287(g) Comes Knocking on the Front Door

Driving to church in February 2009, Alejandra and her family were hit by another car. The Austell Police and medical attention soon arrived on the scene of the accident. The officer only spoke to Alejandra once and asked her for identification. She gave him her “Consular Martricula” before she got into the ambulance with her children. The officer issued no citations and only took down their address. They asked nothing about her immigration status at that time. Alejandra’s husband was subsequently arrested, transferred to the Stewart Detention Center, and deported. Two weeks after the accident, Alejandra heard pounding on the front door of their home. Officers from the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office were at the door. Alejandra and her sister‐in‐law, Patricia, did not answer the door at first. The pounding became louder and the officers started to yell for them to answer the door. After about fifteen minutes, Patricia answered the door and two police officers, a man and a woman, walked in without being invited. They asked for Alejandra, and then asked if she was in the country illegally. They then said, “You know you are not welcome here in the U.S.” and told Alejandra she had to go with them. Patricia attempted to find out why and where they were taking Alejandra and what she had done wrong, but they would not answer and started to yell at her to leave them alone. Once they had Alejandra in the patrol car, the female police officer told Patricia that she had an order to arrest Alejandra for “obstruction.” However, an arrest warrant was never shown. They drove Alejandra to a gas station where she was transferred to an Austell Police patrol car, which then took her to the Cobb County jail. There, she was taken to a small room and given a piece of paper that had three choices, but one was crossed out so that she could not select it. The option that was crossed out was to have a hearing before an immigration judge. They told her to select “Voluntary Departure” and made her sign the form. Alejandra was subsequently taken to the Etowah Detention Center in Alabama, leaving behind three children under the age 10.

Source: The Persistence Of Racial And Ethnic Profiling In The United States by ACLU and Rights Working Group (August 2009)