Checkpoint for Latinos, not drunks, critics charge

Thursday, May 10, 2007 3:50 AM

By Stephanie Czekalinski and Matthew Marx

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Some central Ohio Latinos say they were targeted this past weekend when law-enforcement officials ran a checkpoint for drunken drivers on the Cinco de Mayo holiday, just blocks from apartment complexes with heavy immigrant populations.

Instead of the arrests netting a large number of people who had too much to drink, they largely hauled in unlicensed drivers, nearly all of them with Latino names.

The DUI checkpoint has drawn criticism from Latino community leaders.

The checkpoint "appears to target Latinos in three ways: where they put it, the fact that it was on Cinco de Mayo" and the number of people who were charged for not having a driver's license, said Jose Luis Mas, a local lawyer and chairman of the Ohio Hispanic Coalition board of directors.

Many times, undocumented immigrants don't have driver's licenses because of their immigration status, he said.

Let me get this straight! They are whining because a checkpoint was setup to catch drunk drivers but instead they netted a mass of Latinos without driver's licenses. Isn't that still a violation of the law or were the police to just let them go because they weren't drunk? And what does that last statement mean? Of course they don't have a driver's license if they violated federal law and invaded the USA. -mm