Pubdate: Sun, 27 Jan 2002
Source: Indianapolis Star (IN)
Copyright: 2002 Indianapolis Newspapers Inc.
Contact:  http://www.starnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/210
Author: Ruben Navarrette, Dallas Morning News

TREATING VICTIMIZED IMMIGRANTS AS CRIMINALS

DALLAS -- Isolated by language, clueless about the American criminal 
justice system and reluctant to go to the police because they fear being 
deported, undocumented immigrants have become preferred prey for 
scoundrels, bullies and con artists.

Just look at what happened here in Dallas, where perhaps dozens of Mexican 
immigrants have been arrested and prosecuted -- and some of them deported 
- -- in the mysterious case of the fake drugs. Authorities claim that they 
didn't know the drugs were phony when they were busy doling out justice. 
But what they should have known is that illegal immigrants are convenient 
crime victims.

The warning came nearly 10 years ago when Sheriff Sherman Block of Los 
Angeles County warned California voters that approving Proposition 187, 
which sought to deny government services to illegal immigrants, would 
hamper law enforcement by pushing immigrants into the shadows where they 
could be preyed upon at will.

The light in Dallas began to shine last September, when lab tests ordered 
by the district attorney's office found that about half of the powdery 
substance seized in dozens of drug busts last year was not cocaine, as the 
cops contended, but gypsum, an ingredient in plasterboard.

That sort of thing would be good to know before arresting people, let alone 
prosecuting them. Making matters worse was the fact that prosecutors 
managed to convict, or obtain guilty pleas from, people who were in 
possession of nothing illegal. To date, nearly 60 cases that were still 
pending have been tossed out, and prosecutors are now trying to overturn 
about a dozen convictions.

Meanwhile, Dallas police don't know whom to trust. The fake drugs were 
seized with the help of the department's highest-paid and most productive 
informant who has, in two years, pocketed more than $200,000 for providing 
police with leads. A popular theory among some of the attorneys for those 
convicted is that the informant -- who was usually paid a percentage of the 
estimated street value of drugs seized -- may have snookered police to 
boost his take-home pay. Others suggest that there may have been a drug 
switch, where real cocaine was replaced with the fake stuff.

Now the FBI is involved. One thing it might want to find out is whether the 
civil rights of undocumented immigrants were violated. In the first two 
dozen cases called into question, all 18 defendants were identified as 
having Hispanic surnames and, except for two, lacking prior records. A 
number were illegals who, after entering guilty pleas rather than risk jail 
time, were swiftly deported.

The details of how immigrants got involved in all this are still sketchy. 
But at least one of those who was convicted, and who may now have that 
conviction overturned, claims he was waiting for work on the street when he 
was approached by someone who claimed he had a job for him. The man was 
told to pick up a van and drive it to a house to do some repairs. The next 
thing he knew, he says, police were descending on the van and bags of white 
powder were being hauled out of the back.

It will take some time to sort out all of the stories. But at least the 
district attorney's office seems more interested now in getting at the 
truth, rather than just getting convictions. Once convinced the defendants 
were guilty of drug dealing, it now sees them as potential witnesses. 
Prosecutors have asked the INS to suspend deportations until immigrants can 
be interviewed.

If there is a moral to all this, it is that changing demographics require 
changed thinking. Police agencies need to reach out to immigrants and teach 
them what the law says, what their rights are, and that not everyone in 
uniform is a Border Patrol officer. Doing that just might help convince 
newcomers that in the United States, the guilty are punished and the 
innocent need have no fear.
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