Immigration nonprofit files civil rights complaint against Iowa State Patrol over traffic stop near Dubuque

Escucha Mi Voz, a nonprofit organization that works with immigrants in the Iowa City area, filed a formal civil rights complaint Friday against the Iowa State Patrol and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after seven construction workers were stopped while driving home from work last week near Dubuque.

The complaint was filed through the process laid out in an agreement signed in March between the Iowa Department of Public Safety and ICE.

The agreement, called a 287(g) agreement, established a task force of three special agents from the Iowa State Patrol who are given authority to perform some immigration-related law enforcement activities in Iowa, including arresting individuals in violation of federal immigration laws and issuing immigration detainers.

The state patrol has not released the names of the officers assigned to the task force.

According to the complaint, released during a news conference hosted Friday by Escucha Mi Voz, Iowa State Patrol Trooper Devon Baumgartner stopped a car April 18 after following the vehicle for about 15 minutes on Highway 151 outside Dubuque. The car contained seven Latin American construction workers who were returning to Iowa City, where they live, after leaving a job site in Dubuque.

Baumgartner asked for the photo IDs of everyone in the car. Four IDs were provided. The three other passengers did not have their IDs on them at the time. The trooper detained the driver of the car — Cristian Pinto — in the squad car for almost 30 minutes, then detained another passenger — Cristian Lagos — in the squad car for about 15 minutes, the complaint states.

All seven occupants of the car were Latino immigrants. None had any criminal record before the traffic stop, according to Escucha Mi Voz.

Baumgartner gave Pinto a traffic ticket for driving without a license and a written warning for following too close, which were time stamped at 5:57 p.m. and 6:04 p.m., more than 30 minutes before the traffic stop ended at 6:37 p.m., according to the complaint.

The complaint expressed concern over Baumgartner’s actions, and questioned whether he is one of the three designated task force officers, stating that “if Trooper Baumgartner is a 287(g) task force officer, then his actions during the stop — including potential ethnic profiling, prolonged stop beyond the duration of the traffic violation, failure to provide interpretation, and immigration investigation without explanation — reflect direct violations of the civil rights protections the (memorandum of agreement) requires.

“If Trooper Baumgartner is not a designated task force officer but contacted one for assistance, this would suggest improper delegation of immigration enforcement powers and task force procedures to untrained personnel, further undermining the integrity of the (memorandum of agreement) and expanding its harmful reach,” the complaint states.

The 287(g) agreement states that the state patrol officers assigned to the task force are bound by all federal civil rights statutes and regulations, and adds that the officers must provide a language interpreter to immigration enforcement subjects if needed. The Escucha Mi Voz complaint states that the driver and passengers of the car that Baumgartner pulled over spoke little English and translation services were not provided.

“We just wanted to go home. We were tired from work. We are labor workers. We work in construction. Our days are long. We just wanted to go back home to be with our kids. We’re not criminals,” Ninoska Campos, one of the construction workers who was in the car, said through a translator during the news conference Friday. Campos also is a leader with Escucha Mi Voz. “We believe our civil rights were violated. We want justice. We want our voices to be heard. We demand an end to the Iowa ICE task force, and an immediate stop to any kind of repression or persecution against us. We are essential workers. Our labor helps make Iowa a better place to live.”

What does the complaint seek to change?

The released complaint makes six demands of the Iowa State Patrol:

“What happened on April 18 isn’t just troubling, it’s a warning sign. A routine traffic stop turned into an immigration dragnet, that’s what this agreement makes possible,” Alejandra Escobar, an Escucha Mi Voz representative, said Friday.

According to the procedures established in the 287(g) agreement for reviewing complaints, the Iowa Department of Public Safety should coordinate with ICE to determined jurisdiction for investigating the complaint now that it has been filed, and it should be resolved within 90 days, although that timeline can be adjusted depending on the complexity of the complaint.

Alex Dinkla, the public information officer for the Iowa State Patrol, declined to comment Friday on the complaint, stating only that the case still is pending. He did not respond to follow up questions about whether Baumgartner is one of the three officers on the task force and whether his actions are being investigated as a result of the complaint.

“To promote public safety, the Iowa Department of Public Safety has always cooperated and assisted, to the extent permitted by law, with the investigative efforts of the United States Department of Homeland Security and the United States Department of Justice and its subsidiary agencies,” Dinkla said in a statement. “The Memorandum of Understanding signed between the parties merely formalized that long-standing relationship. The Iowa Department of Public Safety is committed to assisting our local, state, and federal law enforcement partners with the execution of their duties.”

Mark Stringer, the Iowa Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union, released a statement after the 287(g) agreement was signed stating that he was surprised by the agreement since there was no public notice before it was signed. He said the ACLU opposes 287(g) agreements because they “undermine trust with immigrant communities, which is vital for effective community policing. Because of this, they lead to more unreported crime and victims feeling afraid to call police for help, for example.”

According to information on available on ICE’s website, there are currently 179 law enforcement agencies in 27 states who have signed 287(g) agreements with ICE. The Iowa Department of Public Safety is the only agency in Iowa.

Comments: (319) 398-8328; emily.andersen@thegazette.com