------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Nov. 14, 2002 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
FLOC SUIT VS. OHIO STATE TROUPPERS: FARM WORKERS WIN RULING ON RACIAL PROFILING By Leslie Feinberg At a moment when racist profiling appears to be the national policy of the Bush administration, the Farm Labor Organizing Committee has won an important and precedent-setting civil rights victory. The Equal Justice Foundation of Columbus, Ohio, had filed a class-action lawsuit in 1996 on behalf of FLOC, a union representing migrant and seasonal farm workers in the northwest region of the state. The lawsuit was spurred on after State Highway Patrol troopers pulled over Jose Aguilar and Irma Esparza near Toledo for a minor violation--an alleged faulty headlight. Troopers reportedly seized the two Latinos' valid green cards, confiscating them for four days without giving them a receipt or information about how to recover the critically needed documents. The legal suit maintained that the troopers had violated the farm workers' constitutional rights by interrogating them about their immigration status and taking away their documents solely because they were Latinos. The troopers claimed immunity. But after long years of pressing the case, FLOC won a decision in the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on Oct. 21. The appeals court upheld a district court ruling that the troopers were not immune to prosecution in racial profiling lawsuits. The appeals court decision added that state police could not legally confiscate green cards without probable cause. The case now goes back to the district court. FLOC President Baldemar Velasquez expressed elation about the decision. He said, "After dragging on for six years, this landmark civil rights case is showing true progress. The federal appeals court has clearly stated that state troopers are not above the law. Now that we have triumphed over their delaying tactics, we can bring this matter to a just resolution, which will hopefully result in sweeping changes in law enforcement policy." - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] Support the voice of resistance http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
