Some Arizona police are detaining people for as long as three hours while trying to figure out if they are in the country illegally, the American Civil Liberties Union said Monday, after an extensive review of Tucson Police Department records.
In letters to both Tucson’s police chief and to Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, the ACLU Foundation of Arizona said the evidence shows authorities are still having trouble carrying out Arizona’s strict laws, dubbed “show your papers,” in a way that doesn’t infringe on constitutional rights.
The ACLU studied 110 police stops in which the Border Patrol was called, and calculated that the Constitution or federal polices were violated in more than 75 percent of them.
In some instances police detained people while waiting for a Border Patrol agent to show up — a practice that courts have already rules illegal, said ACLU lawyer James Lyall. Other times police would ship someone over to the Border Patrol in cases where, without the suspicion of illegal presence, they would have just been given a traffic ticket and sent on their way.
“The majority of the stops we reviewed lasted between one to two hours. Most of these incidents were routine traffic stops — many involving minor infractions, such as suspended license or lack of insurance — which would ordinarily result in field release, but in these cases led to prolonged detention, sometimes including transport to the custody of Border Patrol,” Mr. Lyall wrote in a letter to new Tucson Police Chief Chris Magnus.
The complaints could complicate Arizona’s enforcement of SB 1070, the groundbreaking 2010 law that pushed police to try to sniff out those in the country illegally, and tried to impose state criminal penalties on smugglers and illegal immigrants themselves.
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The Supreme Court overturned much of the law but allowed the police stops to proceed, saying officers can ask federal authorities to check immigration status, but not if it means prolonging the stop beyond the normal time.
Mr. Lyall said Border Patrol agents are also involved, responding to calls for translation help, even though agency policy discourages that. Other times, people were detained even though they didn’t meet the level of serious criminal offenses that Mr. Johnson said his agents should be focused on.
“At a minimum, Border Patrol involvement in routine traffic stops initiated by local officials should be strictly limited as a matter of policy and monitored on a national level through implementation of basic data collection requirements,” he said.
Homeland Security said it had received the letter. The department said its agents are supposed to be following the enforcement priorities Mr. Johnson laid out in 2014, focusing on public safety and national security threats, rather than rank-and-file illegal immigrants.
Chief Magnus, in a statement, said he would study the ACLU’s findings and try to improve the city’s policing practices.
“Information in the ACLU letter will be of value in our evolving efforts to retain and further strengthen a trusting relationship with all members of the community, as we endeavor to fairly enforce the law,” he said, adding that he had an already-planned meeting with the ACLU next week.
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As for the federal role, Mr. Lyall said President Obama and Homeland Security officials had promised six years ago not to enable Arizona’s stiff immigration laws, but said the reality has been different.
“We have real concerns they’re not following DHS enforcement priorities,” the ACLU lawyer said.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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