After two years of letter writing and petitioning got them no where
(something I'm quite familiar with), the organization decided to take a
more active role and gather the data they were seeking by directly
monitoring checkpoint operations themselves. Quite expectantly, the Border Patrol
responded by harassing the monitors, illegally threatening them &
illegally interfering with their first amendment protected activities.
In response, the ACLU got involved and after documenting the violations, filed a
formal letter of complaint with Tucson Sector Chief Patrol Agent Manuel Padilla. The complaint
included a detailed description of the illegal harassment and first
amendment violations, a legal analysis of the situation and a
recommendation to cease & desist or face legal consequences.
What happens next of course is largely dependent on how the Border
Patrol responds (assuming it responds at all) to the formal complaint.
If history is any guide however, there wont be any surprises there.
Below is a segment from the ACLU's
complaint that details the role played by Supervisory Agent Rosalinda Huey (see
photograph above) in the violation of the first amendment rights of
roadblock monitors near Arivaca in March of this year:
"The monitors were approached by Supervising Agent
Rosalinda Huey who informed them they were within Border Patrol's "zone
of operation" and needed to stand behind the boundary. The monitors
responded that they ahd returned to the same location to which they had
been directed by Pima County Sheriffs on February 26. Agent Huey stated
that if monitors did not move, Border Patrol would call Pima County
Sheriff. The monitors objected and remained in place.
After approximately one hour, Agent Huey and four other
agents returned. Agent Huey stated, "There is nothing to discuss, there
is nothing to decide. either you move or we will arrest you". Another
agent stated to Huey, "Just arrest them." Agent Huey and another agent
produced handcuffs and began advancing on the monitors. Under threat of
arrest, the monitors agreed to move. One of the monitors asked the
agents for their names. In response, Agent Huey stated, "You have to
move or we will place you under arrest. If you want our names you will
have to move behind the barrier." Agents followed the monitors to the
barrier, approximately 150 feet from the checkpoint. The agents then
walked away without allowing the monitors to obtain the agents' names or
badge numbers. Border Patrol parked a vehicle directly in front of the
monitors, on the west side of the barrier, blocking their line of
vision; aqnother vehicle was parked in the same location on the south
side of the road, just west of the barrier." - ACLU on First Amendment Rights of Protestors and Photographers at Arivaca Road Checkpoint |
From here, the harassment picked up in earnest with agents parking
vehicles in such a manner as to block the view of roadblock operations
and to blow exhaust fumes into the faces of monitors. The complaint also
details examples of agents allowing non-affiliated individuals into the
roadblock's operating area in order to harass monitors while refusing
to give the same access to the monitors. Of course none of this is
surprising given the documented abuses of Border Patrol agents at
roadblocks and via
roving patrols in Southern Arizona but it does demonstrate whats wrong with empowering
Border Patrol agents to stop, seize, detain, interrogate & seek to
search people absent suspicion no where near the border they're paid to
patrol.
As a bonus feature for this article, I unknowingly came across
supervisory agent Rosalinda Huey at the SR-86 Border Patrol roadblock
near mile marker 146.6 on the afternoon of April 12, 2014 as I was
returning to Tucson:
[Supervisory BP Agent Rosalinda Huey and Agent J.
Patterson at the SR-86 MP 146.6 roadblock on April 12, 2014. Neither
agent is very pleased with me for exercising my rights while being
detained absent reasonable suspicion inside the country]
Given the time line and the exposure, it makes one wonder if Agent
Huey wasn't re-assigned to a different roadblock in Southern Arizona in
order to take her out of the spotlight for her first amendment violating
actions near Arivaca only to run into me at her new assignment. As
such, it looks like the Border Patrol might be taking a page out of the
playbook of other organizations that like to shuffle people around to
new locations after they're caught engaging in illegal acts at their
original locations.
A quick online search for Agent Rosalinda Huey indicates she has also served as a PR mouth piece for the Border Patrol in the past. Perhaps moving her to a new location
in Arizona after violating the rights of roadblock monitors near
Arivaca was just thanks for a job well done down-playing or hiding
information from the public that demonstrates the Border Patrol in a bad
light while she served as a public relations officer.
Below you'll find links to other online articles related to the subject matter of this blog entry: