Help Immigrant Mother Fight Her Case

On June 29th one of my immediate family members was driving home when a police officer made a sudden U-turn, followed them for a few miles and finally pulled them over just a mile from their home and just feet from the county line that marks the end of the officer's jurisdiction. My family member insists that they were not driving in a way that would have warranted the officer to make a sudden U-turn and follow them. My family member is undocumented and when they were pulled over they were consequently arrested for driving without a license. Because of their immigration status, this was a dangerous and stressful situation for our entire family, but thankfully Madison Co. GA, where this occurred, has not adopted 287g, which deputizes officers as I.C.E. agents. Therefore, I had to go bail my family member out of the county jail rather than an I.C.E detention center.

When we presented the facts of our case to a lawyer, he agreed that the cop followed under false pretenses, and believes we could win a case against the officer. We are going to fight this police abuse!

In the immigrant community, it is all too common an occurrence that if you are driving while Brown / Latino, cops find an excuse to follow you, banking on the assumption that you are driving without a license based on your ethnicity or skin color. There is currently no legislation available in Georgia that allows undocumented immigrants to apply for driver's licenses, so people like my family member are susceptible to police abuse and monetary extortion.

What you're funding by donating: Lawyer fees, court fees and trumped-up charges.

What this means for the larger immigrant rights movement: immigrants will not keep silent, accepting trumped up charges while continuing to beef-up the overtime reports of prejudiced officers. Latino immigrants are some of the most underpaid laborers in the United States, dealing with some of the highest numbers of COVID-19 cases, while still being susceptible to violent rhetoric from the President, Governors, and profiling from polICE. Help us fight back!

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**Due to my family member's precarious immigration status, qualifying details have been kept anonymous**