Air the Dirty Laundry: Courthouse Rally

By Aundra M. Berry

The Racial Justice Campaign Against “Operation Meth Merchant” held a press rally today following the sentencing of three South Asian merchants in the US District Court. The mood was somber after the hearing, which left two families facing financial ruin with the imminent deportation of their primary wage-earners. The three men, ranging in age from 28 to 58, were each stoic as their interpreter translated their sentences after the ruling of Judge Harold L. Murphy. Each man received one year of probation with 120 days of home confinement (with credit for time served) and a fine of $100. The court was “impressed” by the show of support for the trio and Judge Murphy acknowledged a request from defense attorney Manubir Arora to allow the men to voluntarily leave the United States to avoid the bureaucratic red tape, expense and stigma of returning to their homelands under police escort. Each defendant was instructed through an interpreter that immigration laws were beyond their trial’s scope and outside the control of the judge.

Unfortunately for these men, their conviction of a felony crime in Federal court will force each to face mandatory deportation. And, in a curious break with tradition, officials from Immigration and Naturalization Services were invited by prosecutor Lisa Tarvin to take the stunned merchants into custody to await their return to their home countries at a detention center. Tarvin stressed throughout the proceedings that the immigration issues were merely a consequence of the criminal case against the men.

Supporters were subdued at the press rally that followed, but demanded that the prosecutors “air the dirty laundry” behind the racial targeting in Operation Meth Merchant. In front of onlookers, reporters from the Rome Tribune and independent camera crews, Racial Justice Campaign organizer Deepali Gokhale highlighted the group’s efforts to uncover the true reasons for targeting the South Asian community. Gokhale reminded the media that the merchants sentenced had been prosecuted for selling legal, everyday products. She went on to stress how these men, and others like them, continue to face severe fines, deportation, years of detention, crippling legal expenses and financial devastation. Yet, those convicted of actually selling the methamphetamine that so threaten the public welfare are being given reduced sentences. The Racial Justice Campaign calls for further investigation to assess the objectivity of the enforcement process used by Operation Meth Merchant.