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38-773: Nate Blakeslee is a journalist and author in the United States. He wrote a book about the 1999 drug arrests in Tulia, Texas about a corrupt lawman persecuting mostly African American residents, and a book about the O-Six , an American wolf. He has written for the Texas Observer and is a Senior Editor for Texas Monthly . He is from Arlington, Texas and studied journalism in graduate school at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas . Film rights for his book on

76-442: A U.S. Senator . During his undercover operation in Tulia, Tom Coleman claimed to have purchased at least 117 illegal narcotics from 47 different defendants. Except for 21 defendants who were charged with the first-degree felony of selling drugs to Coleman within 1,000 feet (300 m) of a school or park, all other defendants were charged with second-degree felonies for the purchases made between February 1998 and July 1999. This

114-589: A collective apprehension and arrest of 47 citizens in Tulia, Texas. Thirty-eight of the arrested were African American, which amounted to approximately 10 to 20 percent of Tulia's African American population. After the highly publicized drug arrests in Tulia, Coleman was honored as Officer of the Year in Texas. He was photographed with John Cornyn , who was then the Texas Attorney General and later

152-719: A county pump and abuse of official capacity. Gupta won the release of her clients in 2003, four years after they were jailed, then negotiated a $ 6 million settlement for them. In 2004, she received the Reebok Human Rights Award . As of 2018, Paramount is making a film, Tulia , about the case. In 2007, after becoming a staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union , Gupta filed a lawsuit against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) about detention conditions for children whose parents were asylum seekers. In August 2007,

190-471: A landmark agreement was reached between ACLU and ICE, under which the conditions in the T. Don Hutto Residential Center improved and several children were released from the center. On August 6, 2009, the Department of Homeland Security announced intentions to improve the nation's immigration detention system, including ending family detention at the T. Don Hutto Residential Center. After her time as

228-570: A lawsuit against the state of Texas for installing floating barriers in the Rio Grande without federal authorization, saying the devices presented "threats to navigation and public safety and humanitarian concerns". On January 4, 2024, Gupta announced that the Justice Department was suing the state of Texas on the grounds that its enforcement of Senate Bill 4, allowing state and local police to arrest people suspected of entering

266-952: A leave from the organization in January 2021 and formally left once confirmed as Associate Attorney General in April 2022. In October 2014, President Barack Obama appointed Gupta as the United States Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights and head of the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division . Under Gupta's leadership, the Civil Rights Division worked to advance criminal justice reform and constitutional policing, including by investigating and working to reform police departments in Ferguson, Missouri ; Cleveland ; Baltimore , and Chicago , among other cities. Gupta also oversaw

304-558: A pattern or practice of conduct that violated the Constitution and federal statutory law, including unconstitutional stops, searches, arrests, excessive force, and enforcement strategies that produced an unjustified disparate impact on African-American residents. On January 7, 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Gupta to serve as the United States Associate Attorney General . On March 9,

342-552: A report that the company sold chemicals diverted by Mexican drug cartels to make heroin. Gupta was sworn in on April 22, 2021. On April 27, 2022, she announced the launch of the National Law Enforcement Knowledge Lab, an initiative to create a "free, voluntary one-stop-shop for information, guidance and training for law enforcement agencies." The police-reform lab is part of a "push to boost best policing practices", The Hill reported. After

380-421: A result of an undercover operation carried out by agent Tom Coleman. Coleman's testimony was crucial in the convictions of 38 of the 47. Years later, 35 of the 38 incarcerated were pardoned by Texas governor Rick Perry . What ensued was a media frenzy that was widely covered by national media outlets such as The New York Times , 60 Minutes , People , and A&E Networks . In 1994, as part of

418-575: A staff attorney at the ACLU, Gupta served as its deputy legal director and director of its Center for Justice. She has been credited with pioneering the ACLU's National Campaign to End Mass Incarceration. She built bipartisan coalitions to advance pre-trial and sentencing reforms around the country. In 2017, Gupta became president and chief executive officer of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights . In this role, she criticized

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456-523: A wide range of other enforcement efforts for the Division, including prosecuting hate crimes and human trafficking , promoting disability rights , protecting LGBT rights, and combating discrimination in education, employment, housing, lending and voting. Gupta's tenure was marked by several high-profile matters, including the investigations of the Ferguson, Baltimore, and Chicago police departments;

494-569: The American Civil Liberties Union , where she oversaw its national criminal justice reform efforts. She has also served as Assistant Counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund . Throughout her career, she has drawn support from a wide range of liberal and conservative activists, as well as law enforcement groups, for building support for policing and criminal justice reform. Before becoming Associate Attorney General, Gupta served as president and chief executive officer of

532-696: The Antitrust Division , will be permitted to participate in the United States v. Google LLC case. In January 2023, it was reported that Kanter would be cleared to continue to work on DOJ cases involving Google. In December 2021, Gupta announced a lawsuit against the state of Texas following the state's redistricting process, which the DOJ determined was in violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 . In July 2023, Gupta announced

570-479: The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights from 2017 until her nomination as Associate Attorney General in 2021. Gupta was born in Media, Pennsylvania , to Indian immigrant parents. She is the daughter of Muzaffarnagar -born businessman Rajiv L. Gupta and Kamla Varshney. Her father is the chairman of Aptiv , an automotive parts company. As a child, Gupta regularly moved with her family, and lived in

608-627: The Legal Defense Fund directly after law school, involved 40 African Americans and six white or Latino people who were romantic partners of African Americans in Tulia , Texas . They had been convicted by all-white juries of dealing drugs. In almost every case, the only evidence was the testimony of an undercover agent, Tom Coleman. Coleman did not use wiretaps or marked money, and records showed that he had "filed shoddy reports". He had previous misdemeanor charges for stealing gasoline from

646-661: The Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas , Gupta joined Attorney General Merrick Garland and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco in reviewing local law enforcement's response to the shooting. Gupta has said that the Justice Department intends to take a hard line on "killer acquisitions" as part of the Biden administration's effort to rein in monopolies . She is reportedly responsible for deciding whether Jonathan Kanter , Assistant Attorney General for

684-589: The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on her nomination. Her nomination was supported by a broad range of civil rights and law enforcement groups, as well as by prominent conservatives who had worked with her on criminal justice reform and voting rights. Christine Todd Whitman , a Republican who served in the George W. Bush administration, endorsed her nomination. As a nominee, Gupta pledged to support strong antitrust enforcement by

722-640: The United Kingdom and France before returning to Philadelphia . She graduated from Yale University in 1996 with a Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude . Gupta credits her experience at Yale with helping form her "passion for social activism". She received a Juris Doctor in 2001 from the New York University School of Law , where she was an editor of the Review of Law & Social Change . Gupta's first case, while working for

760-516: The DOJ if confirmed. Gupta faced strong opposition from Republicans who criticized her civil rights advocacy, particularly during the Trump administration. The Senate confirmed Gupta by a 51–49 vote on April 21 after Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski agreed to vote to confirm her. Gupta pledged to sell her remaining $ 14.5 million stake in Avantor , a company her father chairs, amid questioning about

798-728: The Trump administration for its response to the Charlottesville Unite the Right rally and accused then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions of trying to increase mass incarceration . In June 2020, Gupta testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the murder of George Floyd and the need to end police brutality in the United States . During her time at the organization, Gupta worked to combat harmful online misinformation , and "often sat shoulder-to-shoulder with tech leaders including Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg " to discuss content moderation strategies. She took

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836-404: The Tulia drug busts and former NAACP lawyer Vanita Gupta 's efforts in pursuit of justice were acquired in 2017. This article about an American journalist is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . 1999 Tulia drug arrests A total of 47 individuals, the majority of whom were African American, were arrested in 1999 in Tulia, Texas on charges of cocaine dealing as

874-487: The United States unlawfully, was unconstitutional. The complaint argued the state's enforcement of the bill was preempted by federal law . On March 12, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court extended the pause on enforcing the bill pending further argument. On March 19, the Court ruled that Texas may begin enforcing SB 4 while a lawsuit over its constitutionality remains pending before a federal appeals court. On January 31, 2024, it

912-803: The United States' war on drugs , President Bill Clinton signed into law the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act . The first draft of the congressional bill was written by then- Senator Joe Biden of Delaware in cooperation with the National Association of Police Organizations and was sponsored by U.S. Representative Jack Brooks of Texas. Nationwide, states received 100,000 new police officers, $ 9.7 billion in funding for prisons, and $ 6.1 billion in funding for prevention programs. In Tulia and small towns alike, task forces received funding for each arrest and conviction they made, which could be used as they pleased

950-410: The accused and a $ 6,000,000 collective settlement was reached to avoid further litigation in civil court. Of the 47 original defendants, Texas governor Rick Perry pardoned 35 of them. Nine of the twelve defendants who were still on this list either had their charges dropped before they went to trial or were put on deferred adjudication , meaning that they were not found guilty in the end. Since

988-607: The aftermath of the Tulia drug sting, the Drug Law Enforcement Evidentiary Standards Improvement Act of 2007 was twice introduced in the United States Congress , but not passed. It aimed to increase the evidentiary standard required to convict a person for a drug offense and to require screening of law enforcement officers or others acting under color of law participating in drug task forces. The story

1026-428: The appeals of the Texas and North Carolina voter ID cases; the challenge to North Carolina's HB2 law and other LGBTQ2 rights litigation; enforcement of education, land use, hate crimes, and other statutes to combat religious discrimination; the issuance of statements of interest on bail and indigent defense reform, and letters to state and local court judges and administrators on the unlawful imposition of fines and fees in

1064-502: The criminal justice system; and the administration's report on solitary confinement. In 2016, under Gupta's leadership, the division sued North Carolina , alleging that the state's implementation of House Bill 2 discriminated against transgender individuals in violation of federal civil rights laws. In August 2016, an investigation by Gupta's division concluded that the Baltimore Police Department engaged in

1102-671: The following year. Using the alias T. J. Dawson, Agent Tom Coleman went undercover for 18 months, posing as a buyer who needed to purchase cocaine for his girlfriend. Coleman worked for the Panhandle Regional Narcotics Trafficking Task Force. He was hired by Sheriff Larry Stewart of Swisher County, Texas , in 1998, operating out of Amarillo . On the morning of July 23, 1999, the Swisher County Sheriff's Department , in cooperation with local authorities, conducted

1140-549: The lives of the incarcerated. The book Tulia: Race, Cocaine, and Corruption in a Small Texas Town by Nate Blakeslee was to be adapted into a film directed by John Singleton starring Billy Bob Thornton . Halle Berry was cast to play a lawyer in the film. Berry was to play an attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. The movie was never completed. Vanita Gupta A career civil rights attorney, Gupta served as deputy legal director of

1178-502: The state appointed two prosecutors to hold evidentiary hearings to determine if Coleman's testimony was the sole basis for conviction, and to find out if county officials withheld information from the defense. On Friday, January 14, 2005, Coleman was convicted of perjury in the separate evidentiary hearing trial, not related to the original 47 defendants that he testified against. During the five-day trial held in Lubbock, Texas , one of

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1216-533: The tenth defendant was underage when he committed the offense, the conviction was not recorded on his adult record. When the two remaining were apprehended in the Coleman sting, they were already on probation for a different offense; this probation was canceled, and they were sent to jail. The Coleman charges never resulted in their conviction. The names of the defendants, their race, age at the time of arrest, and whether they were pardoned are shown below. In 2003,

1254-427: The three counts was dropped, leaving two alleged instances of perjury. He was acquitted on one count and found guilty on the second count. Coleman was sentenced to 10 years probation with a $ 7500 fine. The 7th Court of Appeals of Texas in 2006 upheld the conviction. Coleman could not be prosecuted for his testimony given during the trials of the drug defendants because the statute of limitations had expired. In

1292-535: Was distraught by the lack of evidence, to District Judge Ed Self, Amarillo civil rights attorney Jeff Blackburn began investigating the Tulia defendants' cases, along with Vanita Gupta from the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and a handful of attorneys from firms around the country. Eventually, the case became a cause célèbre , and money was raised to legally challenge the cases. Many had already served several years in prison before this process gained momentum. By 2004, Blackburn and his team had freed most of

1330-433: Was in spite of Coleman not supplying any recorded materials, such as audio or videotape, or corroboration by second officers. There were also no drugs or weapons found in the initial raid. Coleman frequently wrote brief reports that included very little information about the defendants. He also identified suspects incorrectly in a few instances, resulting in dismissal of cases. Sparked by a letter written by Gary Gardner, who

1368-493: Was reported that Gupta would leave her role as associate attorney general the following week. Over 40 South Asian groups and civil rights organizations have drawn attention to Gupta's role in the University of Farmington scandal. They have called on her to return $ 6 million in tuition money to South Asian students who they allege were racially targeted and tricked by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement into attending

1406-407: Was three years before the story went national. Starting in 2002, Bob Herbert , a journalist for The New York Times , wrote eleven op-ed articles that played a significant role in spreading the Tulia story across the United States. He wrote articles such as "Kafka in Tulia" which exposed the racism that occurred in the community, and "Tulia's Shattered Lives" which depicted how the arrest affected

1444-507: Was widely covered by national media outlets such as 60 Minutes and The New York Times . ...Coleman's methods [of law-enforcement] were the subject of investigative reports in dozens of media outlets, from The New York Times , to Court TV, to The Independent of London... The first newspaper article that was published about the arrests was by Michael Garrett of the Tulia Sentinel titled "Tulia's Streets Cleared of Garbage". It

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