Articles related to lawsuit alleging racial profiling
As seen in the Toledo Blade, published December 11, 2009, by Erica Blake
Hispanics claim racial profiling by officers
U.S. Border Patrol, 3 departments named
As seen in the Tiffin Advertiser-Journal, published December 11, 2009, by Erika Platt
Lawsuit charges racial profiling
As seen in the Mansfield News Journal, published December 12, 2009
Plymouth named in race profiling suit
The following newspapers also published an articles related to the recently filed lawsuit alleging racial profiling of Hispanics in northwest Ohio. Mark Heller is quoted in these articles, along with Organizational Plaintiff representative Baldemar Velasquez, president of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC).
As seen in the Toledo Blade, published December 11, 2009, by Erica Blake
Hispanics claim racial profiling by officers
U.S. Border Patrol, 3 departments named
Three times in two months, Jose Calderon and Belinda Vega were stopped by a police officer and an immigration officer in Plymouth, Ohio, and their identities questioned - each time with their two young children present and each time with no ticket or citation given.
The stops, according to lawyers with Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, were not a result of Mr. Calderon's driving but because of the color of his skin.
The couple was among 12 individuals and two organizations that filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Toledo Thursday alleging racial profiling practices by agents of the U.S. Border Patrol and three northwest Ohio police departments.
The lawsuit requests that the litigation be made into a class- action lawsuit and asks that the court order the federal agents as well as officers in the Ohio communities of Norwalk, Plymouth, and Attica to refrain from stopping Hispanics without probable cause.
As seen in the Tiffin Advertiser-Journal, published December 11, 2009, by Erika Platt
Lawsuit charges racial profiling
A federal lawsuit alleging racial profiling has been filed against the United States Border Patrol and several law enforcement agencies in northwest Ohio, including the Attica Police Department.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in United States District Court, alleges the Border Patrol and police departments in Attica, Norwalk and Plymouth detained and interrogated Hispanics about their immigration status based solely on their appearance, violating Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights.
According to a release from Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, the lawsuit was filed on behalf of 12 people, the Farm Labor Organizing Committee and the Ohio Immigrant Worker Project.
ABLE attorney Mark Heller said the organization started receiving complaints of racial profiling in late spring and early summer, and several people who came forward wanted to take legal action.
"We had a lot of complaints," he said.
ABLE and the Sandusky law firm of Murray and Murray are representing the plaintiffs, who allege police stopped, restrained and interrogated them for no apparent reason. The incidents resulted in no criminal arrests or traffic citations, but included requests for proof of immigration documentation.
As seen in the Mansfield News Journal, published December 12, 2009
Plymouth named in race profiling suit
TOLEDO -- An Ohio law firm that works with migrant farmworkers is accusing authorities in northern Ohio of stopping Latinos without probable cause.
A lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court in Toledo levels charges of racial profiling against U.S. Border Patrol agents and police officers in three northern Ohio jurisdictions, including Plymouth.
A message seeking comment was left Friday with the Border Patrol's office in Chicago.
Twelve people and two organizations joined forces in the lawsuit, which also named police in Norwalk and Attica as defendents.
They say authorities stopped men, women and children because they are Hispanic, then detained and questioned them about their immigration status.
The 39-page lawsuit alleges 13 claims, including violations of the right against unreasonable searches and seizures and the prohibition of the deprivation of liberty without due process. The complaint also alleges a "conspiracy to violate Hispanics' rights to equal protection under the law."
