Posted on 12/14/2009 11:54:14 AM PST by Steelfish
Colo. Court: Immigrants Records Illegally Searched
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS December 14, 2009
DENVER (AP) -- The Colorado Supreme Court ruled Monday that Weld County authorities violated the Fourth Amendment and privacy rights of suspected illegal immigrants when they used tax returns to potentially build hundreds of identity theft cases against them.
The ruling affirmed a decision by a Weld County district judge who suppressed evidence against one of the defendants. That judge said authorities had no probable cause to search the man's tax returns and that the documents are confidential.
The defendant was one of more than 70 people charged with criminal impersonation and identity theft. Some defendants pleaded guilty and were deported before the district court ruling. Pending the Supreme Court appeal, many had their cases dismissed without prejudice, which gave prosecutors the option of filing cases again if judges had ruled in their favor.
The investigation, dubbed ''Operation Numbers Game,'' marked the first and only time in the U.S. that authorities used tax documents to try to prosecute suspected illegal immigrants.
Prosecutors had said they believed as many as 1,300 immigrants were breaking the law and that they planned to charge more people. The district attorney's office said prosecutors in other states had expressed interest in their method of investigation.
But in March, District Judge James Hartmann Jr. suppressed the evidence against one of the defendants, saying the search warrant was ''nothing more than an exploratory search based upon suspicion that some unknown person or persons'' committed a crime.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
With apologies to POGO:
“We have met the enemy and it is US-Judges”
I HATE THE G*D D*MN US Court systems!
The inmates are now running and building new asylums.
And the inmates are Illegals! What a country!
Doesn’t a tax return potentially force one to testafy against oneself under threat of penalty for non compliance?
A criminal as the right to remain silent.
Why doesn’t the taxpayer?
FOREIGN NATIONALS DO NOT HAVE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS EXCEPT THE RIGHT TO TOSS THEIR ASS OUT OF THE COUNTRY IF THE COME HERE ILLEGALLY
The Framers intentionally used the words "people" and "persons" instead of the words "citizen" or "citizens."
Obviously, the Framers wanted 4th Amendment protections for everybody.
Good Ruling.
“Weld County authorities violated the Fourth Amendment and privacy rights of suspected illegal immigrants...”
WHAT??????????
I thought these rights belonged solely to U.S. citizens!
I hate liberalism!!!!!!!!!!
Amen brother! They don’t got no stinking rights granted under our constitution!
Logic is lost on liberals and their enforcers (in this case the Judge). The ‘information’ belonged primarily to the victims whose identities were stolen. Regardless, this is a prediction: One day soon, the only way we will be rid of these rationalizing appeasers is by force - true force.
Just un-fricken-believable. Prosecutors cannot use evidence of tax-fraud to build a case against illegals committing tax fraud. And the hit’s just keep on coming. This is not the America I grew up in.
After all, Mexicans here ILLEGALLY are entitled to US Constitutional rights!! Along with the right to kill, rape, rob, mug, sell drugs, form gangs...all the stuff Americans supposedly “don’t want to do!”
“I thought these rights belonged solely to U.S. citizens!”
No, the Constitution is quite clear that the people, not just citizens are protected.
This is a very good arguement for elected state judges.
So how are they going to use American citizens returns to prove they committed tax fraud? This violates the Equal Protection Clause.
I feel like I’m in an alternate universe.
It would seem to me that a complaint about stolen identity would constitute ‘probable cause’ sufficient for a warrant. Some judge did agree to that, and a warrant was issued. It’s not like they were going in to the files on a wish and a hope.
Well then, they need to produce that warrant.
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