Arivaca Group Shares Findings From Monitoring Border Patrol Checkpoint
TUCSON — Some residents in the border town of Arivaca, Ariz., have claimed a local U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint does not make the community safer, but subjects people, especially Latinos, to unnecessary harassment.
Activists have asked the federal agency to turn over data about who is being stopped and detained at its interior checkpoint in Arivaca, about 25 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. So far the feds have refused to share that data.
A community group began monitoring the checkpoint themselves this year and just released their findings.
Carlotta Wray is a resident of Arivaca and member of the community group “People Helping People,” which has been organizing the monitoring. She says when Border Patrol questioned her citizenship at the checkpoint, it was insulting.
“Your feelings get really...hurt. And I said 'what did I stand in line for?' They’re still treating me like I crossed the border, the desert yesterday,” she said.
Monitors said the checkpoint subjects legal Latino residents and citizens like Wray to unfair suspicions. The report claims that two months of data strongly indicates that “Border Patrol is engaged in a practice and pattern of racial profiling of Latino motorists.”
One of the Arivaca group’s founding members is Leesa Jacobs. On a day back in July, she pointed out a sign put up by Border Patrol which restricts monitors to observe the checkpoint from about 150 feet away.
“Which is why we’ve taken it so seriously, and why the ACLU has taken it so seriously, that we are not permitted to monitor effectively here and that is a violation of our constitutional rights,” Jacobs said.
The ACLU sent a letter last April to Border Patrol on behalf of the Arivaca group, stating the restrictions on monitors violated first amendment rights to deter racial profiling and abuses at the checkpoint.
Monitors recorded what happened during a stop to the best of their ability given the distance, making note of the ethnicity, age and gender of people in a car. One statistic from their findings showed that Latinos were 26 times more likely to be asked to show identification.
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol issued a statement about the Arivaca group's report:
"CBP will not comment directly on the report at this time as that we have not thoroughly reviewed it. What we will say is that CBP Officers and Border Patrol Agents enforce the nation’s laws while preserving the civil rights and civil liberties of all people with whom CBP personnel interact. Our officers and agents are trained to recognize people and situations that present a potential threat or violation of law without regard to race. CBP does not tolerate racial profiling or agent misconduct and appropriately investigates allegations of wrongdoing.
Border Patrol traffic checkpoints are a critical enforcement tool for carrying out the mission of securing our nation’s borders against transnational threats. Checkpoints deny major travel routes from the borders to smugglers intent on delivering people, drugs and other contraband to the interior of the United States and allow the Border Patrol to establish an important second layer of defense.
In addition, we are dedicated to continued meetings with local representatives and community members of Arivaca, Green Valley and Tubac to address their concerns and will continue to diligently protect and secure America’s borders by upholding authorities within the context of the U.S. search and seizure laws that regulate checkpoint operations."
Derek Bambauer is a law professor at the University of Arizona. He filed a lawsuit against Border Patrol when the agency refused to provide information about some of its checkpoints.
“This is the biggest law enforcement agency in the country and its running off a scheme that says ‘trust us,’ and I think as Americans that’s not good enough,” he said.
Bambauer said the Arivaca group’s data does have limitations due to the restrictions on their monitoring.
“It makes it difficult to do the sort of fine-grain research that an academic would want, which is to record or write down what questions are being asked, how consistently they’re being asked, if they ask them same to people who appear to be Caucasian as people who appear to be Latino,” he said.
Still, Bambauer said the findings are significant and provide the best information available for the time being.
“It’s clear that its sound in that it reflects the experience on the ground if you’re a resident of Arivaca. You’re going to have a different set of expectations if you’re Latino than if you’re white. The key piece of the puzzle, and this is something only Border Patrol has, is to know how effective they are,” Bambauer said.
He said any criticism Border Patrol may have of the data is all the more reason for the agency to provide its own evidence of how relevant checkpoints are in deterring crime.
