Cops At Wrong House Kill Undocumented Man, Claims He Had No Constitutional Rights
Just before midnight on July 24, 2017, shots rang out at a mobile home park in Southaven, Miss. Police had come looking for a domestic violence suspect, only to knock on the door of the wrong house and then open fire on the innocent man inside. By the time paramedics arrived, 41-year-old Ismael Lopez, an auto mechanic known for mentoring troubled teens and fixing his neighbors’ cars for free, had died of a gunshot wound to the back of his head.
Now, attorneys for the city of Southaven are using an unusual approach to try to persuade a federal judge to dismiss the $20 million civil rights lawsuit filed by Lopez’s widow. They argue that because the victim was an undocumented immigrant, he wasn’t protected by the U.S. Constitution.
The U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that people present in the United States have certain basic rights, regardless of their immigration status, affirming in two frequently cited rulings that undocumented immigrants can’t be denied an education or due process in a court of law.
But attorneys for the small city near Memphis claim that because Lopez had no “legally recognized relationship” with the United States, he had no rights under the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unreasonable searches and seizures, or the 14th Amendment, which guarantees equal protection to all citizens.
In court filings, attorneys for the city have argued Ismael Lopez’s wife lacks the standing to sue because she, too, is an undocumented immigrant.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/09/27/ismael-lopez-southaven-mississippi-police-shooting-constitution/
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