美国国家公共电台 NPR ICE Detained The Wrong Peter Brown

ICE Detained The Wrong Peter Brown

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

Every year, dozens of U.S. citizens are detained because they're thought to be immigrants in the country illegally. In the Florida Keys, one such U.S. citizen filed a lawsuit¹ after being detained for weeks by a local sheriff on behalf of immigration authorities. The case raises questions about agreements between federal officials and local law enforcement across the country. From Miami, NPR's Greg Allen reports.

GREG ALLEN, BYLINE²: Peter Brown moved several years ago to the Florida Keys, and he's taken with the place.

PETER BROWN: It's unlike anything. It's the Keys, so it's a very different, very laid back place.

ALLEN: Brown's life took an unexpected turn last spring. He tested positive for marijuana, violating his probation³. He'd had an earlier run-in with police at a Key West bar and pleaded guilty to resisting arrest. After turning himself into the Monroe County sheriff, he was thrown in jail. Then deputies told him he was being held on a detainer request from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency known as ICE.

BROWN: I thought it was a joke honestly at first, or it's just some odd fluke because it just made no sense.

ALLEN: Under an agreement with ICE, Monroe County's sheriff had sent Brown's fingerprints⁴ to the federal agency. ICE identified him as a Jamaican who was here illegally and flagged him for deportation⁵. In fact, Brown was born in Philadelphia, raised in New Jersey⁶ and has seen Jamaica only once briefly⁷ on a cruise. For weeks, Brown says he told everyone repeatedly that he was a U.S. citizen.

BROWN: And really received no response except for, one, that I was told, well, this is between ICE and your attorneys.

ALLEN: A judge ordered Brown released from his detention⁸ on a probation violation⁹. The sheriff's office continued holding him in custody¹⁰ for ICE. It's all part of an agreement signed in January.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

THOMAS HOMAN: Today's a good day for ICE. Today's a good day for Florida law enforcement.

ALLEN: That's ICE Deputy Director Thomas Homan, who's since retired¹¹. Working with the National Sheriffs Association, ICE developed a new agreement aimed at encouraging more of the nation's 3,000 sheriffs to cooperate with them. Sheriffs across the country hold people flagged by ICE and are paid to house detainees until the agency picks them up.

The problem for sheriffs and other local law enforcement is that when people like Peter Brown are held unjustly, courts have found them liable and ordered them to pay big settlements. The new agreement is intended to protect them from liability. The case in the Florida Keys is the first challenging the agreement. ACLU lawyer Amien Kacou represents Peter Brown.

AMIEN KACOU: Sheriffs are not immigration agents. They should probably not be arresting people for deportation as a general rule. But if they do, they should make sure they have probable cause for every arrest or otherwise expect to be held legally accountable.

ALLEN: In a statement, the sheriff in Monroe County, Rick Ramsay, said, quote, "when an inmate¹² is held under an ICE matter, I as sheriff do not have legal authority to release that person." Jonathan Thompson with the National Sheriffs' Association says Peter Brown is suing the wrong agency.

JONATHAN THOMPSON: The real defendant¹³ in this case needs to be ICE. We think that they owe this gentleman probably an apology. As per our agreement or the sheriff's agreement in this case with ICE, they followed the process. They followed the letter of the law.

ALLEN: Monroe County's sheriff eventually turned Peter Brown over to ICE. The federal agency realized its error and released him in less than a day. Brown is now suing the sheriff for false imprisonment¹⁴ and depriving him of his Fourth Amendment¹⁵ rights. Jacqueline Stevens, who directs the deportation research clinic at Northwestern University, says they've found more than 250 cases in six years of U.S. citizens wrongfully detained by ICE. When they go to court, she says, local law enforcement has been held liable.

JACQUELINE STEVENS: I am aware of no case in which a court agreed that a local sheriff could simply ignore evidence of somebody's U.S. citizenship¹⁶ and assert that they were acting¹⁷ under the authority of a database that was maintained by ICE.

ALLEN: The case in the Florida Keys will be watched closely by law enforcement and immigration attorneys. So far, 35 sheriffs, mostly in Florida, have signed onto the new agreement. Greg, Allen, NPR News, Miami.

1 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 probation   

n.缓刑(期)，(以观后效的)察看；试用(期)

参考例句：

• The judge did not jail the young man,but put him on probation for a year.法官没有把那个年轻人关进监狱，而且将他缓刑察看一年。
• His salary was raised by 800 yuan after his probation.试用期满以后，他的工资增加了800元。

4 fingerprints   

n.指纹( fingerprint的名词复数 )v.指纹( fingerprint的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Everyone's fingerprints are unique. 每个人的指纹都是独一无二的。
• They wore gloves so as not to leave any fingerprints behind (them). 他们戴着手套，以免留下指纹。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 deportation   

n.驱逐，放逐

参考例句：

• The government issued a deportation order against the four men.政府发出了对那4名男子的驱逐令。
• Years ago convicted criminals in England could face deportation to Australia.很多年以前，英国已定罪的犯人可能被驱逐到澳大利亚。

6 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

7 briefly   

adv.简单地，简短地

参考例句：

• I want to touch briefly on another aspect of the problem.我想简单地谈一下这个问题的另一方面。
• He was kidnapped and briefly detained by a terrorist group.他被一个恐怖组织绑架并短暂拘禁。

8 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

9 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

10 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

11 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

12 inmate   

n.被收容者；(房屋等的)居住人；住院人

参考例句：

• I am an inmate of that hospital.我住在那家医院。
• The prisoner is his inmate.那个囚犯和他同住一起。

13 defendant   

n.被告；adj.处于被告地位的

参考例句：

• The judge rejected a bribe from the defendant's family.法官拒收被告家属的贿赂。
• The defendant was borne down by the weight of evidence.有力的证据使被告认输了。

14 imprisonment   

n.关押，监禁，坐牢

参考例句：

• His sentence was commuted from death to life imprisonment.他的判决由死刑减为无期徒刑。
• He was sentenced to one year's imprisonment for committing bigamy.他因为犯重婚罪被判入狱一年。

15 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

16 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

17 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。