7-Eleven video said to show racial profiling

Immigrant advocates released video footage (here and here) that they say shows federal agents unfairly targeted Latinos in January 2007 outside a 7-Eleven in Southeast Baltimore. The video, taken from store cameras, captured U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents rounding up 24 men suspected of being undocumented immigrants. Most have been deported or left the country voluntarily. The video, shows officers ignoring black store patrons while focusing on Latino men. In addition, the advocates say, the video shows agents detaining a number of Latinos who had been waiting at a bus stop across the street from the 7-Eleven, a common hiring spot for day laborers.

We often hear claims of racial profiling in immigration enforcement, a topic about which I have previously written.   Indeed, the claims are so common that it is hard to believe that they are simply a nationwide conspiracy among noncitizens and U.S. citizens of certain ancestries to “play the race card.”  One legal difficulty posing opponents of racial profiling is that the U.S. Supreme Court in United States v. Brignoni-Ponce (1975) stated that “Mexican appearance” could be one factor considered by law enforcement in making an immigration stop.  Now, what precisely is “Mexican appearance”?

UPDATE  Here is a video allegedly showing racial profiling in an immigration raid in Maryland.  A claim of racial profiling is also being investigated in Riverside, CA.

KJ