Jaimes v. Garibay, et al., No. 3:13-CV-01040-P (N.D. Tex., filed Mar. 12, 2013)
On the morning of January 31, 2012, Francisco Jaimes Villegas was driving with two of his Hispanic coworkers on Highway 84 outside Santa Anna, Texas, when he was pulled over by two Border Patrol (BP) agents using their emergency lights. Mr. Jaimes was driving an unaltered, uncovered pick up truck, with a tool box and a generator in the truck bed, and was obeying all relevant traffic laws when he was stopped. When the two BP agents approached, one on each side of the truck, one agent immediately handcuffed Mr. Jaimes to the person sitting in the rear, and the other agent handcuffed the person sitting in the passenger seat to himself, before asking them any questions. The agents then interrogated the handcuffed men as to whether they had any “papers,” after which they pulled the three men out of the truck and put them in the back seat of their own car. Mr. Jaimes and his co-workers remained in the car while the BP agents similarly stopped another truck and arrested two more men, who were then squeezed into the back seat of the BP vehicle as well. The agents continued looking for people on the same road, arresting one other man who was put in a second vehicle, until they finally brought the men to the Border Patrol station in San Angelo.
At the station, Mr. Jaimes was questioned by one of the arresting agents. Mr. Jaimes informed the agent that he did not want to sign a form agreeing to be sent out of the country. He then was questioned a second time by a different agent, who told him that he had to sign, and tried to convince him that it would be better for him to do so, telling him he was going to be deported anyway. Mr. Jaimes refused to sign, which appeared to upset the agent. CBP proceeded to hold Mr. Jaimes in a cell for three hours and then transported him to another holding facility where he spent the night in a room with 10 other people.
The case was stayed by the district court in 2014 pending a decision by the Fifth Circuit in De La Paz v. Coy, which also raised the issue of the availability of a Bivens remedy to address 4th Amendment violations arising from a Border Patrol roving patrol.
Following the Fifth Circuit’s decision in De la Paz, the district court, on September 30, 2015, granted the defendants’ motion for summary judgment with respect to the Bivens action but denied summary judgment with respect to plaintiff’s FTCA claims.
In December 2015, the parties filed a joint motion for a stay pending decision on a forthcoming petition for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court in De la Paz v. Coy et al., which was filed in January 2016 (No. 15-888) and denied June 2017. The case was administratively closed in district court.
Counsel: De Mott, McChesney, Curtright & Armendáriz, LLP
Contact: David Armendáriz | 210.534.1844 | davida@dmcausa.com
Hold CBP Accountable 