ACLU claims Orange County, Tustin, Huntington Park illegally interrogated, detained immigrants
ACLU claims Orange County, Tustin, Huntington Park illegally interrogated, detained immigrants
by Roxana Kopetman
One driver was stopped by Tustin police and told his windows were tinted too dark. Another man was detained by Huntington Park police for alleged public intoxication.
Neither was charged in connection to their original police stops. Instead, they both ended up in immigrant detention.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California has filed administrative complaints against the cities of Tustin and Huntington Park, as well as Orange County. The ACLU alleges authorities unlawfully interrogated the men about their immigration status and illegally detained them for ICE, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Such complaints usually are filed as a precursor to a lawsuit.
“When police and sheriffs detain local residents for ICE, it has devastating effects for their families and their communities. It is also illegal,” ACLU senior staff attorney Jessica Karp Bansal wrote in a statement released Monday.
The California Values Act law prohibits local law enforcement from asking people about their immigration status and it limits cooperation between local police and sheriff’s deputies with federal immigration agents.
Officials from Orange County, Tustin and Huntington Park said their departments comply with California’s so-called sanctuary law and all said they are looking into the ACLU claims.
According to the ACLU, Garden Grove resident Kelvin Hernandez Román, 32, was pulled over July 13, 2019 by two Tustin police officers and told that “they stopped him because of his car’s tinted windows.” The officers asked him to step out of his car and then peppered him with questions about his immigration status, according to the claim filed Friday, Jan. 10. Hernandez Román, the ACLU said, told them the truth: he does not have legal status.
The next day, Hernandez Román was transferred to the Theo Lacy Facility in Orange and shortly after to the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in San Bernardino County. The ACLU claims that Tustin police and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department violated the California Values Act. Sheriff’s deputies violated other laws, the claim alleges, in what the ACLU said constituted false imprisonment. Hernandez Román remains in ICE detention.
That same week, Baldwin Park resident Jose Maldonado Aguilar was arrested by Huntington Park police for allegedly being intoxicated in public. He was detained longer than normal, according to the ACLU, to give ICE agents enough time to come pick him up as he was being released from police custody.
Huntington Park police violated several laws, including the California Values Act, the ACLU wrote in its complaint filed last week. The department “engaged in extreme and outrageous conduct that exceeded the bounds of what is generally tolerated in a civilized society.” Maldonado Aguilar is out of immigrant detention after securing bail.
An Orange County Sheriff’s spokeswoman said the department complies with state law and is looking into the complaint.
“OCSD strongly agrees with those who argue that local law enforcement should not be enforcing immigration law,” spokeswoman Carrie Braun wrote in an email Monday. “We have never, do not, and will not arrest individuals on the street for violation of immigration law. It is not our charge and doing so could hinder the relationships we have worked hard to develop with the immigrant communities we serve.”
Tustin officials would not comment on the claim, other than to say it’s under investigation. “It’s not our practice or policy to ask about immigration status during a car stop or any other contact we have with a member of the community,” said Tustin police Lt. Andrew Birozy.
Huntington Park officials said in a statement Monday that its police department “is looking into its internal controls to ensure complete adherence to the California Values Act.” Officials said the police department, which the ACLU accused of cooperating with ICE on other occasions, “is fully cooperating with the ACLU” and could not provide further comment.
Maldonado Aguilar’s case was not an isolated incident, according to the ACLU, which said that between January 2018 and August 2019, Huntington Park police released 29 people to ICE.
In both cases, the ACLU said that the agencies caused the men emotional distress and is seeking $100,000 in damages for each, as well as a U visa certification – which is granted to victims of crimes – saying that the men were victims of false imprisonment. The ACLU’s claim against Tustin seeks another $5,000. All three claims also seek internal investigations, compliance with state law and additional training on California’s immigrant-related laws.
In Orange County, the Sheriff’s Department stopped accepting detainees held solely for immigrant detention as of Aug. 1.
All credit goes to Roxana Kopetman Originally published on https://www.dailynews.com
