Cervantez v. Whitfield

776 F.2d 556
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedNovember 18, 1985
DocketNo. 84-1736
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 776 F.2d 556 (Cervantez v. Whitfield) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cervantez v. Whitfield, 776 F.2d 556 (5th Cir. 1985).

Opinion

OPINION

ROBERT MADDEN HILL, Circuit Judge:

Two United States citizens of Hispanic descent sought declaratory and injunctive relief against the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) concerning the detention of Hispanic persons believed to be aliens. After a settlement of their dispute with the INS, plaintiffs sought attorney’s fees and costs under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), 28 U.S.C. § 2412. The district court denied the fees and costs, finding that plaintiffs were not prevailing parties and that the government’s litigation was substantially justified. We affirm.

[558]*558I. FACTS

Plaintiffs, Pedro Cervantez and Juan Lozano, reside in the county of Deaf Smith, Texas. In August 1979, Cervantez was a passenger in a truck following a truck driven by his brother. When his brother’s truck was stopped by two officers of the Texas Department of Public Safety, the truck occupied by Cervantez also pulled over. Cervantez was asked by the officers to produce his visa or birth certificate. Upon his informing the officers that the documents proving his United States citizenship (by birth) were at home, Cervantez was arrested and taken to the Deaf Smith County Jail where he remained for three days until Tom Smiley, a Border Patrol Agent with the INS, came to the jail and directed Cervantez’ release.1

Lozano was asked to produce his birth certificate when he stopped at an office of Texas Department of Public Safety to ask for directions. He was held for two hours until his wife arrived and corroborated his United States citizenship.2

Cervantez and Lozano filed an action for declaratory and injunctive relief and damages against the director and several officers of the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), the Sheriff of Deaf Smith County, Border Patrol Agent Tom Smiley, and the INS.3 Plaintiffs sought to bring the action as a class action on behalf of all Hispanic persons subject to the practices of the defendants challenged in the complaint.

[that the court]
c. Declare that the acts, practices, and policies of defendants violated the rights of plaintiffs secured by the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution; the Civil Rights Act of 1871, 42 U.S.C. § 1983; the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. §§ 1282 and 1357; and the Supremacy Clause Article VI, Clause 2 and Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution.
d. Issue a preliminary and permanent injunction against defendant officials of DPS ordering them to:
1. Cease their policy and practice of approaching, questioning, and detaining Hispanic persons about their immigration status without warrant or reasonable suspicion that the person is involved in criminal activity;
2. Cease their policy and practice of arresting Hispanic persons without warrant or probable cause to believe that the person is involved in criminal conduct;
3. Cease their policy and practice of incarcerating Hispanic persons for INS officials without warrant or probable cause to believe such persons have committed any crime;
4. Cease their policy and practice of incarcerating Hispanic persons on an immigration detainer without bringing such persons before a magistrate without unnecessary delay;
5. Cease their policy and practice of interrogating and detaining Hispanic persons without informing them of their rights to remain silent and to counsel, and their rights under Miranda v. Arizona, supra;
e. Issue a preliminary and permanent injunction against defendant McPHEARSON and DEAF SMITH COUNTY ordering them to:
1. Cease their policy and practice of incarcerating Hispanic persons for INS officials without a warrant or lawful authority;
2. Cease their policy and practice of incarcerating Hispanic persons on an immigration detainer without admitting such persons to bail, advising such persons of their right to counsel, allowing such persons visitors and telephone calls, and taking such persons before a magistrate.
f. Issue a preliminary and permanent injunction against defendant officials of INS ordering them to cease their policy and practice of interrogating and detaining Hispanic persons held by local and state law enforcement officials without warrant or lawful authority.
g. Award actual and punitive damages to plaintiffs according to proof as established at the time of trial;
h. Award plaintiffs costs of this action and reasonable attorneys fees____

[559]*559After extensive discovery and the filing of a motion to dismiss by the INS and agent Smiley, plaintiffs sought leave to amend their complaint in part to clarify the relief sought. Leave was granted. In their amended complaint, the plaintiffs sought a preliminary and permanent injunction against officials of the INS ordering them to:

1. Cease their practice of interrogating Hispanic persons held by state and local law enforcement authorities without warrant or reasonable belief, supported by articulable facts, that such persons are aliens;
2. Cease their practice of detaining Hispanic persons held by state and local law enforcement authorities without warrant or probable cause to believe that such persons are aliens in the United States in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1251;
3. Cease their practice of interrogating and detaining Hispanic persons beyond 24 hours without first advising such persons of their rights pursuant to 8 C.F.R. § 287.3, bringing such persons before an immigration officer to determine whether there is probable cause that the person is deportable, and serving such persons with a properly executed Order to Show Cause or a properly executed Request to Depart Voluntarily from the United States.

In the amended complaint, plaintiffs described the alleged illegal behavior of the INS and agent Smiley as follows:

The actions of Defendant TOM SMILEY were taken pursuant to a policy and practice of the Defendant IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERVICE to encourage, induce and aid the Defendant state and local officers throughout DPS District Five to question, arrest, detain and incarcerate persons of Hispanic descent for investigation by INS. In addition, the actions of Defendant SMILEY were taken pursuant to a policy and practice of the Defendant INS not to comply with the provisions of 8 C.F.R. § 287.3

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Cervantez v. Whitfield
776 F.2d 556 (Fifth Circuit, 1985)

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Bluebook (online)
776 F.2d 556, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cervantez-v-whitfield-ca5-1985.