José E. Serrano: “on behalf of the Latino community I urge my colleagues to oppose H.R. 3129, the Customs Border Security Act, and to…”

“on behalf of the Latino community I urge my colleagues to oppose H.R. 3129, the Customs Border Security Act, and to strongly support the Rangel substitute. H.R. 3129 will expand Federal authority for U.S. Customs officers by granting them expanded ``good faith'' immunity. Expanding Customs officers' immunity would only undermine the civil rights of many individuals who would be left without recourse to remedy unconstitutional and discriminatory searches, particularly when this agency has a history of targeting minorities. The Rangel substitute correctly addresses the racial profiling concerns while ensuring that customs inspectors are not liable for monetary damages in civil suits involving personal searches. The U.S. government would consent to be sued and to be held liable for civil damages for suits brought in connection with a wrongful personal search. According to a Customs Service study conducted in fiscal year 1998, almost half of the people searched by customs were Latino or African-American, although the contraband produced by the searches was lower for minorities than for whites. Another study by the GAO in March 2000 revealed that black female U.S. citizens were nine times more likely to be subjected to X-ray searches by U.S. Customs officials than their white counterparts, although black women were less than half as likely to be found carrying contraband as white women.”