BENJAMIN, Utah (ABC 4 News)- SB81 is now the law, but is what happened in Utah County an abuse of power? Some people in the Latino community think so.
A mother and her son were pulled over for shining their high beam headlights. They were questioned about their citizenship and then arrested. It happened near Benjamin before dawn Thursday morning.
Latino community leader Tony Yapias says a Utah County Sheriff’s Deputy stopped Doris George Torres, and her 18-year old son Downey Guevara George. Yapias says the deputy questioned the legal status of Doris & Downey. Yapias says,” Latinos have to be vigilant so that deputies and police don’t harass them during traffic stops.”
Even though SB81 is law, Yapias says no Utah police department has been granted the status to allow them to ask about a person’s legal status. Yapias though says this was a legal arrest.
He says Doris had an Immigration and Customs Enforcement warrant for failure to appear before an immigration judge. The family says that years ago Doris and her children were stopped and processed by border patrol agents and then released.
It appears that she was released on her own to appear at a latter date before an immigration judge. The family says they never received notification from the immigration court. When Doris did not show up to the immigration court an arrest warrant was issued.
