[migrawatch-public] 3 high-schoolers deported after being caught drag racing

3 high-schoolers deported after being caught drag racing

Daniel Gonz�lez
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 14, 2007 07:49 PM
Three Valley high school students were deported to Mexico
after a Gilbert police officer stopped the car they were
in for drag racing and called federal immigration
officials.

A federal immigration official called the deportations of
the three juveniles "very uncommon." The head of the
Gilbert Human Relations Commission questioned whether the
students were victims of racial profiling.

The deportations come at a time when several local law
enforcement agencies have agreed to partner with federal
immigration officials to enforce immigration laws, raising
fears in immigrant communities that routine traffic stops
could lead to large-scale deportations. Gilbert is not one
of the communities partnering with Immigration and Customs
Enforcement.

Lt. Joe Ruet, a spokesman for the Gilbert Police
Department, said the three juveniles were occupants of a
1998 Mitsubishi Eclipse that was stopped for drag racing
on North Velero Street near Guadalupe Road at 11:12 p.m.
Saturday.

The officer called ICE after the driver, Jaime
Cisneros,16, of Chandler, said he didn't have an Arizona
driver's license but did own a Mexican driver's license,
although he was not carrying it, Ruet said. Police charged
Cisneros with exhibition of speed and criminal speed, both
misdemeanors, he said.

Ordinarily, Gilbert police do not ask questions related to
immigration status, he said.

However, officers have discretion to contact ICE if they
have reason to believe someone is in the country
illegally. Cisneros' statement that he had a Mexican
driver's license "opened the door," he said.

The officer turned the three juveniles over to ICE
officials, who confirmed that the teens were in the
country illegally. The students were returned to Mexico
after officials from the Mexican Consulate's Office
interviewed them, said Lauren Mack, an ICE spokeswoman. In
each case, a parent was also contacted, she said.

In September, ICE officials in Arizona instituted a policy
to respond to every call from local police departments to
pick up undocumented immigrants involved in criminal
activity, Mack said. The policy was instituted in response
to complaints from local police departments that ICE
officials weren't doing their job.

Since, the agency has responded 441 times to calls from 39
law enforcement agencies and picked up 2,408 "deportable
criminals," she said. Only two or three of those calls,
however, have involved unaccompanied juveniles, she said.

"It's very uncommon," she said.

Tami Smull, who chairs the Gilbert Human Relations
Commission, said she was not aware of the incident, but
expressed concern.

"It would sadden me if this was a racial-profiling event
by a patrolman," she said. "It does demand additional
answers."

Smull said she planned to bring the matter up at the
commission's next meeting in April.

Jorge Solchaga, head of the protection unit at the Consul
General of Mexico in Phoenix, identified the other
students as Johany Nafarrate, 17, of Chandler, and Omar
Galvez, 16. His residence was not known.

Solchaga said the three juveniles said they live in the
Valley with their families and attend high school here. He
could not recall what school the students attend.

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