mexico can cooperate with the Border Patrol this way," said Briana Stone, director of the Paso Del Norte Civil Rights Project. Sept. 10, the Otero County Sheriff's Department ran a federally funded enforcement operation and detained 28 undocumented immigrants. They were turned over to the Border Patrol, which did not actively participate in the raid. Sheriff's officials said they encountered the immigrants during normal policing activities. During the same operation, they also issued 17 citations and arrested four people on outstanding warrants. But community advocates said the deputies conducted a thinly veiled immigration raid, engaged in racial profiling, and used trickery and illegal means to gain access to people's homes. In one case outlined in the ACLU-MALDEF complaint, a family alleges deputies woke them up after 4:30 a.m., banging on their door and shouting, "Delivery! Mia's pizza!", then "Animal Control. Come outside," and finally, "Otero County Sheriff. Come outside." The family, identified only by the initial "T" because they fear reprisals, said one deputy tried to enter their house through an open window and was halfway inside when he gave up and crawled back out. When the family members opened the door, they allegedly were first told deputies had received a complaint that one of their dogs had bitten someone. Then the deputies allegedly said a refrigerator outside the home was a hazard. The family allegedly was taken outside while deputies searched the house. "Fourteen-year-old Lucy T. asked whether the deputies had a warrant. One of the (deputies) replied that they did not need a warrant because of the refrigerator," according to the complaint. The family eventually was turned over to the Border Patrol, court documents show. Otero County Attorney Daniel Bryant said he would pass the lawsuits on to the New Mexico County Insurance Authority, which would assign a lawyer to look into them. "The county will take a look at the accusations and do an investigation and decide what the real facts are and respond accordingly," he said. The lawsuits allege deputies violated the Fourth Amendment, which guarantees the right to be free from warrantless searches, and the 14th Amendment, which guarantees equal protection of the law regardless of racial background, guarantees due process and protects against false imprisonment. The suits also allege a conspiracy to violate civil rights. "Otero County sheriffs broke a basic bond of trust with the community of Chaparral," said Peter Simonson, ACLU executive director. "When the police treat you like a criminal because of the language you speak and the color of your skin, they cease being a source of help when you are a victim of or witness to a crime. We need to restore policing to its proper mission in Chaparral so citizens and immigrants alike can trust that someone is watching out for their safety." Though sheriff's deputies were operating thanks to federal money under a border security program called Operation Stonegarden, they were not officially given the task of enforcing immigration laws. "The enforcement of immigration laws is strictly a responsibility of the federal government," MALDEF staff lawyer David Urias said. "Sheriff's deputies are not immigration officers and do not have the authority or the training to investigate or arrest people because they suspect them of being undocumented. In Otero County, sheriff's deputies are taking federal law into their own hands and violating the rights of Latinos, including citizens and legal permanent residents. These raids are simply illegal and un-American." Some of the plaintiffs in the lawsuits are U.S. citizens. Others are legal permanent residents, and others are undocumented residents. Some are still in Otero County, while others have been deported to Mexico. Some were separated from their U.S.-born children, who stayed in Chaparral with family members. "This is a family issue. Otero County is impacting the well-being of families," said Fernando Garcia, executive director of the Border Network for Human Rights, which is also a plaintiff in one lawsuit. Some of the incidents described in that lawsuit occurred before the Sept. 10 operation. A teenager who said his name was Felipe Ontiveros said at a news conference Wednesday that deputies entered his home without a warrant and without invitation Aug. 7. He said they asked his sister and mother, "Let me see if you have a birth certificate. Let me see if you are American." Both women were turned over to the Border Patrol and deported. Other alleged incidents in the lawsuit include deputies telling a woman she had called 911 when she hadn't, and a deputy bursting into a house supposedly looking for "Tony." |