SEATTLE
(AP) - A man who was brought to the U.S. illegally as a child but was
protected from deportation by President Barack Obama's administration
has been taken into custody in the Seattle area in what could be the
first case of its kind in the country.
Daniel
Ramirez Medina, 23, was arrested Friday by U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement agents who went to the suburban Seattle home to arrest the
man's father. ICE spokeswoman Rose Richeson said in a statement that
agents were there targeting a "prior-deported felon."
Ramirez,
however, was brought to the U.S. from Mexico when he was 7 and has a
work permit under Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
program. He also has a job, a young son and no criminal record,
Northwest Immigrants Rights Project Legal Director Matt Adams said.
Ramirez is being held in Tacoma.
Richeson
said Ramirez told agents he was a gang member and based on those
statements and being a "risk to public safety," he was taken into
custody.
But
Mark Rosenbaum, one of Ramirez's lawyers, responded later Tuesday that
Ramirez "unequivocally denies being in a gang" and that the statement
from Richeson is inaccurate.
"While
in custody, he was repeatedly pressured by U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement agents to falsely admit affiliation," Rosenbaum said.
Adams said Ramirez is the first person he knows of with DACA status who has been detained.
"This
appears to be a complete one-off. We certainly haven't seen this with
our other hundreds of clients who have DACA status as well."
Attorneys
for Ramirez challenged his detention in federal court in Seattle
Monday, arguing the arrest violates his constitutional rights to live
and work in this country without the fear of arrest and deportation so
long as he satisfies DACA requirements.
"Trust
in our government depends upon the Executive Branch keeping its word,"
Rosenbaum, director of Public Counsel's Opportunity Under Law Project,
said in a statement. "Bait and switch sullies the integrity of our
nation's core values."
Emily
Langlie, a spokeswoman for the US attorney's office in Seattle, said
Tuesday afternoon it would be premature to comment on the lawsuit.
Recent
sweeps by U.S. immigration agents across multiple states have netted
some immigrants with no criminal records, a departure from enforcement
actions in the last decade. Under the Obama administration, agents
focused more narrowly on individuals who posed a security or public
safety threat.
President
Donald Trump made illegal immigration a cornerstone of his campaign,
saying he will build a wall along the Mexican border and deport millions
of people, although actual plans have yet to be revealed. He has said
he wants to focus on people who have committed crimes.
During
an interview with Time magazine late last year, Trump expressed
sympathy for the more than 740,000 people in the DACA program, which
started in 2012.
"We're going to work something out that's going to make people happy and proud," he told the magazine.
Trump
can withdraw the promised protection right away through an "operational
memo" because Obama implemented it through one, William Stock,
president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said
previously.
Adams said he believes Ramirez was apprehended by mistake.
"I
don't think this has to do with any change in policy; I just think it
was an enforcement procedure gone wrong," Adams said. "Hopeful they're
going to come to their senses."
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