County Issue : Human Rights

A Mexican human rights official visited Oxnard recently and heard concerns that Mexican immigrants have been subjected to beatings and other abuses by law enforcement officers. Are immigrants in Ventura County given the same kind of treatment by law enforcement agencies as U.S. citizens?

* M. Carmen Ramirez

Executive director, Channel Counties Legal Services

No, they’re not. Things happen to them that wouldn’t happen to other people. Historically this is true, not just in Ventura County but all over the Southwest. We’ve had people who had their driver’s license snatched even though you can have a driver’s license without being a citizen. Really what we’re talking about is people who are different because of language or appearance. And so the kind of things that are going to happen to these folks, whether or not they’re actually in possession of naturalization papers, has to do with the perception that they don’t speak English, that they are Hispanic looking, whatever that means. And I think it happens to Filipinos, Asian folks and farm worker folks mostly. I don’t want to generalize every arrest, but I think it’s just a lack of respect. It is terrifying and humiliating. They hesitate to do the normal things other people do, like go shopping, driving with the family, going to the beach. This is an aspect to Ventura County life that has been going on for a long time. If you look like a Spanish-looking farm worker you won’t be treated, in most cases, like a white male businessman.

* Robert Owens

Oxnard chief of police

Yes, they certainly are. The cases that you refer to we’ve investigated. There were a few incidents. I think the thrust of the comments surrounding the visit of that Mexican official were practices by the border patrol that the Mexican consul disapproved of. As a matter of fact, they’re going to move out of their current quarters because of the problem. The border patrol maintains that the Transportation Center is a logical place to set up short-term operations. That argument has some validity. The Mexican Consulate says maybe so, but that’s where our office is, so this inhibits undocumented nationals from coming to our office. Things are distorted now because of the Rodney King case. There is a feeling of collective embarrassment in the law enforcement community right now. This has made everyone’s job tougher and caused us to create a lot of self-induced stress. And this is giving the media and trial lawyers a field day. I even remarked right after this occurred that “Smile, you’re on ‘Candid Camera’ ” is no longer a funny line. The officer feels that pressure. Are they being cautious? Paranoid is a better term.

* Jean L. Farley

Assistant public defender, Ventura County

In my opinion, no, they’re not. But it’s hard for me to be objective because in large part my clientele is made up of immigrants, and because of that I’m primarily exposed to what happens to them. If other people are treated badly, it’s not likely that their cases will be brought to my attention. I feel in certain instances they are mistreated by law enforcement. There is a lack of sensitivity to the fact that the police department is going to be encountering a large number of people on a daily basis who are not able to communicate with them. There is a natural suspicion on the part of law enforcement that people who are of Hispanic origin are pretending not to speak English. The frustrating thing is I’ve seen just the opposite, a paranoia and concern on the part of Spanish-speaking individuals, so that they pretend they understand English when they can’t. Police aren’t necessarily trained to look at that as a reason for slowness in reacting to a command. If you have a large Hispanic population, teach law enforcement officers conversational Spanish. Make that part of the job requirement. Be sensitized to it.

* Michael D. Bradbury

Ventura County district attorney

If they are not, the instances of discrimination have not been brought to my attention. Needless to say, we would aggressively prosecute those kind of violations if they occurred. And I have to believe, knowing Bob Owens, the chief of police, that he would be the first one to investigate and send us cases like that. I’m certainly not naive enough to say it’s impossible for that to happen. I haven’t seen it, and it disturbs me greatly if someone has received information that those things have happened and not forwarded the information to my office. I know the Mexican consul well. It has been a problem for her that INS enforcement efforts take place near the consulate because of its proximity to the Transportation Center. It is my understanding that as soon as possible they will be moving their offices. I’ve heard things over the years that are disturbing: that supposedly employers employ people in this country illegally and when it comes time to pay their salaries, they call immigration. That is absolutely reprehensible. If we could get information about something like that, we would investigate.

* Armando Garcia

Immigration rights project coordinator, El Concilio Of course not. People who are part of the law enforcement, I’m not saying everybody, but some, are prejudiced against Mexican nationals. Most likely they will be treated fairly by some elements of the police force. For instance, if a Mexican national understands the law and English and knows his whereabouts in America, then this particular immigrant won’t face any harm. He’ll be able to fight back in court, know the law, etc. But some groups of immigrants only come here to work, and one way or the other they may end up violating a traffic light or some small thing. And because they don’t know any English, most likely they will be treated badly. The immigration service, for example, is singling out Latinos on the street, no matter if they are legal or not legal. If you have a group of 10 undocumented people, nine from Europe and the 10th Mexican, most likely the Mexican would be asked questions by the border patrol. And there are concerns about abuses committed against young people. They think they’re gang members or they’ll say, “Oh, there’s a wetback, there’s an illegal.” They label people they don’t want in this society.