U.S. immigration agents' home raids violate constitutional rights

LOS ANGELES, July 23 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents violated constitutional rights, engaged in racial profiling and adhered to a "cowboy mentality" practice during home raid operations conducted since 2006, a report analyzing arrest records said.

The report, released on Wednesday by the Immigration Justice Clinic at Yeshiva University's

Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, said the ICE has vastly expanded its use of home raid operations as a method to locate and apprehend individuals suspected of civil immigration law violations.

This report is the first public effort in the United States to compile and analyze the available evidence regarding the prevalence of constitutional violations occurring during ICE home raids.

These home raids generally involve teams of heavily armed ICE agents making predawn tactical entries into homes, purportedly to apprehend some high priority target believed to be residing therein, said the report.

The ICE has admitted that these raids are without warrants, therefore, any entries into homes require the informed consent of residents.

However, a growing body of evidence has arisen since 2006 which suggests that many ICE agents have failed to routinely observe constitutional requirements in carrying out ICE home raid operations, the report said.

Citizens and non-citizens alike are protected by the Fourth Amendment's prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures.

But frequent accounts in the media and in legal filings have told a similar story of constitutional violations that includes ICE agents' breaking into homes and seizing all occupants without legal basis, according to the report.

From these accounts, the picture that emerges from a typical home raid depicts a team of heavily armed ICE agents approaching a private residence in the predawn hours, the report said.

With only administrative warrants which do not grant them legal authority to enter private dwellings, agents push their way in when residents answer the door, enter through unlocked doors or windows or, in some cases, physically break into homes, according to the report.

Once inside, agents immediately seize and interrogate all occupants, often in excess of their legal authority and even after they have located and apprehended their target, though in the large majority of cases, no target is apprehended.

According to the report, the data collected also revealed a trend suggestive of racial profiling by ICE agents during home raid operations.

The report said data demonstrate that Latinos are significantly overrepresented in collateral arrests by ICE agents during home raids.

Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, a regional immigrant and human rights organization based in Los Angeles, responded to the report by saying that "the cowboy mentality is alive and well within ICE and few if any oversight measures are respected."

She said the Department of Homeland Security should demonstrate a commitment to reform enforcement efforts and uphold the constitution.

"Americans deserve a Department of Homeland Security that abides by the law and not a quota system as it clumsily applies our nation's highly dysfunctional immigration laws system," she said.