Agents Coerce Their Way Into Home, Point Gun At 9-Year-Old U.S. Citizen, Threaten To Take Him Away From His Parents 'Next time it will be worse'
NEWARK, N.J., May 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Two lawful permanent residents and
their U.S.-citizen son, age 9, joined a statewide lawsuit challenging the
federal government's practice of unlawfully raiding immigrants' homes, after
federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE") agents forced their way
into the family's home last month. Once inside the home, the agents terrified
the son by pointing a gun at him and threatening to take him from his family,
according to court papers filed today on the family's behalf by the Seton Hall
Law School Center for Social Justice and Lowenstein Sandler PC.
Plaintiffs, Walter Chavez, Anna Galindo and their son -- identified in
court papers by his initials W.C. -- join a suit filed last month in federal
district court on behalf of 10 other victims of home raids that occurred
across the state of New Jersey between August 2006 and January 2008. All
plaintiffs claim violations of their constitutional privacy and due process
rights under the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. The plaintiffs in the amended
lawsuit allege that the unlawful dragnet raids are carried out as part of an
ongoing pattern and practice by ICE agents.
Chavez and Galindo are legal residents who came to the United States from
Guatemala in 1980 and who now live in Paterson, New Jersey. According to the
amended complaint, one morning last month Chavez was accosted by federal
agents in front of his home, then physically shoved up to his own front door
and ordered to open it. The agents demanded to see his wife, who ran out of
the bath in a state of semi-undress; they later realized they had the wrong
person.
According to the amended complaint, when the boy entered the room, several
agents opened their jackets to display their guns, then put their hands on
their guns. One agent drew his weapon and pointed it at W.C. and his mother,
causing the boy to fear the agents would kill him and his family. Even after
the agents realized they were in the wrong house, the agents remained in the
house questioning Chavez and Galindo and they made explicit threats to take
the boy away from his parents. When the agents finally left the house one of
the agents announced, "We're going to come back. And next time it will be
worse." The amended complaint alleges that Galindo and her son experienced
severe trauma as a result of the raid. They are unable to sleep and fear the
agents' return. Chavez and Galindo have found their son crying and shaking in
the night, and he becomes afraid every time the doorbell rings.
"When ICE agents are terrorizing lawful residents and young children,
there can be no doubt that the dragnet home-raids practice is deeply flawed,"
said Bassina Farbenblum, an attorney at the Seton Hall Center for Social
Justice. "These aren't isolated cases. What happened to the Chavez family and
the other plaintiffs in our case is typical of the government's widespread
home-raids practice, which continues to undermine the rule of law and instill
fear throughout immigrant communities."
The Chavez home raid, and those challenged in the original complaint, all
follow a similar pattern in which immigration agents force their way into
homes by deception, intimidation, or physical force, in the early hours of the
morning without a judicial warrant or the occupants' consent. Agents sweep
through the house, round up all the residents for questioning, often display
guns, and sometimes order children out of their beds. In some instances they
shout obscenities, shove guns into residents' chests, and forbid residents
from calling their lawyers. In many cases, the officers purport to be
searching for a person who does not even live at the address raided. The
amended complaint asserts that these practices are typical of ICE's "Operation
Return to Sender" program.
Under this program, the amended complaint alleges, ICE agents have been
ordered to meet dramatically increased immigrant arrest quotas using grossly
outdated address information and without having been trained on lawful
procedures. ICE claims that Operation Return to Sender was designed to arrest
criminals and individuals with old deportation orders, people whom ICE calls
"fugitives." Yet among 2,079 people arrested in New Jersey last year under
this program, 87% had no criminal record, and as few as 1 in 3 were
"fugitives" with outstanding deportation orders. The amended complaint
alleges that responsibility for the raids practice and the associated
constitutional violations reaches senior federal officials, including the head
of ICE, Assistant Secretary for Homeland Security Julie Myers.
"The Chavez home raid presents yet another example of the inaccuracy and
lack of training associated with the government's home raids practice,"
explained plaintiffs' attorney Scott Thompson, of Lowenstein Sandler. "The
agents not only went after the wrong people, but refused to leave the family
alone once they realized their mistake."
In addition to seeking compensation for their ordeal, Chavez, Galindo, and
their son have asked the court for an order prohibiting ICE or its agents from
making good on their threat to come back to their home -- a threat that still
weighs heavily on the family, according to the amended complaint.
"As a result of government agents' abusive tactics, a 9-year-old U.S.
citizen goes to bed every night in fear of his government," said plaintiffs'
lawyer and Seton Hall Law Professor Baher Azmy. "This is something that
should never happen in the United States of America."
Today's filing amends the original complaint in Argueta v. Myers,
filed on April 3, 2008 by 10 home-raid victims. Along with the amended
complaint, the plaintiffs' attorneys have filed a motion seeking a preliminary
injunction to prevent further intimidation of the Chavez family and any
warrantless,
non-consensual entry into their home while the litigation is pending. A copy
of today's amended complaint and preliminary injunction papers, along with
factual summaries of the raids on the other plaintiffs' homes, can be found at
http://law.shu.edu/csj/iceraids.html.
Previously, in January 2008, the Center for Social Justice, represented by
Lowenstein Sandler, and the community newspaper Brazilian Voice filed a
Freedom of Information Act lawsuit challenging the government's withholding of
raids-related documents: http://law.shu.edu/csj/iceraids.html.
Seton Hall University School of Law, New Jersey's only private law
school, and a leading law school in the New York metropolitan area, is
dedicated to preparing students for the practice of law through excellence in
scholarship and teaching with a strong focus on clinical education. The Center
for Social Justice, a core of Seton Hall Law School's Catholic mission,
provides clinical education and volunteer opportunities to students and
engages in various forms of advocacy, scholarship and direct legal services in
an effort to secure equality, civil rights and legal protection for
individuals and communities in need. Seton Hall Law School is located in
Newark and offers both day and evening degree programs. For more information
visit http://law.shu.edu/.
Lowenstein Sandler PC is a nationally recognized corporate law firm
with offices in New York, New Jersey and Boston, with more than 275 attorneys
providing a full range of legal services. The firm's commitment to its clients
is demonstrated through its client-centered, service-oriented culture.
Lowenstein Sandler attorneys are regularly recognized for excellence by
clients and peers in national publications, including Best Lawyers in America,
Chambers USA Guide to America's Leading Lawyers for Business and The Legal
500. www.lowenstein.com
SOURCE Lowenstein Sandler PC
