Lawsuit filed over south Georgia immigration raids

[Charlie Brown]

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2006/11/01/1101metraid.html

A civil rights group filed a lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in Atlanta against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in connection with raids in southeast Georgia.

The Southern Poverty Law Center claims in the lawsuit that Immigration and Customs harassed five U.S. citizens of Mexican descent because of their appearance during raids targeting illegal immigrants in early September.

The lawsuit claims federal agents entered and searched private homes without any lawful authority to do so and detained and interrogated people merely because they looked Mexican.

Marie Justeen Mancha, 15, of Reidsville, is one of the plaintiffs. Mancha, who was born in the United States, said immigration agents entered her trailer when she was home alone one morning, preparing for school.

" was holding his gun, that's what scared me the most," she said at a news conference Wednesday. "It looked like he was going to shoot someone."

[TaleWgnDg]

1. Jurist News . . .

.

US immigration agency sued for alleged harassment of Hispanic citizens in raid

(by) Rob DeVries (of Jurist News) Wednesday, November 01, 2006 at 8:24 PM ET

(JURIST NEWS) The Southern Poverty Law Center (advocacy website) filed a federal lawsuit (text, PDF format; press release) Wednesday against the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) (official website) for its alleged harassment of five U.S. citizens of Mexican descent during an illegal immigration (JURIST news archive) shakedown in Georgia over Labor Day weekend. The civil rights group claims ICE violated the citizens' Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights (text) when it illegally detained, harassed and searched the Mexican-Americans' persons solely because of their appearance in a raid on a chicken processing plant. An ICE spokesman told AP the accusations were "patently false" but declined to comment on specific claims in the suit.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has indicated that it hopes to certify the lawsuit as a class action which would include all local individuals of Hispanic descent or appearance as plaintiffs. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia (official website) and seeking damages and an injunction against future raids, currently names the ICE, its officials and the 30 agents who conducted the raid as defendants. The illegal immigrant population in Georgia is growing faster than anywhere else in the US, having more than doubled since 2000. AP has more.

http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2006/11/us-immigration-agency-sued-for-alleged.php

.

Marie Justeen Mancha, 15, tells reporters at a news conference about her terrifying experience with immigration officers. With her are her mother, Maria Christina Martinez (from left), also a plaintiff in the (Southern Poverty Law) Center's lawsuit, Atlanta attorney Brian Spears and (Southern Poverty Law) Center chief trial counsel Morris Dees. (Erik S. Lesser)

Read the Southern Poverty Law Center's press release about this lawsuit: http://www.splcenter.org/legal/news/article.jsp?site_area=2&aid=221



.

[EFerrari]

2. US citizens and legal residents ALWAYS get caught up in these things.

[greccogirl]

3. Yes, that is true,

but I can tell you Georgia is getting fed up with illegals. There is going to be more and more of this as our illegal situation is getting worse by the day.

[EFerrari]

4. Then Georgia better get ready to see more and more lawsuits

filed by people who refuse to have their rights trampled.

On edit: BushCo just subverted the election that threw the oligarchs out of power and they just assured, by doing that, a steady stream of hungry people into the United States.

Round up BushCo. Mexican citizens did their part. They voted in a president who would have helped this situation. But BushCo made sure he'd never take office. So, round up BushCo. They are the "illegals" in this situation, not the workers who are only trying to feed their effen family.

[FernBell]

5. Racism knows no bounds.