Amnesty Advocate Says Border Patrol Turned Her Away

A naturalized U.S. citizen charged Thursday that she was denied re-entry into the United States from Mexico because of her work in Los Angeles helping illegal aliens apply for legal status under the immigration amnesty program.

Lupe Floriano, 38, a paralegal who works for the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles’ immigration program, said at a press conference Thursday that Border Patrol officers at Calexico prevented her from returning to the United States after they discovered amnesty-related literature in her car trunk. Floriano distributes the material at informational meetings on the law that she conducts in the immigrant community, she said.

INS officials denied the charges.

Floriano, who was visiting a sister in Mexicali, said she has traveled frequently to Mexico and has always been allowed back into the United States after telling border crossing officers that she is a U.S. citizen--the usual procedure for most citizens.

About two weeks ago, however, Floriano was directed to the Border Patrol office for “secondary inspection” by an officer who called the informational leaflets and pamphlets in her trunk “propaganda,” she said. Border Patrol Officer Antonio Garcia, who attended Floriano in the office, said he told her that the computer needed to verify her citizenship was out of order and that she could not be admitted without documentation to substantiate her claim, according to Robert Moschorak, associate commissioner for the Immigration and Naturalization Service Western Region.

Floriano claims that she insisted that Garcia check documents in her possession, including a driver’s license and voter registration stub, but that he refused.

“I was shocked and humiliated,” said Floriano, who has lived in the United States for more than 25 years. “I feel that I was discriminated against because of my work as an advocate on behalf of immigrants and because I am of Mexican descent.”

Floriano drove to Tijuana and easily crossed into the United States at San Ysidro the next day, she said.

Antonio Rodriguez, Floriano’s lawyer, said he has mailed a letter to Western Region INS Commissioner Harold Ezell seeking disciplinary action against the officers. Floriano also plans to file a lawsuit, charging that her right to free speech was violated, he said.

Moschorak said such complaints are referred to the Office of Professional Responsibility, a Department of Justice investigation agency.

Ezell said that if there is any truth to the allegations, he plans to look into the matter too.