{"id":2244,"date":"2007-09-14T17:01:00","date_gmt":"2007-09-14T23:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/09\/aclu-accuses-sheriffs-of-conducting-immigration-raids\/"},"modified":"2007-09-14T17:01:00","modified_gmt":"2007-09-14T23:01:00","slug":"aclu-accuses-sheriffs-of-conducting-immigration-raids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/09\/aclu-accuses-sheriffs-of-conducting-immigration-raids\/","title":{"rendered":"ACLU accuses sheriffs of conducting immigration raids"},"content":{"rendered":"

The American Civil Liberties Union<\/a> is condemning recent actions by sheriff\u2019s deputies in Do\u00f1a Ana and Otero counties, saying they are irresponsibly and inappropriately acting as Border Patrol agents.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In a news release sent today, the ACLU said deputies recently conducted \u201cimmigration raids\u201d in Chaparral and Vado, which the organization claimed included \u201csweeps of immigrant neighborhoods, knocking on doors and checking identification\u2026 stopping motorists and entering private businesses\u201d and possibly taking children from schools and entering homes without consent or warrants.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is irresponsible policing,\u201d said Maria Nape, Director of the ACLU\u2019s Border Rights office. \u201cImmigrants in these communities may never again trust that they can report crimes to sheriff\u2019s deputies, even if they are the victims. When local police become border patrol agents, it rips a hole in the fabric of public safety that takes years to mend.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Sgt. Joe Reynaud of the Do\u00f1a Ana County Sheriff\u2019s Department<\/a> said two department deputies conducted an operation on Monday as part of a federal program called Operation Stonegarden<\/a>. He said the order to local law enforcement agencies is to increase presence in areas identified through intelligence as routes for smuggling and transportation of humans and narcotics. The order does not authorize the sheriff to enforce federal immigration law.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Reynaud said he couldn\u2019t speak for Otero<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placetype> deputies, but in Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place>, he said deputies did not violate anyone\u2019s rights and did not attempt to enforce immigration laws. He said they did not take any children from schools.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

He also said the department does not enforce federal law; however, if deputies come across violations, they won\u2019t ignore them. He said that would be true whether deputies came across illegal immigrants and called the Border Patrol or if they came across counterfeit money and called the Secret Service.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

On Monday, Reynaud said, the department did not come into contact with or turn over to federal officials any undocumented immigrants, but he said they did investigate a possible meth lab and arrested one man in Otero<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placetype> who deputies there found had an outstanding warrant from Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re knocking on doors, we are following up on information such as tips or ongoing investigations that pertain to narcotics, smuggling, human trafficking or suspicious activity,\u201d he said of deputies in Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place>. \u201cWe don\u2019t pull anyone over at random. We only pull people over for traffic violations.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The ACLU filed a records request<\/a> with both sheriffs\u2019 departments today seeking more information about their use of the money provided through the federal grant program.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThese raids are symptomatic of the same reactionary policies that have failed to address nationwide concerns about immigration for decades,\u201d Nape said. \u201cDo we want to live in a country that makes life so intolerable for hundreds of thousands of families who live and work here that they leave? Or would we rather live in an America<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> that brings immigrants out of the shadows of society and enables them to be taxpaying, contributing citizens?\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Reynaud said there is a good reason for local police to keep an eye on human trafficking. Such immigrants are often victims of false imprisonment, robbery, domestic violence and other state crimes. He said, in coming across immigrants, that such violations of state laws are the focus of the sheriff\u2019s department.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The American Civil Liberties Union is condemning recent actions by sheriff\u2019s deputies in Do\u00f1a Ana and Otero counties, saying they are irresponsibly and inappropriately acting as Border Patrol agents. In a news release sent today, the ACLU said deputies recently conducted \u201cimmigration raids\u201d in Chaparral and Vado, which the organization claimed included \u201csweeps of immigrant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2244\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}