Immigration Lawsuit Settlement Reached After Warrantless Raid

A dozen undocumented immigrants will share in a $310,000 immigration lawsuit settlement against federal agents and the City of Nashville. The immigration lawsuit settlement stems from a raid conducted by immigration officials in Nashville in 2010. The suit claimed that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents conducted a raid on a Nashville apartment building without any warrants, which violated the immigrants’ Constitutional rights. Terms of the settlement also include that ICE and the City of Nashville admitted to no wrongdoing in the warrantless raid.

Details of the Immigration Lawsuit Settlement

The incident that prompted the immigration lawsuit settlement occurred on October 20, 2010. Managers with the Clairmont Apartments called police to remove a group of Hispanic male residents from the complex. One of those residents, Marvin Benjamin Lopez Raxcaco, was surrounded by immigration agents and arrested. Eleven other Hispanic males, along with an American woman and young boy, were also arrested in the raid. Mr. Raxcaco later filed the suit which led to the immigration lawsuit settlement.

Immigration Lawsuit Settlement Highlights Constitutional Violations

The suit claimed that Mr. Raxcaco and his associated were arrested and detained without cause. The plaintiffs’ attorney in the immigration lawsuit settlement alleged that ICE agents had no warrants and violated their rights to due process under the law. The attorney stated that agents “broke through doors and…windows (without) a single warrant.” He also told reporters that he and the other attorneys fought for the immigration lawsuit settlement “because today it’s their rights, tomorrow it could be your rights and my rights.”

Immigration Lawsuit Settlement Terms

The terms of the immigration lawsuit settlement grant the 14 people arrested shares of the $310,000 amount. The federal government will pay $300,000, while the City of Nashville will pay the remaining $10,000. An assistant attorney with the City of Nashville told reporters that the city opted for the immigration lawsuit settlement because it would cost less than going to trial. The settlement also included a deferment from deportation for those arrested for seven years.

Group Reaches Immigration Lawsuit Settlements With Other Agencies

The men and woman arrested in the raid reached separate immigration lawsuit settlements with the other agencies involved in the raid. Earlier this year, the group reached a settlement with the owners and management of the Clairmont Apartments. The immigration lawsuit settlement also called for the plaintiffs to drop their cases against the Nashville Police Department and the ICE officers involved in the arrests. Mr. Raxcaco told the local media that he and his associates were pleased with the settlement, but they also agreed that “the most important thing is that we hope now that this won’t happen again to anyone else.”

Source: Chattanooga Times-Free Press

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