Defending Dreamers from Deportation

It was a wet morning in Seattle in February 2017, and Daniel Ramirez and his family were asleep when immigration agents arrived to arrest Daniel’s father. Both Daniel and his father were undocumented – Daniel had been brought to the U.S. at age 10 – but Daniel was a participant in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. As a result, he had a work permit and was shielded from deportation.

Dreamer Daniel Ramirez, with his son, before his unjust arrest and detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Immigration agents interrogated Daniel anyway, and despite his insistence that he was protected by DACA, he was detained and taken to a processing center. Agents confiscated his work permit, and falsely charged that he was affiliated with a gang. Based on this allegation, the government stripped Daniel of his DACA status and placed him in removal proceedings. Daniel’s arrest marked the first time that a DACA recipient had been detained under the Trump Administration.

Daniel’s arrest made international headlines and led to protests across the country. Here a protestor in New York City carries a sign calling for Daniel’s release.

Fortunately, soon after Daniel’s arrest, a Public Counsel attorney saw a plea for help shared on Facebook. The next day, attorneys from Public Counsel were on a plane to Washington to meet with Daniel. Together with pro bono counsel and Luis Cortes, a Washington state lawyer, the team uncovered evidence that immigration agents had altered documents by erasing words Daniel had written in pencil to make it look as if he had confessed to having gang ties, when in fact he had denied any gang affiliation. Our lawyers also highlighted the fact that to renew his DACA status, Daniel had undergone two extensive background checks, neither of which turned up any evidence of gang affiliation.

After nearly two months in detention, Daniel was finally released by an immigration judge who found no merit to the government’s claims that Daniel was a security threat. A district judge has now barred the government from voiding Daniel’s DACA status, and prohibited it from presenting evidence in future proceedings to establish Daniel’s purported gang affiliation.

On the day of his release DACA recipient Daniel Ramirez (center) is accompanied by his brother (left) and attorney Luis Cortes of the Immigrant Advocacy & Litigation Center.