The lawsuit, filed by ACLU attorney V. Edward Formisano on behalf of 11 of the individuals, argues that the actions by the police violated the state’s Racial Profiling Prevention Act, as well as the constitutional rights of those arrested to be free from discrimination and from unreasonable search and seizure.

The 14 were traveling in a van on interstate highway I-95 when the driver, Carlos Tamup, changed lanes without signaling.

Rhode Island state trooper Thomas Chabot stopped the van, confirming that Tamup’s license and registration were valid, and that the driver had no criminal record. Then the cop opened the van's doors and, using Tamup as a translator, asked everyone for identification. When some did not produce any ID, Chabot asked for citizenship documents, which no one was able to produce.

The trooper informed everyone he would escort them to the Office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Providence. According to the complaint, Chabot told Tamup that if anyone attempted to escape en route to Providence he would be shot.

“Since the license and registration papers of the van’s driver were valid, and there was never any suggestion of criminal activity, the questioning and detention of the passengers was clearly based on one element: their ethnic appearance. This is the essence of racial profiling," said Rhode Island ACLU executive director Steven Brown, according to a January 8 ACLU news release. "That State Police officials have unequivocally supported these actions demonstrates the need for legislation to restrict these problematic law enforcement practices.”

Commenting on the significance of the suit, Brown said, “It’s unusual for undocumented workers to come forward and file complaints against the police as these people have done. It’s a testimony to their courage and determination, especially since they … all face potential deportation proceedings.”

Four days earlier the state ACLU issued its fourth report in two years on racial profiling in the state. “The report documents that Blacks and Latinos are not only disproportionately stopped by the police but that they are twice as likely to be searched,” Brown told the Militant, even though members of oppressed nationalities are less likely to be found with contraband.

Other high-profile incidences of such conduct include the backyard arrests in Charlestown of seven Mexicans after they failed to provide adequate identification to inquiring police officers; and the searching by cops of the majority Latino members of the Central Falls high school soccer team after Coventry football players accused them of stealing items from the locker room.
 
 
Related articles:
Australia protesters: Justice for Aborigine killed by cops
Trial opens in L.A. for cops who killed unarmed youth  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home