Daniel Ramirez Medina, who was arrested Friday in Seattle from his father's home by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, filed a challenge Monday to his detention in a Seattle federal court, arguing that the government violated his constitutional rights. Ramirez had work authorization under the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program by former President Barack Obama's administration.
Ramirez, in his petition, has asked for his immediate release and an injunction forbidding the government from arresting him again. A hearing in the case has been scheduled for Friday.
Ramirez was brought to the U.S. from Mexico when he was 7 years old and has a work permit under Obama's DACA program. Ramirez had recently moved to Washington from California, where he had attended school, and he has a 3-year-old son, who is a U.S. citizen. Ramirez first obtained DACA protection in 2014 and renewed his protection in 2016, the complaint filed against him stated.
ICE officials said Ramirez was a "self-admitted gang member" who was detained as a "risk to public safety."
His arrest could mark the first immigration detention of its sort under President Donald Trump's administration.
Ethan Dettmer, a partner in the law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, and one of the lawyers representing Ramirez, said that he was not aware of any other immigrant under the protection of DACA who had been arrested or detained earlier.
"We are hoping this detention was a mistake," Dettmer reportedly said.
Another lawyer representing Ramirez, Mark Rosenbaum of the legal advocacy group of Public Counsel, specified that the DACA program had been a promise from the federal government's executive branch that immigrants protected under DACA would not be targeted for deportation.
"We have no reason to believe that promise will be broken. This case should not see the inside of a courtroom," Rosenbaum reportedly said.
Several immigrants and civil-rights attorneys have also filed a petition in Seattle's federal court to challenge the detention and to seek the release of the 23-year-old Mexican immigrant.
Ramirez has been kept in custody at a federal immigration detention facility in Tacoma, Washington.
ICE officers
had also arrested his father but the court documents did not specify why his father was taken into custody.
Emily Langley, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Seattle, said the Justice Department was still reviewing the case.
Talking about DACA last month in an interview with ABC News, Trump said his administration was formulating a policy on how to deal with people covered under the program. "They are here illegally. They shouldn't be very worried. I do have a big heart. We're going to take care of everybody. We're going to have a very strong border," Trump said.
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
