Report: Immigration Raids Violated Rights

(AP)  Immigration agents raiding homes for suspected illegal immigrants violated the U.S. Constitution by entering without proper consent and may have used racial profiling, a report analyzing arrest records found.

Latinos made up a disproportionate number of the people arrested who were not the stated targets of the raids, and many of their arrest reports gave no basis for why they were initially seized, said the report, which was based on data from raids in New York and New Jersey.

The Immigration Justice Clinic at Yeshiva University's Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law analyzed home raid arrest records from Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices in Long Island and throughout New Jersey. The clinic, founded last year, represents indigent immigrants facing deportation.

Its report, released Wednesday, said that since ICE agents use administrative warrants - instead of judicial warrants, which give law enforcement unfettered access - they must have a resident's consent to enter a home or else violate the constitutional right to protection against unreasonable searches.

On Long Island, 86 percent of arrest records from 100 raids between January 2006 and April 2008 showed no record of consent being given, the report found. In northern and central New Jersey, no record of consent being given was found for 24 percent of about 600 arrests in 2006 and 2007, it found.

Peter Markowitz, director of the clinic and one of the authors of the report, said raids often are carried out with great force, with immigration officials pushing their way into homes in pre-dawn or late-night hours.

The raids are ostensibly aimed at targeted individuals who present threats either to national security or community safety, but arrests of illegal immigrants nearby, known as collateral arrests, are also made.

While the report only analyzed data from two states, it said the pattern suggested the problem was nationwide. It listed examples from California, Texas, Arizona, Massachusetts, Georgia and other places.

A federal judge in Connecticut last month ruled that federal agents violated the constitutional rights of four illegal immigrants in a 2007 raid under similar issues. The judge ruled the immigration agents went into the immigrants' homes without warrants, probable cause or their consent, and he put a stop to deportation proceedings against the four defendants.

"The widespread illegality by a law enforcement agency should be kind of shocking to anybody," Markowitz said.

In a statement, ICE said its agents uphold the country's laws.

"We do so professionally, humanely and with an acute awareness regarding the impact enforcement has on the individuals we encounter," it said.

The agency said it also had a mandate to pursue all illegal immigrants, whether targeted or not. A spokesman for the agency declined to comment further.

The agency has about 100 Fugitive Operations Teams around the country; in fiscal year 2008, the teams made more than 34,000 arrests.

The report also found that Latinos were a disproportionate number of collateral arrests. In both New Jersey and on Long Island, two-thirds of the targeted detainees were Latino. But 87 percent of collateral arrests in New Jersey were Latino, as were 94 percent of the collateral arrests in Long Island.

Collateral arrest records can indicate why the person was seized and questioned. But the report found that almost all the records that didn't contain that information were for Latinos taken into custody. The report said that supported community complaints that Latinos were targeted for arrest simply because of how they looked or how well they spoke English.

The report makes several recommendations, including limiting the use of home raids to a last resort for targets who pose a serious risk to national security or have violent criminal records; the use of judicial rather than administrative warrants, and the videotaping of all home raids.

It also calls for the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General to conduct an investigation.

"These are violations that go to the very heart of the Constitutional expectation of privacy in this country," Markowitz said.

[joelwisch]

You have a huge number of people whining at us night and day. It doesn't end. But the problems we complain about don't end either... on and on. Take a look...

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Immigration/wm1490.cfm

http://one-simple-idea.com/BorderSecurity.htm

http://www.usillegalaliens.com/the_dark_side_of_illegal_immigration.html

http://www.immigrationcounters.com/

http://www.endillegalimmigration.com/Illegal_Immigration_Facts_&_Statistics/index.shtml

http://www.fairus.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=16661&security=1601&news_iv_ctrl=1007

The question has begun to boil down to this very simple idea:

is the Federal Government going to make the American Taxpayer pay for the illegal aliens,

or is the Federal Government going to make the illegal aliens pay for the crimes they committed.
--------------------------------------------------
We are asking that the Immigration Law be enforced.. and it has been underfunded for a very long time, and we are asking that the immigration rate be turned way down to the more traditional 300,000 a year. There shouldn't be a question.

[TPS2]

The disregard for the US Constitution reflects that a hypocrite mentality is applied in the name of the Patriot Act -pensacola8-2009

The disregard for the laws of the United States, by illegal aliens is appalling. There are established procedures for gaining citizenship in this country-climbing a fence is not one of them. There are consequences for one's actions; a concept which seems to escape so many people. If a person breaks the law, that person pays the consequences. It really is that simple.

[babooph]

All that has to be done is say "suspected terrorist",& the patriot act ends ALL constitutional rights-welcome to the new world order.

[Oregon_State_OSU]

How can Illegal Aliens who snuck into this country and are not citizens of the USA have any rights at all. The word "ILLEGAL" meens against the law and that is what they are.

I have no Sympathy for these people and children born to Illegals in this country should not automatically be citizens. Lets see we used racial profiling but there are not thousands and thousands and thousands of Illegal Africans or Europeans or Slavic people in this country. North American is not connected by land to Africia or Europe but last I checked we have a boarder with Mexico and that is where all the ILLEGALS come from so SPARE ME THE BULLLL KRAPPP ON RACIALY PROFILING LATINOS.

[cgirltruck]

my question is this: how can their constitutional rights be violated if they aren't even citizens of this country?

[waterandsand]

Pretty soon it will be a sever handicapp to be a middle age white male in this country.

[underdogus09]

How many American tourists does it take to change a light bulb? Nine. Three to figure out how much the bulb costs in the local currency, three to comment on how funny-looking local light bulbs are and three to hire a local person to change the bulb.

[rf35]

They are ILLEGAL immigrants...their very presence in this country is a violation of the law! Are we no longer supposed to arrest those who break the law? Perhaps there were violations of the rights of the primary targets, but once they are in, the others SHOULD be arrested as well.

[NJZman]

I am at a loss for words that people are so against removing illegal immigrants from the US. Frankly I do not believe that someone who is breaking the laws of the US Constitution deserves the ability to hide behind them. The US Constitution was written to protect the CITIZENS of the United States from government, as written in the 4th Amendment.

Illegal immigrants present a significant challenge to the US economy, just look at the budget troubles of California if you don't believe me. Granted that they provide cheap labor for certain industries, however, they do not pay taxes (either state or federal) and then they send as much money out of the country as they can, which does not get re-invested in other sectors of our economy.

And to add to aChangeofIdeas point, latinos make up the largest proportion of illegal immigrants in NY and NJ, which makes sense that they are largest targeted group. In areas like San Francisco, Chinese citizens may make up the largest group of illegal immigrants and therefore would make up a greater percentage of groups targeted.

[culturechang]

With the Bush court, they dont need warrants anymore. They dont need to knock either, but bust the door down and take whateve they want and file charges.

It's true. The Supreme Court, in the last year, upheld using evidence in prosecution from illegal searches. It was right here on CBS. They dont need a warrant anymore.

[cgirltruck]

has nothing to do with what person is POUS. none of them have any constitutional rights because none of them are citizens of this country because every last one of them is here illigally.