Column When a clean car makes you suspect
By DEMETRIA MARTINEZ
A friend who also lives in Tuscon,
Ariz., recently said to me, Remember the good old days when United States
citizens could drive freely from city to city?
We were commiserating about how life for residents of the
Southwest has changed. A continuously beefed up U.S. border patrol working with
the U.S. military has meant that more of us, particularly people of color, are
being stopped and searched in the course of our travels within the United
States. Not crossing international borders -- just driving from point to point
inside the country.
My friend, Native American author Leslie Marmon Silko, herself has
been subject to several random searches. No matter that she is a winner of both
a Pulitzer Prize for fiction and a MacArthur fellowship. To agents she is just
another brown face, another illegal alien and/or potential drug
smuggler threatening the American way of life.
The same thing happened to nationally syndicated columnist Roberto
Rodriguez, who also happens to be an acclaimed champion of civil and human
rights. In 1979 police clubs rained down on his skull, causing extensive
injuries, when he dared to snap pictures of Los Angeles County sheriffs
deputies beating up a young Chicano, Rodney King style. Rodriguez was charged
with assaulting officers with a deadly weapon -- his camera. Eventually he was
cleared of charges, and in 1988 he won a lawsuit against the deputies.
Given his history, Rodriguez was only too happy to cooperate when
border patrol agents detained him for almost 45 minutes outside of Las Cruces,
N.M., last September.
Rodriguez was driving home to Albuquerque after giving speeches in
Los Angeles and Tucson about his new book, Codex Temuanchan: On Becoming
Human, which explores issues of Chicano identity.
He arrived at the border patrols Las Cruces checkpoint on
I-25 and stated that he is a U.S. citizen. In response to further questioning,
Rodriguez explained that hed been to Los Angeles and Tucson.
At that point, with no explanation, agents initiated a canine
search of the car. As dogs sniffed, three agents and two plain clothes officers
took apart seats and other car parts. Rodriguez was taken to a nearby office.
There, he underwent extensive questioning as to his comings and goings as two
armed guards kept watch.
I felt as if Id entered the twilight zone, said
Rodriguez, recounting the experience.
Afterwards, Rodriguez tried to get an explanation for his
detention. After a series of non-answers, Rodriguez said, he decided to file a
complaint.
In the past decade, the U.S. border patrol has come under fire
from groups such as Americas Watch, the American Friends Service Committee and
Amnesty International for abuses by agents and a failure to investigate
complaints.
Faced with mounting pressure, the patrol has trumpeted its
supposed willingness to hear any and all complaints. I recently talked with
Doug Mozier about Rodriguezs situation and others like it; Mozier is
public affairs officer for the agencys El Paso, Texas, sector, which
includes New Mexico and parts of West Texas.
Mozier spoke of special hot lines, public forums and various
complaint processes aimed at improving relations between the border patrol and
the community. He assured me that the agency welcomes criticism in its effort
to improve the way it operates.
The spirit of Moziers comments contrasts starkly, however,
with the tone of the response Rodriguez received from Alan Gordon, the acting
chief border patrol agent for the sector.
In a letter responding to Rodriguezs complaint, Gordon
maintained, among other things, that the border patrol does not consider
it appropriate to express an opinion to persons outside the Immigration and
Naturalization Service on legal issues.
Gordon goes on to cite various laws that give agents broad
discretion when it comes to questioning anybody about your immigration
status and other suspicious circumstances.
The letter lists the following as factors that led to the decision
to detain Rodriguez: Hed been traveling a nondirect route,
that is from Los Angeles to Albuquerque via Tucson.
Considering that Rodriguez needed to give speeches in Los Angeles
and Tucson and that he lives in Albuquerque, what other route could he have
taken?
The letter also alleges that Rodriguez had a rental
car and that articles such as clothing, toiletries or foodstuffs -- items
consistent with persons in travel were nowhere in sight.
In fact, Rodriguez had a leased car. And his personal items were
in the trunk along with stacks of books. I plead guilty to a clean
car, Rodriguez told me.
After speaking with Mozier, I questioned Ramiro Garcia, a senior
border patrol agent who works out of Las Cruces. Garcia allowed that had agents
questioned Rodriguez first (before the dogs and detention), they might have
learned of the book tour and saved everyone the hassle.
Mistakes are made, Garcia said. Still, Agents are very
experienced in what they do, he said. In the El Paso sector alone
(125,000 square miles), more than $190 million worth of narcotics have been
nabbed during fiscal year 1999, Garcia explained.
Too bad the agency isnt required to do an equally detailed
accounting of the numbers of innocent people detained in the name of the drug
war. When I asked why agents dont keep such records, Mozier and Garcia
said it would be too hard given the volume of traffic moving through the
checkpoints.
I find that reasoning hard to swallow. A primitive adding machine
could do the trick.
Maritza Broce, a community organizer with the Southern Arizona
Peoples Law Center in Tucson, has been monitoring border issues for
years.
Innocent people are harassed on a daily -- hourly -- basis.
Whatever happened to the presumption of innocence? she said.
Furthermore, they havent shown us that increased enforcement has
reduced the use of drugs. ... In the meantime, how many of our rights are we
going to have to give up? said Broce.
Said Rodriguez: This isnt even an issue of
immigration. I was traveling to non-border cities. Im a U.S.
citizen.
Rodriguez is also a Latino: offspring of the Spanish conquest,
descended from people indigenous to the Americas. And he cant hide his
Indian blood. He is as dark as chocolate. For decades, he has written about the
irony that those of us who have been on this continent the longest are the ones
most likely to be singled out as suspect: Between the drug war and
anti-immigrant hysteria, we are viewed as strangers in our own land.
But in his fight for dignity for all people, Rodriguez is not
afraid to bear arms. When agents asked Rodriguez if he had any weapons on him,
he said, I carry pens.
Readers interested in obtaining Rodriguezs book may contact
him at XColumn@aol.com or at (505) 242-7282.
Demetria Martinez lives in Tucson. She is the author of a
novel, Mother Tongue, published by Bilingual Press.
National Catholic Reporter, January 15,
1999
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