Sheriff’s Department Agrees to Revise Operational Procedures Concerning Immigrants

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday April 9, 2008

CONTACT: Whitney Potter, ACLU of New Mexico (505) 507-9898 or Laura Rodriguez, MALDEF (310) 956-2425

LAS CRUCES, NM— MALDEF and the ACLU of New Mexico today announced a landmark settlement with the Otero County Sheriff’s Department that addresses what plaintiffs alleged were civil rights violations committed by county deputies during immigration sweeps last September in the southern New Mexico town of Chaparral.  Civil rights advocates say the agreement will help restore community trust in local law enforcement and greatly improve the safety of all people living in the County. The case settled after the Sheriff's Department agreed to revise Operational Procedures that are intended to ensure that the rights of all Latinos living in the County would be protected and that they would not become the targets of immigration-related investigations and detentions without justification.  Otero County also agreed to pay the families who brought the case monetary damages and an amount to cover their attorney's fees and the costs of the suit. ACLU Executive Director Peter Simonson said, “The sheriff’s department worked with us to draft a policy that draws clear boundaries around what are and what are not the responsibilities of local law enforcement officers when they encounter immigrants.  It was drafted with one thing in mind: maximizing public safety.  This is a smart policy that stands as an example to all other law enforcement agencies around the state.” On behalf of five Latino families, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico alleged in the lawsuit that sheriff’s deputies raided homes in Chaparral without search warrants, interrogated families without evidence of criminal activity, and targeted households on the basis of race and ethnicity. The Sheriff's Department denied any wrongdoing, but agreed to revise policies in order to provide more effective law enforcement to its constituents and to focus its attention on persons suspected of committing crimes. David Urias, MALDEF Staff Attorney and counsel in the case, said, “The agreement by the Sheriffs Department to revise their procedures means that Latinos in Otero County will be protected by local police from crimes, not randomly targeted for immigration enforcement.” # # # The mission of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico is to maintain and advance the cause of civil liberties within the state of New Mexico, with particular emphasis on the freedom of religion, speech, press, association, and assemblage, and the right to vote, due process of law and equal protection of law, and to take any legitimate action in the furtherance and defense of such purposes. These objectives shall be sought wholly without political partisanship. Please visit: www.aclu-nm.org Founded in 1968, MALDEF, the nation's leading Latino legal organization, promotes and protects the rights of Latinos through litigation, advocacy, community education and outreach, leadership development, and higher education scholarships. For more information on MALDEF, please visit: www.maldef.org. Related Documents: Revised Operational Procedures . Otero County Complaint . html: Press Release (10-17-07) html: Media Advisory: Oct. 17, 2007 Press Conference html: Press Release (9-14-07) Request to Inspect Public Records (Otero County Sheriff's Office) . Request to Inspect Public Records (Dona Ana County Sheriff's Office)

ACLU Applauds Recommendations And Demands Immediate Action

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 7, 2008 CONTACT: Whitney Potter (505) 266 5915 ext. 1003
GENEVA—A United Nations committee today issued a strongly worded critique of the United States’ record on racial discrimination and urged the government to make sweeping reforms to policies and laws affecting racial and ethnic minorities, women, and immigrants in this country. The ACLU called on the U.S. government to take vigorous steps to implement the committee’s recommendations and fulfill its human rights treaty obligations.
“The message from the U.N. human rights committee is clear when it comes to the U.S.’ record on human rights and racial equality – the government can’t just talk the talk but must also walk the walk,” said Jamil Dakwar, Advocacy Director of the ACLU Human Rights Program. “To claim the high moral ground and assert leadership on the issue of human rights, the U.S government must address the systemic discrimination and injustice that exists in its own backyard.”
Representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union were in Geneva last month to testify before the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) on the state of racial and ethnic discrimination in the U.S. The CERD committee, which oversees compliance with an international treaty to end racial discrimination that was ratified by the U.S. in 1994, reviewed testimony and comprehensive “shadow reports” by the ACLU and other human rights groups before issuing its final report.
Among its recommendations, the committee called on the U.S. to:

• Ban all ethnic and racial profiling practices by federal, state and local law enforcement officers;
• Address the problem of school-to-prison pipeline – the problematic trend of funneling many minority children into prison – and encourage affirmative action programs;
• Develop non-penal alternatives to detention to decrease the number of migrants and immigrants in detention;
• Ensure that all non-citizens detained or arrested in the fight against terrorism are properly protected by domestic law that complies with international human rights, refugee and humanitarian law;
• Pass legislation enabling all citizens to vote upon release from incarceration;
• Cease construction of the wall along the U.S. border with Mexico;
• Address violence against Native, minority and immigrant women, especially women who are migrant workers and domestic workers; and
• Pass legislation and enforce labor laws to protect migrant workers from racial discrimination.

Also in Geneva today, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, Jorge Bustamante presented a report on the injustices faced by migrants and immigrants in the U.S., citing immigrant detention policies and facilities that fail to meet international standards and have few protections for the rights of migrant workers.
Last year, Bustamante conducted a three-week fact finding mission at the request of the U.S. government, visiting a detention center in Arizona and meeting with migrant communities, immigrant rights advocates and government officials in California, Arizona, Texas, Georgia, Florida, New York and Washington D.C.. During that time Bustamante was denied entrance to New Jersey’s Monmouth County Correctional Institution and  Texas’s Hutto immigration detention center, a converted prison that houses about 400 immigrants [check the number], including children and asylum seekers. In 2007, the ACLU filed successful federal lawsuits on behalf of 12 children detained at the Hutto facility, charging that the children were subject to inhumane treatment. The U.S. has a history of blocking international experts from access to controversial detention facilities.
“Racially discriminatory practices are still rampant in New Mexico, most notably in the continued practice of local police enforcement of immigration laws,” according to Maria Nape, director of the ACLU of New Mexico’s Southern Regional Office and Border Rights Project.   “Racial profiling and blatant constitutional violations against our immigrant communities should not be tolerated.  We will continue to urge governments at every level to adopt humane policies that do not unfairly target racial or ethnic minorities.”
The Special Rapporteur’s report highlights eliminating mandatory detention of undocumented immigrants and determining whether non-citizens pose a risk to society on a case-by-case basis; and allowing immigrants in detention the chance to have their custody reviewed before an immigration judge.
The ACLU’s report on the state of racial discrimination in the U.S. and other relevant documents can be found online here:www.aclu.org/intlhumanrights/racialjustice/cerd.html

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Groups to Mobilize Community Against Proposed Partnership with CHRISTUS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 5, 2008 CONTACT: Whitney Potter (505) 266 5915 ext. 1003
SANTA FE—A coalition of community organizations on Wednesday announced its opposition to the proposed partnership between St. Vincent Hospital and CHRISTUS Health after St. Vincent Hospital refused to share details of the partnership agreement, which they claim would protect family planning and end-of-life care at the hospital.
“Because of St. Vincent Hospital’s ongoing refusal to be transparent and to provide written, legally binding assurances to the community, we must oppose this partnership,” Diane Wood, director of the Northern Regional Office of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico, said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
The Southwest Women’s Law Center (SWWLC), another coalition member, agreed.
“The only promises that matter are those in the final contract between CHRISTUS, St. Vincent and SupportCo,” said SWWLC Executive Director, Jane Wishner. “Promises on a Web site, in a press release, at a public meeting or in a letter to advocates are not binding; what matters is what the parties agree to in writing with each other.”
Over the past month, the coalition – which includes the ACLU of New Mexico, Southwest Women’s Law Center, NARAL Pro-Choice New Mexico, Compassion & Choices, New Mexico Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, Planned Parenthood of New Mexico, RESOLVE: The National Infertility Center, Equality New Mexico, The MergerWatch Project, and The National Women’s Law Center –  met with the St. Vincent Hospital Board of Directors, held a community meeting, and gathered nearly 700 signatures from concerned community members all in an effort to get St. Vincent Hospital to share its partnership agreement with the community.
The coalition formed over concerns that a partnership between St. Vincent Hospital and CHRISTUS, a Dallas-based Catholic health cooperation, would compromise family planning and end-of-life care at the Santa Fe hospital because they would be required to follow the Catholic Ethical and Religious Directives. Hospital officials have repeatedly told coalition members that those services would be provided, but have refused to share the specifics.
“St. Vincent Hospital and CHRISTUS Health want us to trust them that family planning services will still be provided under the proposed partnership,” said Heather Brewer, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice New Mexico, “but I am more comfortable trusting women, their families and their physicians to decide which health care options they want and need.”
Coalition partners now plan to undertake a public education campaign to increase public opposition to the partnership.
“We are now urging Northern New Mexicans to write letters to the board members of St. Vincent Hospital to voice their concerns,” Wood said.  “We will be working with the community to educative and build opposition to this merger.”

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