Posted on 09/23/2008 11:11:38 AM PDT by CedarDave
The chief federal judge in New Mexico has ordered the Otero County Sheriff's Department to halt communitywide raids in poor Chaparral neighborhoods conducted solely to find illegal immigrants.
Plaintiffs in a lawsuit said the raids illegally targeted low-income Latino residents and were carried out using Operation Stonegarden funds earmarked for anti-terrorism activities.
The preliminary injunction ordered by Chief Judge Martha Vázquez is virtually unprecedented nationally, at least at this stage of proceedings, attorneys familiar with immigration cases say.
Vázquez entered the order Friday in favor of the Border Network for Human Rights, which filed suit on behalf of more than a dozen alleged victims of the raids, including three children.
Albuquerque lawyer William Slease, who represents Otero County, said he does not comment on pending litigation, but defendants in court documents deny they are acting illegally.
Plaintiffs' attorney Briana Stone, director of the Paso del Norte Civil Rights Project, said the order marks a milestone. "The judge's decision confirms that within our borders, everyone has the constitutional rights to be safe in our homes and free from discrimination elsewhere," she said. "Hopefully this ruling will ease some of the fears that residents of Chaparral have had since Operation Stonegarden began."
The court's order bars the sheriff's department from engaging in any stops, searches or seizures of persons, property or homes without a valid legal justification pursuant to Operation Stonegarden, a program that provides federal money to states for anti-terrorism and drug trafficking interdiction activities.
(Excerpt) Read more at abqjournal.com ...
Not if they have committed drug or other crimes and are here illegally.
Activist Judges....
Time to go!
Hmmmmmmm......
Judge Martha Vázquez is .... (wait for it) .... a Clinton appointee. September 2003.
No surprise.
Isn’t it illegal to prohibit leo’s from doing their jobs?
Calling an illegal alien an ‘undocumented immigrant’ is like calling a drug dealer an ‘unlicensed pharmacist’.
Clinton wasn’t in office in Sept of 2003.
This judge can be sued personally for violation of USC 8 sec 1342 under the expanded RICO Act of 1996.
Appointed by Clinton, natch. Formerly a personal injury lawyer, uh, that would be ambulance chaser, and represented NEA Teachers Union.
“Clinton wasn’t in office in Sept of 2003.”
Yeah, sorry. Typo on my part. Should have been 1993.
The only appointments Clinton was making in 2003 was to meet with donors to his library.
The only appointments Clinton was making in 2003 was to meet with donors to his library.
Sorry about the double post.
FR is getting ready for its daily afternoon nap.
When (not if, but “when”) his order is appealed, the Circuit Court is going to bitch-slap Vazquez into the middle of next week.
Recently a relative who was in NM on business said that there are signs along the highway that say “Don’t pick up international travelers hitchhiking”. I guess re-defining illegal immigrants will make them feel less illegal, huh? Bill Richardson has turned out to be quite a dissapointment.
Ignore the judges order and carry on. Hell, raid the judges house while you are at it!
ping
Albuquerque lawyer William Slease,...
Oh boy.
Get a rope.
Chief Judge Martha </b>Vázquez</b>. Hmmmmmm. For a judge with a hispanic name to make a clearly biased ruling of this nature, so dubious at best only makes her out to be the apparent racist here. I’d venture to say her ruling will not prevail on appeal just on the face of it alone let alone it being a racial one in its appearance.
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