U.S. Citizen Accuses INS of False Arrest

A man who says he was wrongfully arrested and detained during a search for illegal immigrants at Los Angeles International Airport filed a claim Monday against the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Ernesto Medrano, a U.S. citizen, said he is seeking attorney fees and a token amount--$500--in damages, adding that the claim was being filed more for the principle than the money. He filed the claim with the INS western regional office as a precursor to filing a lawsuit.

An INS official declined to comment specifically on Medrano’s case but said that, in general, agents detain people only when they have a reasonable suspicion about the person’s citizenship.

Medrano, 28, who works for the AFL-CIO’s California Immigrant Workers Assn., said he was at the airport March 29 waiting for a co-worker’s flight to arrive when he was questioned by two INS agents about his citizenship. Medrano said he was arrested after he refused to answer questions.

“I was paraded with the handcuffs (through) the terminal,” he said. “. . . It was humiliating.”

Medrano said the agents searched his pockets for identification and ignored his requests to have an attorney present during the questioning. They released him after making phone calls to check on his citizenship, he said.

Medrano’s lawyer, Peter A. Schey, executive director of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, said the arrest was illegal and racially motivated.

He said the INS “relies on racial appearance combined with economic status” in determining whom to detain.

“If you are not well-dressed and are nonwhite, you are a target for temporary detainment at LAX,” Schey said.

But Robert M. Moschorak, acting district director of the INS western region, said agents must rely on “specific articulable facts that would cause reasonable suspicion of alienage.”

“It could be speaking a foreign language,” he said. “. . . It could be the cautious way in which they move in the airport or react to enforcement officers.”

Agents cannot rely on foreign appearance as the sole criteria for stopping a person, and cannot arrest someone simply because they refuse to answer questions, Moschorak said.

Since March 15, the INS has stepped up its presence at LAX after learning that the airport was being used as a “port” for immigrants traveling to the East. Since March, more than 700 arrests have been made.

Schey said his office has received more than 100 calls from people complaining about the airport arrests.