Posted on 07/09/2010 7:05:24 AM PDT by laotzu
San Antonio - Pilar Esquivel admits she was in the wrong when she couldn't present her driver's license to a police officer during a traffic stop ... and that he had every right to issue her a ticket.
However, Esquivel says when a Shavano Park police officer then threatened her with immediate deportation when she could not show proof of legal residency... that's when she felt what's happening in Arizona could happen here.
"After (being pulled over) for the violation and when I could not prove my proper papers, it then went more towards illegal immigration; that I could not prove that I was legally here."
Her husband Edward says they had just finished moving and that her driver's license and residency documents were at their Dominion home.
They say the officer gave them ten minutes to produce her legal residency papers ... or they claim he threatened to arrest her and begin deportation proceedings.
"The officer said that she would be deported; that she would be put into a waiting cell and that she would be deported in three days," quotes Edward Esquivel, what he attests the officer told him.
He says it was impossible to get home to find the papers to provide them so quickly.
Shavano Park City manager Manuel Longoria says they're investigating to ensure against possible harrassment. He says all officers are trained in strict protocol to make sure they are administering the law --- no more and no less.
The Esquivels say they don't want trouble ... they just want to make sure that other legal immigrants who have papers and who want to cooperate with the law ... aren't unfairly targeted.
The Dominion is a small, rich & ultra-rich community at the edge of San Antonio.
Which is a violation of FEDERAL law.
I suspect that deportation “procedings” involve determining whether or not the suspect is in fact illeagl.
This is pure circus. Never, ever, not one time will a legal be deported.
IOW, Tough ‘Merde.’ What kind of MORON doesn’t take their driver’s license along when they drive?
“License and registration please.”
But “I was born,,,, in East LA.”
I smell a setup and a scam.
Surely she must know federal law requires her to have her documentation on her person all the time when out and about ... It’s a simple fix, a white friend, who is Canadian and is here on a Green Card, did the same, the police asked her to come to the station, where her husband brought down her papers. No big deal, easily solved.
So what happens when you are stopped by police and don’t have a license on you, which you are legally required to do ... Same thing actually. Happens a lot in Florida, where bathing suits are often the only attire.
People who were born in this country, and who are life-long residents of Texas, are required to have their drivers licenses with them when they are operating a vehicle. But these people apparently think the laws that we have to abide by do not apply to them, and are claiming “harassment.” What a load.
She was also in the wrong for not having her immigration papers, but I guess that doesn’t matter.
Now she’s learned a valuable lesson that she should’ve learned when she entered the US.
Welcome to America, Ma’am.
Obey the rules.
Really doesn’t pass the smell test.
She could not produce her driver’s license...
Sounds like reasonable suspicion to me!!
The Esquivels say they don’t want trouble ... they just want to make sure that other legal immigrants who have papers and who want to cooperate with the law ... aren’t unfairly targeted.
Sounds to me she was ‘targeted FAIRLY’. She broke the law (no drivers license on her), and compounded that with breaking MORE laws (traffic citation).
Our son-in-law is a legal immigrant, and you are correct: you have to carry them with you AT ALL TIMES and produce them on demand. That's the law, and he follows it strictly. Why don't they have to ?
That’s my first take on this too. It just doesn’t pass the “smell” test.
Bingo, you win!!!!
Am I crazy, or is it possible for a cop to run your name and vehicle tag number through a computer in the cop’s car and to have a person’s license verified right there? If it’s not possible, it should be. In AZ the ticket for not having a drivers license on your person during a traffic stop is astronomical. But it is easily discharged when the license is later presented. But cops can determine if someone does actually have a valid drivers license that was accidentally left behind.
What does moving have to do with her not having her license with her? Doesn’t she keep it in her wallet?
These rehearsed street-theater scenarios will be taking place in pulled-over cars with regularity.
When will cops wear tape recorders to obviate these "he-said, she-said" confrontations? If they can videotape from their vehicles, why can't they audiotape from the shirt pockets of their uniforms?
I could have written the amateurish dialogue for the above conversation myself. You can almost hear the script rattle.
Leni
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