Judge quashes most charges in Operation Streamline trial

Most of the charges lodged against 12 immigration activists for their role in an October 2013 protest were dropped by a Tucson judge on Tuesday. 

Each protester was charged with four to seven misdemeanors stemming from a protest on Oct. 11, 2013 when they stopped two buses carrying 70 immigrants slated for the federal government's fast-track immigration court known as Operation Streamline. 

Brought to Tucson from El Paso in 2008, Operation Streamline charges unauthorized immigrants with misdemeanors or felonies and processes them en mass. 

Protesters say the process violates immigrant's civil rights, while federal officials argue that Streamline cuts down on recidivism for illegal entry. 

The group stopped the buses on the Interstate 10 frontage road Downtown and chained themselves to the front wheels in groups of three using a pipe called a 'dragon sleeve' to cover their arms, making it nearly impossible for police to break them apart. 

The protest lasted for five hours before police used power tools to cut away the plastic pipes the protestors used to cover their arms. 

Eighteen were arrested while halting the bus and 16 were ultimately charged. Two have accepted plea deals, and two more may face trial. 

During the trial, Judge Susan Bacal dismissed four charges against the group, including hindering prosecution, criminal trespass, obstructing a government order, and disorderly conduct. 

Bacal found the activists not guilty of resisting arrest. 

Bacal said she would rule on the two remaining charges on April 13, which include obstruction of a highway and public nuisance. 

The protesters would face a maximum of four months in jail.

During the trial, Deputy County Attorney Rebecca Mueller said that the state was not seeking to punish the protester's First Amendments rights, but said "it's reckless to stop two buses with detainees and armed guards in the middle of the roadway. We're not here to talk about Operation Streamline, but how the protest was done." 

Margo Cowan, the group's lawyer, argued that the government had failed to prove its case, and that her clients had a right to assemble and publicly protest against Operation Streamline. "We don’t need a permit to exercise our First Amendment rights, so the suggestion that these defendants didn’t ask for permission that day doesn’t square up with constitutional protected rights." 

After the trial, Cowan told reporters that the protestors were "really very courageous" for their effort. "They did this to call attention to the grave injustice that is Streamline," said Cowan. 

"Operation Streamline is a kangaroo court that makes a mockery of any sort of justice system," said Sarah Launius, one of the protesters. "It essentially renders individuals as criminals such that they can never find a legitimate way to return to their families and their livelihoods."