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Corona pays Mexican man $35,000 to settle claim in immigration detention case
A man who was deported to Mexico after Corona police stopped him for a speeding violation received a $35,000 settlement from the city, his attorneys said Tuesday.
Corona city officials and the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California reached the settlement agreement, although the two sides do not agree on whether a police officer violated California’s sanctuary law during the arrest that led to the deportation of Daniel Valenzuela last year.
Valenzuela, 35, was taking his daughters to school on Jan. 31, 2019 when he was stopped for speeding. Police said he was going 70 in a 45-mile-per hour zone.
During the stop, one of the officers contacted U.S. Customs and Border patrol to inquire about Valenzuela’s Mexican license. Border patrol agents asked the officers to bring him to their checkpoint, but they declined, according to Corona police. Instead, a Border Patrol agent arrived and took Valenzuela into federal custody.
Attorneys for the ACLU and immigrant-rights advocates decried the action, blaming local police for their role in his arrest and subsequent deportation. They said that in asking Valenzuela a series of questions about his immigration status and detaining him until Border Patrol arrived, local police violated the California Values Act – known as a sanctuary state law – which limits when local police can notify immigration officials about a person’s immigration status. According to the ACLU attorneys, Corona police also violated Valenzuela’s due process and other constitutional rights.
The ACLU filed a $1 million claim against the city, which is usually a precursor to a lawsuit. But the case didn’t get that far, with both sides settling instead.
The ACLU chalked it up as a victory. “This settlement shows that we will hold law enforcement agencies accountable if they fail to comply with the California Values Act,” ACLU attorney Eva Bitran said in a statement.
Emilio Amaya, executive director of the San Bernardino Community Services Center, said Tuesday that Valenzuelas’ detention and transfer to immigration authorities was “a clear violation of the California Values Act and Mr. Valenzuela’s due process.”
Corona police Lt. Paul Mercado said Tuesday that his department does not acknowledge violating the state’s sanctuary law or any other wrongdoing in the stop.
“The officer declined CBP’s request to bring him to the checkpoint…And they responded to the scene,” Mercado said.
“The officer was handling a traffic stop, not immigration enforcement,” police said in a statement.
But because “the unusual facts of this situation may cause people of goodwill to view it differently, and because of the high costs and disruption of litigation, the city decided to settle this singular and isolated claim,” police said.
Valenzuela, a commercial driver in his home country, remains in Mexico while his wife and three children live in Corona, according to an ACLU representative.
At the time he was stopped, Valenzuela was in Corona visiting his wife and children on a 10-year tourist visa that allows for multiple entries, usually for a maximum of six months at a time. Valenzuela had overstayed his visa, officials said.
After Valenzuela’s detention and deportation, ACLU attorneys and immigrant-rights advocates met with Corona Police Chief George Johnstone to review the department’s policies and conduct further training. In August, officers were re-trained on the California Values Act. Officers also were reminded that it is permissible to drive with a foreign license and that it is improper, in California, for officers to contact immigration authorities to ask about a driver’s immigration status.
