Seattle Times — In a decision immigration attorneys and advocates are hailing as a civil-liberties victory, a Pierce County Superior Court judge ruled Tuesday that local law-enforcement officials violate the state constitution when they prolong detention of individuals to question them about their immigration status.
Judge Kathryn Nelson issued the ruling in the 2010 case of four Latino immigrants pulled over by two Kitsap County sheriff’s deputies for a broken headlight and suspicion of illegal shellfish harvesting.
Once the four showed a commercial license for their haul and proper identification, the deputies continued to question them over the next hour or so about their immigration status and their country of origin — in violation of their state constitutional rights… [Read More]
