N.H. judge dismisses immigrants' trespass charges
By Anand Vaishnav, Globe Staff  |  August 13, 2005

A New Hampshire judge threw out trespassing charges yesterday against eight
undocumented immigrants, turning back an effort by two police chiefs who wanted
to prosecute people suspected of entering the country illegally.

The chiefs of the Hudson and New Ipswich police departments had argued they
could bring local charges, saying that anyone in the country illegally was also
in their towns without proper documentation. The application of state law toward
a federal immigration offense -- which the judge said was ''novel" -- had
received applause from critics of immigration policy and rebukes from immigrant
rights activists.

Ultimately, Judge L. Phillips Runyon III of Jaffrey-Peterborough District Court
ruled that immigration is a federal matter.

''The criminal trespass charges against the defendants are unconstitutional
attempts to regulate in the area of enforcement of immigration violations, an
area where Congress must be deemed to have regulated with such civil sanctions
and criminal penalties as it feels are sufficient," Runyon wrote.

Runyon dismissed the charges against all eight illegal immigrants, although only
four had asked for them to be dropped. Randall A. Drew, attorney for three
defendants, said the decision sent the proper message to law enforcement
officials.

''When it comes to the field of regulating immigration, that is the province of
the federal government," said Drew, who represented the defendants with attorney
Mona T. Movafaghi.

Richard E. Gendron, Hudson's police chief, said he will abide by the ruling and
sees no avenue for a successful appeal. But he said the problem of illegal
immigration is a real one faced by local police officers across the country.

Gendron said he resorted to local charges after federal Immigration and Customs
Enforcement officers declined to pick up the defendants when Hudson officers
stopped them earlier this year and the defendants could not produce valid
immigration documents.

''I don't look at this as a federal problem or a state problem. This is a law
enforcement problem," Gendron said. ''I still believe that we were acting within
the mission to enforce the laws of the state of New Hampshire, and acting in the
best interests of the citizens of Hudson and in the interest of homeland
security."

''The judge made a fair decision," said Leticia Ortiz of the New Hampshire
Immigrants Rights Task Force. ''I would be worried if I would be stopped by a
police officer and subjected to interrogation just because I'm not from here or
if I look different."

The defendants still face speeding and other traffic offenses, Drew said. Most
of them live in New Hampshire, although one, Jorge Mora Ramirez, lives in
Waltham, Mass. They also may face a review of their immigration status in the
federal system.

Court papers say the other defendants are: Frederico Barros-Batistele,
Wellington Brustolin Da Silva, Luis De Amorim, Mauro Sergio Farias, Bernarda
Gallego, Sergio Robles-Ruiz, and Marcos Vinicius S. Sousa.

Anand Vaishnav can be reached at vaishnav@globe.com.