red states rule
Senior Member
- May 30, 2006
- 16,011
- 573
- 48
The race card being played again when the laws are enforced
Police roadblocks to remove unlicensed drivers challenged
A controversial police technique to remove unlicensed drivers from the roads is being challenged on civil rights grounds, and another federal court decision is expected soon, it was reported today.
Police across California are using temporary roadblocks to find unlicensed drivers, and impound their cars. But Latino rights groups say that practice is discriminatory and aimed at undocumented workers, who are unable to pay for their cars' steep impound fees.
Los Angeles and Orange counties have joined several other agencies in supporting a state law that requires cars driven by unlicensed or uninsured motorists to be impounded on the spot, and towed to a storage yard.
Three civil rights law firms have sued several agencies, including the City of Los Angeles, for impounding cars owned by illegal aliens, who are barred by state law from getting drivers licenses. The suit claims that Latinos are being singled out in an unconstitutional, sweeping move that violates constitutional protections against unreasonable police conduct against all persons, not just U.S. citizens.
``We've heard a lot of complaints from the Latino community,'' said Bill Flores, a San Diego County Latino organizer, in an interview with the Oceanside North County Times. He noted that the impound fees of $1,500 must be added to towing and administrative fees that can go above another $400.
The groups argue that the cars should be parked safely and the motorists cited, so the cases can be heard in court. Some licensed drivers have lost their cars when they could not find their insurance documents at the roadblocks, or if they lent the car to an unlicensed driver, and could not afford to get them out of impound.
But the government attorneys argue that state law is aimed at protecting the public by removing the cars driven by unlicensed, uninsured drivers from the streets immediately.
The state law, they said in court documents, is an extension of police powers to keep the roads free of unlicensed and uninsured drivers.
But recent decisions by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals have prompted a statewide association of police chiefs to warn its members that impounding cars merely because the driver is unlicensed is an unconstitutional seizure under the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/articles/8659077.html
Police roadblocks to remove unlicensed drivers challenged
A controversial police technique to remove unlicensed drivers from the roads is being challenged on civil rights grounds, and another federal court decision is expected soon, it was reported today.
Police across California are using temporary roadblocks to find unlicensed drivers, and impound their cars. But Latino rights groups say that practice is discriminatory and aimed at undocumented workers, who are unable to pay for their cars' steep impound fees.
Los Angeles and Orange counties have joined several other agencies in supporting a state law that requires cars driven by unlicensed or uninsured motorists to be impounded on the spot, and towed to a storage yard.
Three civil rights law firms have sued several agencies, including the City of Los Angeles, for impounding cars owned by illegal aliens, who are barred by state law from getting drivers licenses. The suit claims that Latinos are being singled out in an unconstitutional, sweeping move that violates constitutional protections against unreasonable police conduct against all persons, not just U.S. citizens.
``We've heard a lot of complaints from the Latino community,'' said Bill Flores, a San Diego County Latino organizer, in an interview with the Oceanside North County Times. He noted that the impound fees of $1,500 must be added to towing and administrative fees that can go above another $400.
The groups argue that the cars should be parked safely and the motorists cited, so the cases can be heard in court. Some licensed drivers have lost their cars when they could not find their insurance documents at the roadblocks, or if they lent the car to an unlicensed driver, and could not afford to get them out of impound.
But the government attorneys argue that state law is aimed at protecting the public by removing the cars driven by unlicensed, uninsured drivers from the streets immediately.
The state law, they said in court documents, is an extension of police powers to keep the roads free of unlicensed and uninsured drivers.
But recent decisions by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals have prompted a statewide association of police chiefs to warn its members that impounding cars merely because the driver is unlicensed is an unconstitutional seizure under the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/articles/8659077.html
