A federal judge has ruled that U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at the Sandusky Bay Station did not racially discriminate or violate the constitutional rights of several Hispanic individuals who its agents stopped or detained.
The case, brought by the Farm Labor Organizing Committee and Canton-based Immigrant Worker Project on behalf of their respective members, alleged border patrol agents targeted Hispanics for stops and detentions, and that agents used racially insensitive terms.
The trial occurred in June in Toledo’s U.S. District Court with Judge Jack Zouhary presiding. In his decision issued Wednesday, Judge Zouhary wrote that the plaintiffs failed to show border patrol “has a policy or practice of escalating consensual encounters through immigration interrogations or encouraging local law enforcement officers to unconstitutionally prolong their investigations.”
The judge said the occasional use by agents of the word “wet” or “wetback,” understood by many as a slur toward Hispanics or those entering the United States by crossing the Rio Grande River — a definition the plaintiffs and defense disagreed upon — wasn’t enough to prove a claim of racial profiling or a broader culture of discrimination.
Individual testimony from Hispanic individuals stopped by border patrol also failed to show a policy or habit of unlawful seizures, the judge wrote.
“The evidence presented, at best, a handful of distasteful incidents,” he wrote.
“But that certainly does not rise to the level necessary for this court to impose equitable relief on [U.S. Customs and Border Protection] and to assume the role of monitoring.”
Nicole Navas, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice’s civil division, declined to comment beyond what was revealed at the trial.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs expressed displeasure.
“We are very disappointed. We believe that the court made a clear error in law and ignored essential evidence,” said John Murray, an attorney for the plaintiffs. He said they are now studying options for reconsideration and appeal.
Contact Lauren Lindstrom at llindstrom@theblade.com, 419-724-6154, or on Twitter @lelindstrom.
First Published February 26, 2016, 5:00 a.m.
