Dallas police ticket drivers for not speaking English
Thursday, November 5, 2009
By: Heather Benno
In brief
In another bout of racist anti-immigrant police harassment, Dallas police unlawfully ticketed and fined at least 39 immigrant drivers for not speaking English. The officers claimed that they were confused by a drop down menu in their computers that listed “non-English speaking driver” as an option. The Dallas Police Department explained that the fine refers to a federal law governing commercial drivers but conceded that this law is generally not enforced.
In 2008, Harris County, Texas, entered into a 287(g) agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement . This agreement allows federal ICE agents to train local law enforcement to identify immigrants and initiate deportation proceedings. Since August 2008, an average of a thousand people have been placed in immigration detention by Harris County Sheriff’s deputies every month.
Civil rights advocates have challenged 287(g) agreements as racist profiling of immigrants. In Harris County, the program has encouraged police to stop Latino drivers for minor traffic violations simply to check their immigration status.
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