Detroit, MI- Hundreds of people packed a union hall to hear stories of people who say they've been the targets of wrongdoing by ICE.
Ruben Torres says agents in unmarked vehicles pulled him over as he was driving home from work recently. Agents questioned him about his citizenship for more than an hour, he says, even after he provided them with his driver's license, registration and other documents. Torres is a third-generation U.S. citizen.
"What more do I need to have," he asks. "Do I have to carry a passport to live in the United States now?"
University of Detroit-Mercy law professor David Koelsch says agents had every right to pull Torres over and ask him about his immigration status.
"But once this gentleman provided some proof, some evidence that he is a U.S. citizen, the inquiry should have stopped there," he says.
Koelsch describes himself as "moderate to conservative" on immigration policy, and he says immigration laws should be enforced. But ICE agents get it wrong when they use their authority as a blunt instrument, he says.
"If they go in there with a heavy-handed approach, then their sources of information dry up," Koelsch says. "That's not good law enforcement."
Whether agents broke regulations or just came close to it, Koelsch says the perception could be more important than the reality. But he also says that people who are openly flouting U.S. immigration laws have to understand ICE's job is to enforce those laws.
Link:
http://www.npr.org/2011/05/04/135957469/immigration-agents-accused-of-crossing-a-line
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