Immigrant Mom Juana Villegas, Shackled During Labor, Wins Lawsuit

[AlphaCentauri]

Source: Color lines News

A federal judge in Tennessee has ruled in favor of immigrant mother Juana Villegas, who was shackled during labor and after giving birth while being held in the custody of the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office, the Tennessean recently reported. U.S. District Court Judge William Haynes Jr. will set a hearing for damages against Metro government and the sheriff’s office in Villegas’ case.

Villegas was nine months pregnant when, on July 3, 2008, she was arrested and charged with careless driving and driving without vehicle insurance. She also didn’t have a diver’s license. Officials then realized Villegas had a previous deportation order to her native Mexico from 1996. Davidson County, where she was arrested, participates in the controversial program 287(g), which deputizes local cops to investigate the immigration status of people they’ve arrested. In an interview with Breakthrough TV, Villegas’ attorney Elliot Ozmet, explains the case:

This case is first of all an immigration case. But it didn’t start out that way. It started out as a simple traffic stop — she was stopped, she was given a ticket for careless driving that still has not been explained to the to Juana. But when she was asked for her driver’s license, she was not able to produce one. The preference for law enforcement for Tennessee is to give a person without a driver’s license a citation. In this particular case the officer decided to take Juana into custody despite the fact that she was 8 1/2 months pregnant and had three children with her in the car.


The sheriff’s office cited the danger of “illegal immigrants fleeing and engaging in illegal activities” to justify shackling Villegas to the bed.



Read more: http://colorlines.com/archives/2011/05/mom_shackled_during_labor_wins_case.html

[SheilaT]

1. Shackling a woman during labor

is unconscionable.

But I have no patience with the many people who choose to drive without a license. I am absolutely in favor of granting drivers licenses to everyone who can pass the tests, regardless of immigration or citizenship status. But get the license!

[Lars39]

4. Can't do that in TN anymore.

Iirc, a law was passed against it. :(

[DirkGently]

2. Glad that after careful review, our court system finds shackling a woman in labor is wrong. Jesus.

[prismpalette]

3. A nation with no compassion

It seems more and more horror stories are circulating involving police departments around this country. Women shackled during labor, omg, others denied medical emergency treatment and then dying, routine medical care denied for diabetics, and the list goes on. What is happening here? These tactics seem like something from a gulag or a country run by evil dictators. I notice many police departments hire veterans from the combat stages now in play. Is this the baggage many veterans bring home-I know you are gonna slam me for that, but just wondering.