Twenty-three-year-old Daniel Ramirez Medina was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents last week for being in the Seattle apartment of his father, whom agents were targeting for arrest. While apprehending his father, authorities also detained Ramirez, who was born in Mexico and came to the U.S. when he was seven. But it seems they ran into a little problem: He's here legally under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) program and also has no criminal record. Oops!
That's when ICE agents appear to have totally fabricated Ramirez's gang affiliation so they could justify arresting him in what his attorney calls "one of the most serious examples of governmental misconduct" he's ever seen. (Also, if true, easily one of the most embarrassing examples. Look at that document above—it looks like a two-year-old experimenting with an eraser got ahold of Ramirez’s statement.)
Ramirez's lawyers have a filed a case challenging Ramirez’s detention in a US District Court in Seattle, but the Department of Justice is claiming the federal court has no jurisdiction over a matter being handled in immigration courts.
According to the brief filed by Ramirez’s lawyers, he originally wrote: “I came in and the officers said I have gang affiliation with gangs so I wear an orange uniform. I do not have a criminal history and I’m not affiliated with any gangs.” But ICE agents allegedly eliminated the first phrase so the statement instead begins: "I have gang affiliation with gangs so I wear an orange uniform...”
Ramirez’s attorney, Mark Rosenbaum, was shocked by the discovery, reports Sydney Brownstone:
"What began, I thought, as a mistake in bringing Daniel in has turned into a bogus operation that is attempting to railroad him and violate the sacred program that the DACA represents," lawyer Mark Rosenbaum told reporters on a conference call this evening. "It is one of the most serious examples of governmental misconduct that I have come across in my 40 years of practice."
ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
After Ramirez Medina's arrest during an immigration raid targeting a family member last week, ICE put out a statement claiming that Ramirez Medina was a "self-admitted gang member." Ramirez Medina's lawyers denied that their client ever said he was affiliated with a gang; they added that he had been pressured to say he was (but resisted) while in detention.
ICE agents have detained nearly 700 people nationwide in sweeping raids since last week. They admitted during a Capitol Hill meeting with lawmakers that “at least 186“ had no criminal record. But Ramirez is a special problem for ICE because of his DACA status, and federal agents appear to have come up with a special solution to make him appear like a threat.
Ramirez also has a 3-year-old U.S.-born son.
UPDATE: Looks like it’s not the first time ICE officials in Seattle have had veracity issues: “Ex-ICE attorney sentenced to prison for falsifying document in immigration case.”