Opinion ID: 39526
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Events After the Warrant Check Came Back Clean

Text: When Lopez-Moreno returned from the van, he went over the manifest with Officer Parker to ascertain how many passengers were in the van. They determined that there were nine passengers. This conversation was interrupted at 2:48 a.m., when the backup officer arrived. Once the backup officer arrived, Officer Parker called United States Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“BICE”) Special Agent Craig Griffin. Agent Griffin was the Resident Agent in Charge of BICE’s Texarkana, Arkansas office. Agent Griffin had earlier requested the Greenwood Police Department to call them if they suspected that they had undocumented aliens at a traffic stop. Parker explained to Agent Griffin that he had pulled over the van and that Lopez-Moreno was paid to drive the passengers to various destinations. Because of a bad connection, Agent Griffin said that he would call back in a few minutes. While Officer Parker was waiting for Agent Griffin - 5 - to call him back, he can be heard speaking with the other officer about an earlier episode when Officer Parker had participated in a traffic stop of a van of undocumented aliens. He mentioned that the driver of the van in that previous stop had been arrested for transporting illegal aliens. At 2:54 a.m., Agent Griffin called back. Officer Parker again explained the circumstances. While Officer Parker had Agent Griffin on the phone, he handed the phone over to Lopez-Moreno and Agent Griffin spoke briefly with Lopez-Moreno. Agent Griffin asked a few questions, including where Lopez-Moreno was born, where the passengers were from, and what immigration documentation he had on him. Lopez-Moreno told him that he was born in Tampico, Mexico, he did not know where the passengers were from, and he did not have any immigration documents. Based on his conversation with Lopez-Moreno, as well as what Officer Parker had told him, Agent Griffin told Officer Parker to detain LopezMoreno and the passengers until he could arrive from about an hour away. When Agent Griffin arrived on the scene, he first interviewed Lopez-Moreno and then interviewed the passengers. Lopez-Moreno again stated that he was from Mexico. However, at this point he produced a resident alien card, i.e., a green card. Griffin then spoke with the passengers. Because neither Officer Parker nor his backup officer spoke Spanish, Agent Griffin was the first law enforcement officer actually to interact with the - 6 - passengers. Agent Griffin asked them their names, their place of birth, their country of citizenship, their date and place of entry into the United States, the status of their entry, and their current place of residence. Based on their responses to his questions and the other circumstances he observed, Agent Griffin suspected that they were not present legally in the United States. As a result of Agent Griffin’s investigation, his interview with Lopez-Moreno, and the passengers’ responses, Agent Griffin arrested Lopez-Moreno for suspicion of transporting undocumented aliens. Officer Parker issued him a ticket for failing to comply with Louisiana’s brake lights statute, LA. REV. STAT. ANN. § 32:306A, and for failing to have a vehicle registration slip, in violation of LA. REV. STAT. ANN. § 47:506 (West 2002).2 BICE also detained the van’s passengers on suspicion of being present in the United States illegally.