TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — KGUN 9 broke the story last week of a neighbor claiming Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents posed as TEP workers to try to find and question an immigrant. ICE would only say the case is under investigation. KGUN 9 got an attorney’s perspective on the idea of agents claiming to be someone else.
ORIGINAL STORY |Southside neighbors confront TEP impersonators, suspected immigration enforcement officers
We’ve been following a case where neighbors say agents doing immigration enforcement held themselves out to be TEP workers as a way to try to get a man to open the door so they could talk with him and perhaps arrest him. We talked to an attorney about what your rights are if you face a situation like that.
Christine Cariño says two men were asking around her neighborhood for a man named Juan. She says they said they were with TEP. She says no one had a TEP Uniform or ID.
Cariño says when she asked the men if they were with ICE one man eventually conceded they were.
Tucson Electric says its representatives will always have uniforms and identification.
Immigration Attorney Mo Goldman says if Federal agents are masquerading to bluff their way into a house, they’re breaking the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure.
“My understanding is that based on you know, our precedent and what the Constitution and Fourth Amendment allows for they're not allowed to use deception in order to
to question somebody.”
The memo, which dates to 2005, says it applies to enforcement operations and should be taught to people training to become ICE agents.
It says in part, “Ruses can run the gamut from announcing that you are with DRO (Detention and Removal Operations) and are looking for a person other than the target to adopting the guise of another agency, (federal state or local) or that of a private entity.”
The memo says in those cases, a Team Leader will contact someone from the agency being impersonated.
Goldman says ICE agents may show their own administrative warrant that did not come from a judge, but that does not give them authority to force someone to let them in. Only a warrant that did come from a judge can do that.
He says to have agents slip the warrant under the door or hold it up to a window.
“When you're doing like Know Your Rights presentations, you have to instruct the people not to open the door, because the moment you do that, it does make it a much more gray area, and could be interpreted as, come on into my home.”
Goldman says there is a danger of double imposters—-people impersonating immigration agents who might impersonate utility workers too to get their foot in the door.
WATCH RELATED | State lawmakers denouncing immigration enforcement tactics, referencing KGUN 9 report on TEP impersonators
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Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
