Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Shades of blood-spattered gray

Border law enforcement crossed the line with "voluntary return" policies

From 2010 cell-phone video of beating of Anastasio Hernández Rojas
From 2010 cell-phone video of beating of Anastasio Hernández Rojas

San Diego civil rights and immigrant rights groups have 297 days to find Mexicans who were picked up in the U.S. and persuaded to sign "voluntary return" forms. The process waived their rights to due process and allowed the feds to push them back into Mexico.

The 300-day countdown clock began ticking on Thursday, February 26, when a federal court settlement of a class action brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and a consortium of Southern California immigrant rights groups became official.

As part of the settlement, the government agreed to pay $700,000 in attorney fees — a good deal, according to U.S. district judge John Kronstadt, who noted that the lawyers could have reasonably asked for $1 million.

Sponsored
Sponsored

According to the suit, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Border Patrol persuaded approximately 100,000 people in Southern California to agree to be expelled between June 2009 and August 2014, when the government agreed to change the practice.

These were not deportations, which is a formal legal process. In order to be “offered” voluntary return, the individual had to have no criminal record. By signing the form, people agreed to be expelled and to go up to ten years without trying to return to the U.S. — which made getting a visa difficult and created the potential for criminal charges if they were caught trying to enter illegally.

In the lawsuit, ACLU lawyers said that people were often tricked or coerced into signing the forms. A mentally retarded 28-year-old woman picked up by the Border Patrol at an Escondido bus stop, for example, was pushed through the gate; as was a man who was pulled over for talking on his cell phone while driving and then handed over to the Border Patrol — though, according to court documents, he is married to a U.S. citizen and has two American children.

"This practice decimated families all over Southern California," said Anna Castro, a spokeswoman for the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties. For its part, ICE denies that people were tricked or coerced into self-expulsion.

"In an effort to address the issues raised in this litigation, both agencies have agreed to supplement their existing procedures to ensure that foreign nationals fully comprehend the potential consequences of returning voluntarily to Mexico,” according to a written statement from ICE.

Anastasio Hernández Rojas

The Border Patrol has mostly discontinued voluntary returns. Ricardo Favela, spokesman for AllianceSD, a local immigrants’ rights group, points to perhaps the most infamous “voluntary return”: Anastasio Hernández Rojas, who was just a few feet from the border gate when he was tasered five times and his heart stopped in 2010. He was revived through CPR but never regained consciousness and died in a hospital less than a week later, according to the medical examiner's report in the lawsuit his widow and five children have filed.

According to court documents in the case, Hernández Rojas had asked for medical treatment and said he wanted to go before an immigration judge. But his requests allegedly were ignored, and he was driven to the gate where “voluntary returns” were sent to Mexico. According to defense accounts, Hernández Rojas then fought with a group of ICE and Border Patrol agents before he was restrained and tasered by a U.S. Customs officer — captured on cell-phone video by onlookers.

"He knew that he had the right to see a judge and have due process and it was taken as, ‘You will not speak back to us,’” Favela said. "It was the worst abuse of many abuses."

The 11 people named as plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit have no criminal record. The court win means that people who qualify for review will be able to come to back to the U.S. until their cases are reviewed and they begin the process of applying to stay.

Not all of the people who were expelled will be able to have their cases reviewed, Castro said. She estimated that hundreds to several thousand people will be able to have their expulsions reviewed and will qualify to be allowed to stay in the U.S.

"Our Constitution guarantees that the government cannot take away your liberty — including ripping you away from your family — without affording you due process first, which for immigrants is the process of going to court before a neutral immigration judge," ACLU senior staff attorney Bardis Vakili said. "If the government can just trick, force, or coerce people into giving up their rights, the entire system fails us all as Americans and as human beings. Without due process, there is no reason for any of us to believe in the rule of law."

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Holiday Market At Petco Park, Will Smith’s Dance in the Darkness Tour, Light Shows, Snowfall, Caroling

Events December 12-December 13, 2024
Next Article

94th Aero Squadron – French farmhouse still works

Try the antinoise –tomatoes with olive oil dressing plus capers, garlic, toasted coriander seeds, basil, spring onions, salted anchovies
From 2010 cell-phone video of beating of Anastasio Hernández Rojas
From 2010 cell-phone video of beating of Anastasio Hernández Rojas

San Diego civil rights and immigrant rights groups have 297 days to find Mexicans who were picked up in the U.S. and persuaded to sign "voluntary return" forms. The process waived their rights to due process and allowed the feds to push them back into Mexico.

The 300-day countdown clock began ticking on Thursday, February 26, when a federal court settlement of a class action brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and a consortium of Southern California immigrant rights groups became official.

As part of the settlement, the government agreed to pay $700,000 in attorney fees — a good deal, according to U.S. district judge John Kronstadt, who noted that the lawyers could have reasonably asked for $1 million.

Sponsored
Sponsored

According to the suit, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Border Patrol persuaded approximately 100,000 people in Southern California to agree to be expelled between June 2009 and August 2014, when the government agreed to change the practice.

These were not deportations, which is a formal legal process. In order to be “offered” voluntary return, the individual had to have no criminal record. By signing the form, people agreed to be expelled and to go up to ten years without trying to return to the U.S. — which made getting a visa difficult and created the potential for criminal charges if they were caught trying to enter illegally.

In the lawsuit, ACLU lawyers said that people were often tricked or coerced into signing the forms. A mentally retarded 28-year-old woman picked up by the Border Patrol at an Escondido bus stop, for example, was pushed through the gate; as was a man who was pulled over for talking on his cell phone while driving and then handed over to the Border Patrol — though, according to court documents, he is married to a U.S. citizen and has two American children.

"This practice decimated families all over Southern California," said Anna Castro, a spokeswoman for the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties. For its part, ICE denies that people were tricked or coerced into self-expulsion.

"In an effort to address the issues raised in this litigation, both agencies have agreed to supplement their existing procedures to ensure that foreign nationals fully comprehend the potential consequences of returning voluntarily to Mexico,” according to a written statement from ICE.

Anastasio Hernández Rojas

The Border Patrol has mostly discontinued voluntary returns. Ricardo Favela, spokesman for AllianceSD, a local immigrants’ rights group, points to perhaps the most infamous “voluntary return”: Anastasio Hernández Rojas, who was just a few feet from the border gate when he was tasered five times and his heart stopped in 2010. He was revived through CPR but never regained consciousness and died in a hospital less than a week later, according to the medical examiner's report in the lawsuit his widow and five children have filed.

According to court documents in the case, Hernández Rojas had asked for medical treatment and said he wanted to go before an immigration judge. But his requests allegedly were ignored, and he was driven to the gate where “voluntary returns” were sent to Mexico. According to defense accounts, Hernández Rojas then fought with a group of ICE and Border Patrol agents before he was restrained and tasered by a U.S. Customs officer — captured on cell-phone video by onlookers.

"He knew that he had the right to see a judge and have due process and it was taken as, ‘You will not speak back to us,’” Favela said. "It was the worst abuse of many abuses."

The 11 people named as plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit have no criminal record. The court win means that people who qualify for review will be able to come to back to the U.S. until their cases are reviewed and they begin the process of applying to stay.

Not all of the people who were expelled will be able to have their cases reviewed, Castro said. She estimated that hundreds to several thousand people will be able to have their expulsions reviewed and will qualify to be allowed to stay in the U.S.

"Our Constitution guarantees that the government cannot take away your liberty — including ripping you away from your family — without affording you due process first, which for immigrants is the process of going to court before a neutral immigration judge," ACLU senior staff attorney Bardis Vakili said. "If the government can just trick, force, or coerce people into giving up their rights, the entire system fails us all as Americans and as human beings. Without due process, there is no reason for any of us to believe in the rule of law."

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Gonzo Report: Bob Long played piano for Tina Turner and Ray Charles

And he got the crowd shaking at InZane Brewery
Next Article

Can three-on-three basketball challenge the NBA?

Union-Tribune owner finds bull rider crowds booing, wearing cowboy hats backwards.
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader