Lawsuit challenges arrests of people showing up to ICE check-ins in San Diego

By ELLIOT SPAGAT and VALERIE GONZALEZ SAN DIEGO AP A week before Chancely Fanfan was scheduled to attend an immigration court hearing in San Diego he received a letter from the Department of Homeland Measure instructing him to show up for what he thought would be a routine check-in with U S Immigration and Customs Enforcement after his hearing Related Articles Judge sets K bond for Florida congresswoman accused of stealing M in COVID- funds FACT FOCUS Trump gets it wrong claiming no murders in DC for the last six months Judge gives Justice Department a day to detail Ghislaine Maxwell trial materials to be published Healthcare care plan circulated by the White House runs into familiar GOP divisions DC Mayor Bowser announces she won t seek fourth term as Trump s federal intervention continues After the -year-old Haitian man proved up with his wife and -month-old baby to his court hearing and ICE check-in on Oct immigration officers arrested him providing no reason other than that the regime required it his attorneys stated Fanfan had no criminal history and demonstrated up to all his court hearings and check-ins with ICE since his arrival in the U S last year according to the petition filed Tuesday in the Southern District of California The Center for Immigration Law and Protocol and the Center for Human Rights Constitutional Law are challenging the October detentions of Fanfan and two others following their check-ins with immigration officers Petitioners have had no criminal contact since their prior releases from DHS custody and two petitioners have no criminal history of any kind according to the petition The petitioners were detained after entering through or between U S ports of entry when they came to the country After vetting they were published from federal custody The lawsuit alleges immigrants are being deprived of due process after previously being declared fit for release only to be arrested and detained when suddenly summoned to reappear at an ICE office Multiple cases involve people whose cases in immigration court were reopened The Department of Homeland Assurance did not respond to an email seeking comment Tuesday The UCLA School of Law s Center for Immigration Law and Guidelines commented the detentions in San Diego alone are certainly in the dozens and likely exceeds The lawsuit is asking the judge to certify the class which could mean that others who were arrested and detained in similar circumstances could benefit from a favorable ruling A gardener from Mexico who has lived in the U S for more than years sat on the floor of a long hallway outside a packed waiting room at ICE s San Diego office on Monday He spoke to The Associated Press on condition that only his first name Lorenzo be published because he feared probable consequences About years ago Margin Patrol arrested Lorenzo at a highway checkpoint in Southern California He went before an immigration judge who closed his scenario and spared him from being deported For years he had heard nothing from immigration officers until last week when he was advised his situation was being reopened and that he was to review to ICE on Monday He didn t follow up with the AP after his check-in Arrests at ICE check-ins appear to have accelerated since early October in San Diego Lynn Devine a volunteer observer saw one woman who checked in being escorted to an elevator in handcuffs by two officers on Monday She was looking at the floor I narrated her I was praying for her Devine commented A federal judge will be deciding whether to release the three petitioners and whether to declare such detentions unlawful