Families, protestors angered over arrests at Baldwin Park checkpoint

San Gabriel Valley Tribune. ^ | 12/29/13 | Brian Day

[moonshinner_09]

Immigrant rights activists and upset family members gathered Sunday in Baldwin Park to express outrage over the arrests of 37 people during an overnight sobriety and drivers’ license checkpoints.

Dozens of demonstrators, some carrying signs with slogans such as “driving is not a crime,” demanded answers from Baldwin Park police over what they called a round-up of undocumented immigrants.

But police said the arrests were the result of recent changes in policies regarding what types of identification the court will accept when police issue a misdemeanor citation, such as one for driving without a license. And officials maintained that such checkpoints are a valuable took in combatting intoxicated driving.Tearful children were taken into the custody of county officials as parents were arrested during the checkpoint, said Debbie Leance, a volunteer with Inland Empire Rapid Response Network. The majority, she said, were arrested only for driving without a license. One video shot by the demonstrators depicted a girl crying while explaining that the police were taking her mother away, “Because she’s not from here.”

“It’s such a large roundup. It’s unprecedented,” Leance said. It’s so unnecessary. That seems like a federal agenda.”

[moonshinner_09]

See video and protesters remarks @ ...http://laist.com/2013/12/30/video_public_protests_after_undocum.php

[Nifster]

No sympathy here… drive drunk get arrested (legal or not). They want to treat the US like Mexico where no body pays attention to these sorts of offenses and drunkenness is what people engage in to relieve the pain and boredom of their lives

[ColdOne]

Too bad it wasn't a Illegal Immigrant checkpoint. Oh, that's the Federal Gvmt's job to ignore. from the comment section

[BenLurkin]

Send the invaders home.

[TigersEye]

Start checking green cards.

[andyk]

Checkpoints are wrong. Slowing you to a stop is one thing, but if there’s no probable cause, they have no right to demand papers. IMHO. It works both ways.

[MurrietaMadman]

“She’s never been arrested. Not even a ticket,” he said.

Imagine that. In Baldwin Park, too.

http://www.theamericanresistance.com/thousand_words/baldwin_park_2005may14.html

[Render]

While I have no real sympathy for the illegals that were taken into custody, I also do not support the utilization of checkpoints. Want to pull me over based on any laws I may have broken or if I’m driving like I’m drunk then ok. Pulling everyone over without cause and submitting them to sobriety testing is not ok. It’s an infringement on my rights.

I do not support driving under the influence at all but these checkpoints are not the way to battle driver impairment. Just another excuse to stop you for no reason and look for reasons to generate revenue.

The tax money used to fund these fishing expeditions would be better spent identifying, targeting, and deporting those that should not be here.

[JRandomFreeper]

Give me a $50 bounty on each illegal I round up, and I'll be a wealthy man in a year. I know where to find them. So does the government. Difference is that I want them gone. The government doesn't.

And spot on about checkpoints. Checkpoints aren't compatible with freedom.

/johnny

[cripplecreek]

Its something that needs to be taken up with the state legislatures.



Here in Michigan the fight over it went to the state supreme court and they ruled them to be a constitutional violation. It went to the US Subprime court who ruled them to be OK but by then the state legislature had figured out that the people were enraged over it and they died quietly.

They can and do find reasons to stop individuals but they can't block a road and check everyone.

[cripplecreek]

Yeah I don’t even drink and I don’t want to be hassled when I drive.

[logic101.net]

“Sobriety check points” are a blatant violation of the 4th amendment. But in my view the Constitution does not apply to people who do not legally belong here. It was intended to protect citizens and legal residents; not trespassers.

[Mich Patriot]

GTFOOMC

[GeronL]

Drunk drivers have no excuse. Illegals should be deported before they sober up.

[Eagles6]

I believe the checkpoints to be unconstitutional. Illegal immigration is, well, illegal. If they hadn't been here illegally they wouldn't have been arrested unconstitutionally.

I'm so sick of these parasites.

[cardinal4]

I know where they all are, too. Working for Brickman Lawn services in Saint Louis...

[trebb]

...some carrying signs with slogans such as “driving is not a crime,”

I can foresee signs in the near future proclaiming that "Criminal activities are not a crime unless you happen to be a White, working taxpayer - then, your very existence is a crime."