Sheriff Can't Detain Suspected Illegal Aliens

Sheriff Joe Arpaio may not detain suspects based solely on a belief that they are in the country illegally, the 9th Circuit ruled.

The federal appeals panel in San Francisco late Tuesday upheld a preliminary injunction in a class action over the sheriff's alleged pattern of racial profiling. Other issues in the action went to trial in Phoenix in late July.

Manuel de Jesus Ortega Melendres, David and Jessica Rodriguez, Manuel Nieto Jr., Velia Meraz and the organization Somos America sued Arpaio and the Maricopa County Sheriff's office over three traffic stops during a 2006 anti-illegal immigration sweep. The plaintiffs claimed in a 2007 complaint that they were racially profiled as Latinos and illegally singled out for arrest.

U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow issued the preliminary injunction in 2011, prohibiting deputies from "detaining any individual 'based only on knowledge or reasonable belief, without more, that the person is unlawfully present within the United States."

Snow has yet to rule on other aspects of the case, which was the subject of seven-day bench trial in July. Whatever his ruling, the case is likely to return the 9th Circuit on appeal.

In Tuesday's limited review of the preliminary injunction, a three-judge appeals panel found that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed with their Fourth Amendment claims, and that they were likely to be profiled again in the absence of a court order.

"Even if the plaintiffs comply with all criminal laws enforceable by the defendants, under the defendants' view of the Fourth Amendment, the plaintiffs remain vulnerable to unlawful detention solely because an officer has reasonable suspicion or knowledge that they are not authorized to be present in the United States," wrote Judge J. Clifford Wallace for the unanimous panel.

The panel found the plaintiffs' case strong and likely to succeed because "mere unauthorized presence is not a criminal matter, [and] suspicion of unauthorized presence alone does not give rise to an inference that criminal activity is 'afoot.'"

"While the seizures of the named plaintiffs based on traffic violations may have been supported by reasonable suspicion, any extension of their detention must be supported by additional suspicion of criminality," Wallace wrote. "Unlawful presence is not criminal.Nor does illegal presence, without more, give rise to reasonable suspicion of violation of Arizona's human smuggling statute, as the defendants maintain."

Do you think this is just the start of things to come.Remember a few days ago..Woman blames SB 1070 for mother’s traffic arrest
.PHOENIX — Erika Andiola’s mother was pulled over by Mesa Police Saturday night for speeding but Andiola believes there was another reason, a reason police said is irrelevant.

“According to the police she was going 50 miles per hour when it was supposed to be 40,” Andiola told 92.3 KTAR’s Jay Lawrence.

“I actually went to speak to one of the cops and he didn’t even want to answer whether he stopped them or not because of the color of their skin but I honestly felt that was the reason why that happened.”

Andiola added that her mother and two siblings who were also in the car were adamant that they weren’t speeding. The family is Hispanic.

http://ktar.com/22/1577349/Woman-blames-SB-1070-for-mothers-traffic-arrest

Earlier..Phoenix police: Officer wasn’t wrong in ICE arrest http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/20120921phoenix-police-officer-wasnt-wrong-ice-arrest.html Check out this key quote... “He told me, ‘The only reason that the officer stopped me was because we looked Hispanic. If we looked Anglo they wouldn’t have stopped us,’ “
“He told me, ‘The only reason that the officer stopped me was because we looked Hispanic. If we looked Anglo they wouldn’t have stopped us,’ “

MCSO: Illegal immigrant used fake ID to try to enter Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant.
MARICOPA, AZ - Maricopa County Sheriff’s deputies say they arrested an illegal immigrant Wednesday after learning he attempted to enter the Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant by using false identification

It will be interesing to see what becomes of this illegal.Will it be catch and release ?
Another racial profiling,case.. Sept 19,2012
North Carolina sheriff accused of ‘egregious’ targeting Latinos for deportation
A Justice Department report said Sheriff Terry S. Johnson encouraged his staff to use racial epithets and was heard referring to Latinos as “taco eaters” prone to drinking, drug dealing and other crimes.

Latinos living without immigration papers in Arizona have begun bombarbing helplines and lawyers’ offices with anxious requests about how to provide for their children should they be arrested under a controversial new police power that came into effect this week.

A phone line hosted by the Arizona branch of the American Civil Liberties Union has received almost 4,000 calls in just two days, many from anxious parents who fear that their children could be left abandoned should they be picked up under the so-called ‘show-me-your-papers’ provision. Hundreds have been asking for help setting up a “power of attorney”, which gives a relative or friend who has US citizenship the right to care for minors in such an eventuality.

“People are terrified. They fear that they will go to the store to buy groceries and won’t get home and their kids will be left alone at school,” said Luz Santiago, a pastor in Mesa. She said she has personally handled about 50 requests for power of attorney since Tuesday.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/20/arizona-undocumented-latinos-law

I think in the coming days,weeks,months we will see more lawsuits filed under the guise of racial profiling.

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