Rhode Island Westerly Sun – 8/8/2006

A Rhode Island State Police trooper was following proper procedure when he asked 14 passengers in a van – all illegal immigrants – to produce identification following a traffic stop on a state route. When none of the 14 could produce identification, the trooper called Immigration and Customs enforcement. The illegal immigrants are now awaiting deportation proceedings.

The ACLU has accused the officer of stopping the van for no reason and conducting racial profiling. The police have countered that the US Supreme Court has ruled that an officer can request I.D. during a traffic stop; that the traffic stop was for valid reasons involving a turn signal; and that a video of the traffic stop shows no undue action by the officer. None of the 14 people involved in the traffic stop have come forward to file a complaint and we bet they won’t either ……..