[ACLU-NM] Press Release: ACLU of New Mexico Sues State Police Officer for Illegal Seizure of Documents

[Kimberly Lavender]

~ ACLU-NM NEWS RELEASE ~



For Immediate Release

June 10, 2004



Contact:        Peter Simonson, ACLU-NM Executive Director, 266-4622

                        Lee Hunt, ACLU-NM Cooperating Attorney, 505-982-0011

                        phil davis, ACLU-NM Co-legal director, 242-1904



ACLU of New Mexico Sues State Police Officer for Illegal Seizure of
Documents



Santa Fe ---The ACLU of New Mexico filed a civil rights lawsuit yesterday
against New Mexico State Police Officer Mitchell Maestas for illegally
confiscating the identification documents of an Española resident, Estrella
Rodriguez, whom the officer believed to be an undocumented immigrant.
Rodriguez is a U.S. citizen who was born and raised in Española, New Mexico.



“The basis of this lawsuit is a Fourth Amendment claim against an
unwarranted seizure of personal property,” ACLU-NM Executive Director Peter
Simonson said.  “However, the officer would not have violated Estrella’s
rights if he hadn’t been trying to enforce federal immigration law—something
that state police are neither trained nor empowered to do.”



In July of 2001, Officer Maestas accompanied a family member of Estrella
Rodriguez onto Rodriguez’s property in Española to retrieve an automobile in
Rodriguez’s possession.  After Officer Maestas had his reason for entering
the property, he observed Rodriguez and her family members conversing in
Spanish and asked Rodriguez for proof of her citizenship.  Rodriguez
presented two social security cards--one with her maiden name and one with
her married name-- as well as a valid New Mexico identification card, her
birth certificate, and a baptismal certificate.  Officer Maestas told
Rodriguez that the documents were fake and confiscated all but the baptismal
certificate.  He also told Rodriguez that she could be deported “back to
Mexico” if the documents turned out to be fraudulent.



Rodriguez has lived in Espanola her entire life and has never even visited
Mexico.



“Estrella was genuinely afraid that the police were going to banish her to a
foreign country,” said Lee Hunt, ACLU-NM cooperating attorney.  “She was
worried about how she would get back into the United States and who would
take care of her kids if she were deported.  She thought the officer meant
business.



“Clearly the officer was operating on some misguided assumptions about
Estrella’s national origin.  The evidence suggests that his assumptions were
based on Estrella’s skin color and language.”



Rodriguez asked Officer Maestas to return her documents but the officer
refused.  She filed a citizen’s complaint with the state police and
contacted the state police office multiple times to retrieve her documents,
all without success.  Finally, after intervention by an attorney and through
the efforts of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, the papers
were returned to her by U.S. mail.



Attorney Hunt said, “Estrella’s case demonstrates the perils of setting
state police loose to do the immigration service’s job, especially in a
state as diverse as our own.  How many native New Mexicans could ultimately
experience what happened to Estrella if New Mexico’s police are forced to
become immigration officers?  The potential for racial profiling is
enormous.”



Congress is currently considering the Clear Law Enforcement for Criminal
Alien Removal Act of 2003 (CLEAR Act) which provides legal authority for
state and local law enforcement to enforce federal civil and criminal
immigration laws.  The CLEAR Act coerces participation of state and local
law enforcement by basing eligibility for certain federal funds on states
willingness to enforce federal civil immigration law.  Recently, the City of
Albuquerque City Council passed a resolution opposing the proposed federal
legislation.  Nationwide the CLEAR Act has generated a storm of protest from
civil rights and immigrant groups.



Attorneys are Lee Hunt, Cooperating Attorney, and Phil Davis, Co-Legal
Director for the ACLU of New Mexico.  This suit was filed in United States
District Court for the District of New Mexico under the Fourth Amendment to
the Constitution of the United States, and 42 U.S.C. Sections 1983 and 1988,
and state tort law.

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