Illinois Migrant Council v. Pilliod

398 F. Supp. 882, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11230
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedJuly 29, 1975
Docket74 C 3111
StatusPublished
Cited by43 cases

This text of 398 F. Supp. 882 (Illinois Migrant Council v. Pilliod) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Illinois Migrant Council v. Pilliod, 398 F. Supp. 882, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11230 (N.D. Ill. 1975).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

MARSHALL, District Judge.

The Illinois Migrant Council (hereinafter IMC), a not-for-profit corporation, and Arturo Lopez, Larry Sandoval, Elias Montanez, Tessie Alvarado, Isabel Carillo, Fidencio Salinas, Rutilio Arteaga and Ninfa Arteaga, 1 individually, and on behalf of all others similarly situated, bring this action for declaratory and injunctive relief against 9 named and 35 unknown officials of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (hereinafter INS). 2 In substance, the complaint alleges that the INS has conducted and will continue to conduct in the future a pattern and practice of harassment, including illegal searches, seizures, arrests, interrogations, detentions, and mass raids, against the individual plaintiffs and the class, in violation of the plaintiffs’ rights under the First, Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States.

Jurisdiction is founded on 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331, 2201 and 2202. The plaintiffs’ cause of action arises under the First, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution, and 8 U.S.C. § 1357, which delineates certain powers of the INS, and it involves in excess of $10,000 per *886 individual plaintiff exclusive of interest and costs.

The plaintiffs seek a preliminary injunction pursuant to FedR.Civ.P. 65. Testimony has been heard and the motion is ready for decision. During the preliminary injunction hearings, the defendants filed a motion to dismiss under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b), which was denied after argument. The issue is whether defendants should be enjoined pendente lite from entering buildings, dormitories, and/or dwellings where plaintiffs and the members of their class reside without search warrants or probable cause unless they have received consent to enter from the occupants, and to cease arresting, detaining, stopping and otherwise interfering with the travel of citizens and resident aliens of Mexican descent unless the defendants are acting upon probable cause or “articulable facts showing that there is substantial reason to believe such persons have entered the United States illegally.” 3

Before analysing the difficult and sensitive issues raised by the plaintiffs’ motion, a detailed statement of the facts adduced at the hearings and an analysis of certain exhibits is necessary. 4 Fed.R.Civ.P. 52(a); 65(d). The plaintiffs’ evidence falls into four broad and sometimes overlapping categories : street encounters, entries into dwellings, raids on employment centers, and documentary evidence consisting of operations manuals for INS agents. The plaintiffs contend that the evidence demonstrates a continuing pattern and practice of illegal conduct by the INS that requires the issuance of a preliminary injunction. The defendants, on the other hand, assert that all operations of the INS were and will continue to be conducted in conformance with the Fourth Amendment and 8 U.S.C. § 1357(a)(1) (1970), and to the extent that excesses may have occurred, the incidents were isolated and do not establish a pattern or practice of illegal conduct. Alternatively, the defendants contend that the plaintiffs are not entitled to injunctive relief because they have an adequate remedy at law under the Federal Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2680(h) (1974), and Bivens v. Six Unknown Agents, 403 U.S. 388, 91 S.Ct. 1999, 29 L.Ed.2d 619 (1971); Tritsis v. Backer, 501 F.2d 1021 (7th Cir. 1974). Finally, defendants urge that the court lacks jurisdiction to grant plaintiffs any relief because their success is dependent upon a successful challenge to the constitutional validity of 8 U.S.C. § 1357 (1970), which requires the convening of a three-judge court. 28 U.S.C. § 2282 (1970). Since the jurisdictional question can best be understood after a statement of the facts, it will be discussed after the evidence has been summarized.

I. The Facts

IMC is a federally funded not-for-profit Illinois corporation with nine regional offices in the state. It provides *887 supportive services and acts as an advocate for migrant agricultural workers who are predominantly of Mexican heritage and illiterate in both English and Spanish. Its major goal is to “encourage migrants to leave the migrant stream and to settle as permanent residents in Illinois.” 5 The individual plaintiffs are American citizens or permanent resident aliens of Mexican descent. A number of them have permanent residences in Illinois while others are migrant farm workers whose legal residences are in Texas.

The individual defendants are supervisory and field personnel of the INS. With the exception of Pilliod, who was District Director of INS at the time of the commencement of this action, the defendants are all assigned to the Chicago District of the INS. The plaintiffs allege that the defendants are responsible for and participate in the complained of interrogations, investigations, dwelling entries, surveillance and raids upon individual and groups of individuals of Mexican descent or Spanish surnames. The plaintiffs further allege that these activities are all conducted pursuant to the Unites States immigration laws, regulations and policies.

A. Street Encounters

The plaintiffs presented two instances, apart from incidents during INS area control operations in Mendota and Rochelle, where individuals were allegedly stopped by INS agents and interrogated about their citizenship and their right to remain in the United States. The first incident occurred on September 18, 1974, in Rochelle, Illinois. Larry Sandoval, an American citizen of Mexican descent residing in Rochelle, Illinois, is the Director of the IMC office in Rochelle. Elias Montanez works for the IMC and is a permanent resident alien residing in Rochelle. On the morning of September 18, the two men were driving in Sandoval’s car to the IMC office in Rochelle when they passed an INS car heading in the opposite direction. Sandoval proceeded to the IMC office and parked his car on the front lawn of the office.

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Bluebook (online)
398 F. Supp. 882, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11230, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/illinois-migrant-council-v-pilliod-ilnd-1975.