An overview | Accountability in the justice system | American Indians and the rural justice system | The new disparities | Driving while black

	Gloria Edin says the Mexican immigrants who live in Long Prairie face many challenges. Many don't speak English. And she says many of the people who come through her office tell her they've been discriminated against. She says many complain that police officers engage in racial profiling. (MPR Photo/Brandt Williams)

Todd County Hispanic Liaison Gloria Edin is passionate about the charge of her office. "All we want and all we ask for is that we be treated with respect and dignity and the same rights that every other individual in this country is afforded," she says emphatically. "That's all we want"

The Todd County Hispanic Liaison Office was created over a year and a half ago in response to the county's rapidly growing immigrant community. The office is a cozy storefront located right on the town's main commercial strip.

One of the main functions of the office is to help immigrants translate bills or negotiate the bureaucracy of county offices. Today a woman arrives with her two kids because she needs help getting her phone installed. A liaison employee talks in English on the phone with a phone company representative and then speaks to the woman in Spanish. Another man comes in because he's having trouble with his satellite dish and he needs someone to speak to the satellite company.

Edin, the daughter of a Mexican immigrant, says the office also serves non-Spanish speakers who want to communicate with the immigrant community. A white resident drops into the office to ask Gloria to write a note in Spanish to one of his tenants. He wants Gloria to tell them to pay their taxes. She writes the man a note and he leaves. The interaction is pleasant and cordial.

"We're a cultural broker for both sides," she says. "We are a place where people feel safe. I think that the Latinos feel safe coming here and I think the Anglo-European people feel safe coming here. We, hopefully, act as a bridge between both communities. So that they can come to a place like a middle ground. And we're that middle ground."

But Edin says the Mexican immigrants who live in Long Prairie face many challenges. Many don't speak English. And she says many of the people who come through her office tell her they've been discriminated against. She says many complain that police officers engage in racial profiling.

"The most common complaint that I've heard is that people feel that they were stopped based on their color," says Edin. "I would say that's 100 percent of the complaints that come through. People feel that they were unjustly stopped and they feel they were unjustly questioned. Many people feel that they, because they're Mexican, that the police feel they are undocumented."

Long Prairie Police Chief Steve Neet says he has asked for help from the Border Patrol office in Grand Forks, S.D. to help identify individuals who don't have identification or translate a conversation with someone who doesn't speak English. Sometimes those situations lead to deportations.

A Border Patrol official estimates that his office has been called on to remove 18 to 20 undocumented immigrants in the Long Prairie area in the last six months. However Neet says his officers aren't agents for the Border Patrol.

"The Border Patrol has a specific function, we have a specific function," says Neet. "We uphold the law in the state of Minnesota. We do the very best job we can. We treat anyone exactly the same. If you can't prove identification of who you are, we have a responsibility to find out who you are."

Neet says he's been applying for government grants from the U.S. Justice Department for money to hire a Spanish-speaking officer. In the meantime, he says the officers in his department are learning some Spanish. And he says they carry Spanish-English dictionaries in their squad cars.

Edin says much more needs to be done to improve relations between Mexican immigrants and the white residents of Long Prairie. She says she would to see her office expanded. However, as January 2002,s the office will be restructured. She says the powers that be want to see the office as being "less of an advocate."

Edin says her budget is $60,000 a year. Todd County pays her for 25 hours of work a week. Edin says she actually works 50 hours a week. "We're obviously not doing this for the money," says Edin with a grin. "We're doing it because it's a very rewarding job and we love serving the Latinos in the area."