NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A state judge in Crowley has ordered the Vermilion Parish sheriff to provide records to a nonprofit group of immigrants detained since 2009.
The Southern Poverty Law Center has asked 63 Louisiana sheriffs for such records, to see whether people held for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials after arrests on other charges were jailed without bond longer than federal law allows.
“Other groups throughout the country are investigating this process, these immigration detainers — when Immigration or ICE asks local or county sheriffs to hold individuals ... suspected of being not U.S. citizens,” said Meredith Stewart, staff attorney for the law center.
She said the agency can have people listed for deportation — or even just suspected of violating immigration law — detained for up to 48 hours.
“There’s a lot of controversy about whether it’s legal, whether it’s a burden on local sheriffs, the frequency of people being over-detained without charges against them,” Stewart said.
Vermilion Sheriff Michael Couvillon was among 15 Louisiana sheriffs who refused to return over their records, contending that doing so would violate privacy.
The group sued Couvillon. Stewart said Tuesday that he gave the group access to the records late last week, after being ordered to by state District Judge Herman Clause.
The other 14 sheriffs are from all around the state but, like Couvillon, are represented by the Usry, Weeks & Matthews law firm, Stewart said.
The firm did not immediately return a call to ask about the other 14 sheriffs’ plans.
New Orleans was not asked to turn over documents because attorneys focused elsewhere in the state, Stewart said.
She said 48 sheriffs “did comply or are in the process of complying or we are working with them,” she said.
Few are electronic records.
“We’re still piling up paper. We’ve gotten a lot of documents had have a lot of reviewing to do,” she said.
MAY 23 Here's a story in the Picayune about some statistics that must come as a blow to folks who believe that any private school can do a better job of educating kids than any public school: Danielle Dreilinger reports that only 30 percent of the voucher kids are passing. That's less than half of the state wide average, she says. It's an interesting statistic because most of the schools (if not all) taking voucher kids have never had their students' standardized test scores released to the public before.
MAY 23 Stephen Sabludowsky blogs on Bayou Buzz about auditor requests here. Recently the state GOP started crowing about a request from the Legislative Auditor, claiming they were being targeted because of their anti-tax stance. (Uh, your what?) Denial and hyperbole aside, the state Democratic party blew holes in that theory with an email announcing they'd received the same request, Sabludowsky writes here.
MAY 23 Jim Brown blogs about the senate race in this post. He says that, given Bobby Jindal's "lack of traction" on the national stage, it might make more sense for the governor to consider running against Mary Landrieu for the senate seat. Since Tim Teeple left the Cassidy team, it makes sense he might land on a Jindal for Senate team, Brown opines.
MAY 23 In this Louisiana Voice post, blogger Tom Aswell writes of rumors that his nemesis, state Superintendent of Education John White, may be soon departing Louisiana for a federal post. It's hard to believe, given his performance, Aswell says, but stranger things have happened. An anti-White BESE member says that, if true, White is quitting before he can be fired.
MAY 23 In this post on American Zombie, blogger Jason Berry writes about the Mother's Day shooting. Mayor Landrieu said that "this is not who we are," but the fact is, this is New Orleans, Berry writes. The violence infused in the city is the result of a culture created by "sins of omission or sins of commission," Berry writes. It's not a problem that can be solved by legislating, policing, praying or publicizing, he says: Someone's got to understand what's happening first.
MAY 23 This post in the Westside Journal tells us what Port Allen Mayor Deedy has been up to lately: vetoing ordinances, apparently. This story is most interesting, however, when it delves into a petition that has been circulating around the city lately. It accuses the former mayor of a lot of nasty things; the former mayor says it is full of lies and "broken syntax" which may be a larger offense in his eyes.
MAY 23 This editorial posted in The Advocate is a bit confusing. The writing is poor - definitely not up to the usual editorial writing standard there - and the point is hard to grasp. Apparently, the writer is saying that privatization of state efforts is OK, as long as there is oversight and transparency, but Jindal's not good at that, and the legislature shouldn't over-react. Okey Dokey. Can't they get one of them Pulitzer-winning people to write an editorial?
MAY 23 This post on The Lens gives you links to a new Google Earth tool that allows you to see any spot on earth transform over the past 30 years. Bob Marshall, who covers the coast for the paper, says that in the case of Louisiana's coastline, it's possibly something you don't want to see, because it's not a pretty picture. There are several clips here, showing critical areas erode away. For Marshall, it was vindication for all those times he was met with eye-rolling when he talked about erosion.
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