Justice Served – Illegal immigrant gets $48,000 in suit against border agents

 Posted by on 2009/11/30  3 Responses »
Nov 302009
 
Justice Served - Illegal immigrant gets $48,000 in suit against border agents

Mike Carter of the Seattle Times reports that the federal government has paid an illegal immigrant $48,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging he was assaulted and illegally arrested by two U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents while waiting for his 6-year-old son at a bus stop. The violent and public June 12, 2006, arrest of Isabel Valencia-Perez of Mount Vernon strained relations between the city’s police department and the federal agency. There were enough questions over what had happened that city and Skagit County prosecutors contemplated filing criminal charges against agents Daryl Schermerhorn and Steven Malpezzi, according to documents obtained by The Seattle Times through a public-disclosure request. The FBI opened a criminal civil-rights investigation, looking into allegations of excessive MORE

DOJ Investigators take depositions in investigation of Arpaio

 Posted by on 2009/09/19  1 Response »
Sep 192009
 
DOJ Investigators take depositions in investigation of Arpaio

Justice Department investigators have met with religious and community leaders to hear testimonies on the anti-immigrant practices of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. Complaints of racial profiling in traffic stops, and physical and verbal abuse in the jails have mounted against deputies of the controversial sheriff Joe Arpaio for the last couple of years. But tensions have escalated since Sheriff Arpaio signed an agreement with the federal government in 2007 to enforce immigration laws. The controversial 287(g) program has been used to train 160 deputies in Maricopa County who conduct immigration sweeps in Latino neighborhoods and markets. Authority under 287(g) must now be renewed and Arpaio has until Oct. 15 to sign up for another term.