Man caught in immigration sting files lawsuit
Alleges federal authorities unfairly targeted him
November 26, 2010|By Peter Hermann and Nick Madigan, The Baltimore Sun
A Latino man who was detained in a controversial 2007 law enforcement raid that swept up illegal immigrants at a 7-Eleven parking lot in Upper Fells Point is suing federal authorities, alleging he was mistreated and arrested without cause.
The suit was filed on behalf of just one person — 32-year-old Denis Alvarez of Southeast Baltimore — but an attorney with an immigrant advocacy group that crafted the suit said it is meant as an indictment against the raid in which two dozen men were arrested. The suit seeks a half-million dollars in damages.
The January raid at the store on Broadway angered and frightened Baltimore's Latino community, and members of Casa de Maryland accused federal immigration agents of racial profiling. A subsequent newspaper article reported that the raid's location and timing were designed to boost arrest stats for the Baltimore field office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/201...gal-immigrants