Family, activists seek release of immigrant handed over to the feds after a traffic stop
A routine traffic stop Monday has left a mother of three facing deportation, prompting her family to file a complaint with Deer Park police about her arrest on minor offenses and a lawyer to say the incident raises questions of racial profiling.
The police department in Deer Park, a town of 30,000 southeast of Houston that has seen its Hispanic population increase dramatically in recent years, said the officer was simply doing her job and arresting someone with a warrant. However, it’s not clear why police arrested her rather than just issuing a citation, as officers often do when someone is found driving without a license, a misdemeanor that carries a maximum punishment of a $200 fine under Texas law.
Lucia Montes, 41, was pulled over about 3:30 p.m. Monday while driving with her 19-year-old daughter, Alejandra Garcia, a San Jacinto College student. She gave the officer her Mexican consular identification and her proof of insurance, according to family members and police.
Police Lt. Frank Hart said the officer checked Montes’ name on her vehicle’s computer and found “an outstanding failure-to-appear warrant, issued through the Department of Homeland Security.” She was arrested for driving without a license and booked into the Deer Park jail.
Family members on Wednesday questioned whether she was read her Miranda rights and said her daughter, who speaks better English, was not
allowed to interpret for her after she was pulled over for a missing front license plate. Montes’ husband, Alejandro Garcia Sr., pleaded for his wife’s release at a news conference outside the Deer Park police station.
“She’s my wife and the mother of our children,” he said in Spanish as his daughter cried .“Above all, we believe in a God who can move anything.”
He said it was hard to explain to their 9-year-old son why his mom wasn’t coming back Monday to tuck him into bed. She wasn’t in jail because she’s a bad person, he tried to explain. Stepped-up enforcement
An immigrant rights advocate who organized the news conference said the detention marked a step-up in immigration enforcement and argued that it departed from normal procedures.
“We’re asking for what the law says,” said Cesar Espinosa, executive director of FIEL. “If you present ID, you just get a ticket.”
Lawyers questioned the rationale for Montes’ arrest.
“That does raise an implication of immigrant, ethnic and racial profiling,” said Greg Chen, an attorney who is director of government relations at the American Immigration Lawyers Association in Washington. “One concern that we have is that people who appear to be foreign, appear to be immigrants, are going to be targeted by overzealous law enforcement officers.
“Whenever you have an individual who is pulled over for a minor traffic offense (and winds up in ICE custody), it certainly would make me want to ask those questions,” Chen said.
Houston immigration lawyer Man a Ye ga ni agreed. “If you don’t speak English and you don’t have a driver’s license, they assume you’re illegal,” said Yegani, who added that local police officers generally do not have access to the tightly controlled DHS and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement databases.
However, the Deer Park police lieutenant said the officer acted properly when a warrant surfaced.
“From the looks of it, if there had not been the warrant, it would have been a different story. With the warrants, we have an obligation,” Hart said. “I would think it would be a little bit haphazard to not at least investigate into those types of cases, because you don’t know what they’re wanted for. They could be wanted for something heinous.” Arrested in 2003
ICE said in a statement that Montes was arrested by Border Patrol officers in July 2003 after she illegally crossed the border near Eagle Pass.
“When she failed to appear before an immigration judge in November 2003, she was issued a final order of removal,” ICE spokesman Gregory Palmore said in the statement, adding that she is now in federal custody pending deportation. She does not appear to have been charged with a crime since her illegal crossing.
Montes’ arrest comes as President Donald Trump urges Congress to pass bills to cut off funding to“sanctuary cities” that shield people in the country illegally who might otherwise face deportation, and to increase the maximum penalty for those who enter the country without permission.
Also, Houston and other large Texas cities are suing to block a new state law from taking effect in September that would allow police officers to question people about their immigration status during routine stops and threatens local officials with jail time if they don’t comply with federal immigration requests.
The two attorneys said Montes has few options, because the time to challenge her final order of removal has long since expired. A lawyer might find a way to get the case reopened if she can credibly argue she never got notice of the hearings in 2003, Yegani said.
“The thing is ,” she added, “you’re fighting the clock.