SAN DIEGO — A week before Chancily VanVan was scheduled to attend an immigration court hearing in San Diego, he received a letter from the Department of Homeland Security ordering him to appear for what he believed would be a routine check with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after the hearing.
After the 31-year-old Haitian man showed up with his wife and 11-month-old child to a court hearing and checked in to ICE on Oct. 20, immigration officers arrested him, providing no reason other than that the government requested it, his lawyers said.
Fanfan has no criminal history and has attended all court hearings and check-ins with ICE since arriving in the United States last year, according to the petition filed Tuesday in the Southern District of California. Immigration Law and Policy Center and Human Rights Center & Defying constitutional law Fanfan and two others were arrested in October after checking in with immigration officers.
“Petitioners have had no criminal contact since their release from DHS custody, and petitioners have no criminal history of any kind,” the petition reads.
The petitioners were detained after entering through or between US ports of entry upon arrival in the country. After vetting, they were released from federal custody.
The lawsuit alleges that immigrants are being denied due process after having previously been declared eligible for release, only to be arrested and detained when they are suddenly called to appear again at an ICE office. Many of the cases involve people whose cases have been reopened in immigration court.
The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to an email seeking comment Tuesday.
The UCLA School of Law’s Center for Immigration Law and Policy said arrests in San Diego alone are “certainly in the dozens, and likely exceed 100.” The lawsuit asks a judge to certify the dismissal, which could mean others who have been arrested and detained in similar circumstances could benefit from a favorable sentence.
A gardener from Mexico who has lived in the United States for more than 30 years sat on the floor of a long hallway outside a crowded waiting room at an ICE office in San Diego on Monday. He spoke to The Associated Press on the condition that only his first name, Lorenzo, be published because he feared potential repercussions.
About 10 years ago, Lorenzo was arrested by the Border Patrol at a highway checkpoint in Southern California. He appeared before an immigration judge, who closed his case and saved him from deportation. For years, he heard nothing from immigration authorities until last week, when he was told his case had been reopened and that he would report to ICE on Monday. Did not follow up with AP after checking in.
ICE check-in arrests appear to have accelerated since early October in San Diego. Lynn Devine, a volunteer monitor, saw a woman who checked in escorted to the elevator in handcuffs by two officers on Monday.
“She was looking at the floor. I told her I was praying for her,” Devine said.
A federal judge will decide whether the three petitioners will be released and whether these arrests will be declared illegal.