ICE Refuses to Release Workers Racialy Profiled, Despite Recommendation From Civil Rights Division at DHS
In an open disregard for clear evidence of civil rights abuses, and despite continued investigations into their arrests, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) fast-tracked the deportation of Jose Adan Fugon, removing him from the country Tuesday morning, and is still scheduled to deport Gustavo Barahona-Sanchez later this week.
In describing the case, Department of Homeland Security civil rights office director Megan Mack wrote in an email to ICE Director Sarah Saldaña, “The only basis for the arrest seems to have been to give Border Patrol an opportunity to run an immigration investigation… This is not a practice the department wishes to endorse or facilitate.”
As confirmed by the DHS’s civil rights division, the two men were profiled by New Llano police as they waited for work outside the hotel where they were staying. Their arrest without charges and subsequent transfer to ICE prompted the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice (NOWCRJ) to file formal civil rights complaints while the men spent over 140 days in detention.
NOWCRJ has filed complaints with the Department of Justice and the New Llano Police Department over ongoing racial profiling by local police solely for the purpose of transfer into ICE custody, as well as continued collaboration by ICE and Customs and Border Protection. This collaboration continues in spite of a proscription against transfer of low priority individuals in DHS’s new Priority Enforcement Program.
On Friday, the New Orleans Workers’ Center filed a public records request into other similar incidents and a civil rights complaint with the local police department.
The second person involved in the case, Gustavo Barahona-Sanchez, is likely to be deported as soon as Friday morning. ICE is planning to deport him to Honduras even though his family and two young U.S. citizen children live in the United States.
We have brought up Jose Adan and Gustavo’s case to the highest levels of ICE, including director Sarah Saldaña, who has simply dismissed the concerns. ICE cannot police itself. Please sign below to urge DHS to intervene and stop Gustavo’s deportation.
DHS Secretary Jah Johnson and Deputy Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
I am writing with great concern for the cases of Mr. Gustavo Barahona-Sanchez and Mr. Jose Adan Fugon-Cano. They are two workers that were racially profiled by local Louisiana police while looking for work and ended up in immigration detention. In an open disregard for clear evidence of civil rights abuses, and despitecontinued investigations into their arrests, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) fast-tracked the deportation of Mr. Fugon, removing him from the country Tuesday morning, and is still scheduled to deport Mr. Barahona-Sanchez later this week.
As determined by the Department of Homeland Security’s own office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties has already determined that “The only basis for the arrest seems to have been to give Border Patrol an opportunity to run an immigration investigation… This is not a practice the department wishes to endorse or facilitate.” As confirmed by the DHS’s civil rights division, the two men were profiled by New Llano police as they waited for work outside the hotel where they were staying. Their arrest without charges and subsequent transfer to ICE prompted the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice (NOWCRJ) to file formal civil rights complaints while the men spent over 140 days in detention.
The cases of the two workers have been elevated to the highest levels of supervision, including ICE director Sarah Saldaña, who has simply dismissed the concerns. It is clear that ICE cannot police itself. DHS which has already determined that deporting the workers was against the interests of the agency, must intervene. DHS must take an active role in holding ICE accountable for civil rights violations and urge ICE to use prosecutorial discretion to stop Mr. Barahona-Sanchez’s deportation.
Thank you,
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Categories: Deportation Cases, Lost Cases, Victories