San Onofre

A federal judge Monday refused to grant a default in a case involving a convicted smuggler of illegal aliens who had sued the Immigration and Naturalization Service for damages after alleging that he was beaten by U. S. Border Patrol agents.

Arturo Halog Huerte, who has been convicted twice in federal court for alien smuggling, had asked for the default--which could have awarded damages to the plaintiff--after an INS attorney failed to respond in a timely manner to his lawsuit, which was filed in 1988. But U. S. District Judge Rudi M. Brewster granted a motion by INS attorney Charles Hamilton to set aside the default.

Hamilton argued that a heavy workload had caused him to miss a deadline to respond to Halog’s lawsuit. Halog claimed that Border Patrol agents beat him severely on March 17, 1986, near the San Onofre Border Patrol checkpoint, where he was arrested for alien smuggling. He suffered a fractured skull and was denied hospitalization for two days, despite a doctor’s recommendation that he be admitted to a hospital, the suit says.

Another hearing on the matter is scheduled for next month. Unless a settlement is reached out of court, the case will probably move to trial later this year. Halog is asking for unspecified damages.