On June 1, 2004, Plaintiff, a citizen of Zimbabwe, filed suit against the United States and an individual immigration officer in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, claiming violations of U.S. Constitutional law and various state laws resulting from her arrest, ...
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On June 1, 2004, Plaintiff, a citizen of Zimbabwe, filed suit against the United States and an individual immigration officer in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, claiming violations of U.S. Constitutional law and various state laws resulting from her arrest, detention and subsequent return to Zimbabwe, without regard to her her asylum status.
The Plaintiff had a pending application for derivative asylum status based on her mother's application. Her mother and younger sister fled Zimbabwe due to their fear of reprisal arising out her mother's political activites. In January 2002, she flew to San Francisico to visit her mother. Upon arrival, she was arrested, interrogated, strip-searched, jailed, subjected to demeaning and offensive statemements about her nationality, and not permitted to see her family, all without regard to her asylum status.
On April 12, 2006, the parties agreed to a settlement, approved and entered by the Court, pursuant to which defendants paid plaintiff $65,000.00.
Plaintiff was released only when a family friend purchased a return ticket and she flew back to Zimbabwe.
Denise Heberle - 03/20/2012
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