Players and To’hajiilee School Board of Education Sue State Police Officers

TO’HAJIILEE, NM—The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico filed a lawsuit today on behalf of To’hajiilee Community School basketball players and the To’hajiilee School Board of Education, Inc., against three New Mexico State law enforcement officers for their illegal searches during a regional basketball tournament.

“Fortunately, our young clients know that the police cannot just willy-nilly accuse them of a crime and then detain and search them, and they also know that something is very wrong when the police arbitrarily turn their power against Native Americans and no one else,” said Jane Gagne, ACLU of New Mexico co-legal director.

On March 3, 2006, basketball teams from the To’hajiilee Community School, Temple Baptist High School, the Springer High School, and the Des Moines High School competed in a regional basketball tournament hosted by Des Moines High School, in Des Moines, New Mexico. During the tournament the Temple Baptist coach reported to the police that items had been stolen from their locker room.  After items were reported missing, the police searched only the To’hajiilee team members, despite statements from coaches that the search was not necessary, and no indication that any To’hajiilee player had taken the items.  To’hajiilee is a Chapter of the Navajo Nation, and the To’hajiilee Community School is a Native American high school.

The policemen ordered the To’hajiilee team to line up on the basketball court, in front of the spectators, and then ordered the team to go into the locker room, where the team members were confined while the policemen searched their belongings.  Following the search in the locker room, police officials searched the To’hajiilee team bus which had been locked and attended to by the bus driver the entire time the alleged thefts could have occurred.  Police officials neither requested nor received consent to search any of the team members’ belongings or the To’hajiilee team bus, nor did they have any reason to believe that any of the To’hajiilee team members had stolen the items or that they would be on the team bus.  None of the stolen items were found.

“Police officials do not have a blank check to conduct searches at their will,” said Whitney Potter, spokesperson for the ACLU of New Mexico.  “Allowing police to conduct these kinds of searches of students with no consent or probable cause turns our schoolhouses into jailhouses.”

ACLU of New Mexico Staff Attorney George Bach and co-legal directors Jane Gagne and Phil Davis filed the lawsuit today in the U.S. District Court in Albuquerque.

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Related Documents:

ToHajiilee Complaint

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 21, 2007
CONTACT: (505) 266 5915 ext. 1003
LAS CRUCES, NM—The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico has settled a lawsuit against New Mexico State University (NMSU) head football coach Hal Mumme on behalf of four Muslim players who claim they were victims of religious discrimination.  The parties have agreed to keep the amount of the settlement confidential for six months.
“We are pleased with the outcome,” said ACLU cooperating attorney Joleen Youngers.  “While we were eager to present our clients’ case to a jury, we would be foolish to turn our backs on a reasonable resolution outside of the courtroom.”
ACLU Executive Director Peter Simonson said that the settlement “vindicated the rights of our clients” and that “justice had been restored.”
The settlement brings to a close a lawsuit that was filed on August 28, 2006 and that was set for a jury trial beginning next Monday, June 25, 2007.  Three Muslim football players,  Mu’Ammar Ali and twin brothers Anthony and Vincent Thompson, brought the suit alleging that they were discharged from the Aggie football team because of their religion.  An additional Muslim player, Jacob Wallace, joined the case on January 17, 2007.
The lawsuit claimed that Mumme and the NMSU coaching staff created an environment hostile to Islam by emphasizing Christian prayer and religious beliefs, by making ongoing comments disparaging the Muslim players’ religion, and by demonstrating indifference to the players’ faith-based dietary restrictions.  The suit also alleged that Coach Mumme disciplined Muslim players far more harshly than non-Muslim players who committed serious infractions.
Simonson said, “The circumstances that gave rise to this suit demonstrate the importance of keeping government out of religion.  When one person uses his or her privileged position as a government official to advertise their specific religious views, it diminishes religious freedom for all of us, whether we are Muslim, Christian, or of any other denomination.”

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Related Documents:
Read the Complaint
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6_5_07_SJ_Ruling3P

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 20, 2007
CONTACT: Whitney Potter (505) 266 5915 ext. 1003, Cell (505) 507 9898
LAS CRUCES, NM—The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico has named Maria Nape as the Director of a new ACLU office, located in the border town of Las Cruces, New Mexico, which will defend civil rights, especially of immigrants, in the border region.  Nape has a law degree and years of experience advocating for the rights of migrant farmworkers.
“I am thrilled to head up such an exciting and timely initiative for the ACLU,” Nape said.  “The intensification of law enforcement on the border and growing reactionary attitudes towards immigrants around the country make the ACLU’s new border rights office a vital effort.  I look forward to learning from other border groups how we can complement their work and help create an effective civil rights presence throughout the border corridor.”
Prior to joining the ACLU, Nape spent five years advocating for the rights of migrant farmworkers as Director of the Migrant Farmworker Project at Legal Services Organization of Indiana and as Executive Director of the Farmworker Coordinating Council of Palm Beach County, Florida.  She received her law degree from Indiana University and most recently served on the faculty of Florida Atlantic University’s School of Public Administration.
“Maria is a tremendous addition to our organization,” said ACLU of New Mexico Executive Director Peter Simonson.  “Her combination of legal experience and familiarity with the plight of immigrants will enable her to effectively lead the ACLU’s efforts in this new endeavor.  We look forward to bolstering the presence of the ACLU in communities all along the border.”
When fully outfitted, the new ACLU office will house a staff of three who, in tandem with the National ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, support the border rights work of ACLU affiliates in Texas, Arizona, and San Diego.  The office is part of a state-wide expansion of the ACLU of New Mexico’s facilities and a National ACLU plan to raise the capacity of ACLU affiliates in the middle part of the country to equal that of affiliates on the wealthier and more populous coasts.
Nape said, “Current reactionary laws against immigrants are not working.  Nowhere is this more true than on the border.  People are searched, deported, and sometimes even assaulted on the presumption that they are immigrants and in this country illegally.  The goal of our border office is to combat these un-American practices and ensure that fairness and the promise of the Bill of Rights extends to everyone in the border region, regardless of their nation of origin.”

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