3
Street roots
Feb. 28, 2014
S k i
ICE case reveals complexities in local policies
BY NATHAN GILLES
ST A FF W R IT É R
he knocks came early.
At around 7:30 a.m. on Jan. 23,
Daniel Hernandez Garcia and his
girlfriend of five years, Josefina Aguiniga,
answered the door of their Southeast |
Portland home to find two officers.
“They told me they were police officers
and they were knocking on doors in the
neighborhood to make sure everything was
okay,” says Aguiniga.
Thinking nothing of it, Aguiniga left
Hernandez with the officers and went bo
check on her and Hernandez’s two young
daughters in the back bedrooms. Moments
later, she heard her boyfriend yelling, “Josie,
Josie, they’re taking me.” Aguiniga raced bo
the front door. There an officer handed her
Above, Daniel Hernandez Garcia with his
a card with the words “U.S, Immigration
children during happier times. A t right, his
and Customs Enforcement” on it.
wife, Josefina, outside the office o f
Hernandez, an immigrant from central
Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Mexico, is now being held at ICE’s
after Daniel was placed in the Tacoma,
Wash., detention facility awaiting possible
detention facility in Tacoma, Wash., awaiting
deportation.
possible deportation for violating U.S.
immigration law. Aguiniga, a legal resident,
has been petitioning for his release.
to honor the holds at all, as the city of New
Hernandez’s case is the latest in a series
Orleans has opted to do. However, this
in Multnomah County that immigrant rights
activists hope to point to as proof that ICE’s freedom from ICE doesn’t extend to opting
out of a critical information-sharing
policies aren’t working. But Hernandez’s
program.
detention by ICE also reveals a hole in the
The program is called*Secure
advocates’ strategy.
Communities, and it’s closely tied to ICE’s
In Portland, the Activists Coming
Together for Justice and Dignity Network, or detainee program. Secure Communities
requires local law enforcement to share
ACT Network — a coalition that includes
information
they, gather on arrestees with
Oregon DreamActivist, the Center for
ICE, the Department of Homeland Security,
Intercultural Organizing, and Jobs With
andthe FBI.
Justice, among others — has been keeping a
In August 2011, following several
watchful eye on ICE’s activities. To date, the
municipalities’ and states’ attempts bo opt-
coalition’s goal has been to persuade
Multnomah County Sheriff Daniel’ Bbatofi to | out of Secure Com munities, the Obama
Adm inistration m ade it clear th at
stop
'T247’TiiiiftigiSi©6iif'■ •'
.participatiQnixiJdieprQgram .wasn’t a i i
,
“detainers,” commonly called ICE holds.
option;
local
law
The holds work
enforcement had to
like this: If you’re not
participate.
a U.S, citizen or legal
people who are
Attempts to drop
resident, and you’re
Secure
Communities
victims
©f
domestic
violence
arrested and charged
followed multiple ;
with a crime, ICE can often thin k If they c a ll the
reports that ICE was '
request'local law
p o lice they m ig h t get
deporting people after
enforcers detain you
deported, o r the fa th e r of
local
law enforcers
an additional 48
arrested them for - ,
their children
who helps
hours, long enough
minor infractions such
for ICE to come get | p u t food- on the ta b le and
as traffic violations.
you. |
helps pay the re s t — w ill get Similar cases were
In April 2013,
deported, We u ltim a te ly feel reported in Portland.
following a
Multnomah
nonbinding resolution th a t the cnrrent
from Multnomah
c o lla b o ra tio n between p o lic e ' County’s continued
participation in Secure
County ;
and ICE Is d o in g an injnstlce Communities was the
commissioners
I© v ic tim s ©I dom estic
reason Hernandez was
recommending
later picked upby.
v io le n c e /'
reforms to Staton’s
ICE.
—
nicoue
brown
ICE policy, the sheriff
CCIsITCR FOB IMTCRC! J L T U R A - C R C A N IZ IIs IG
Hernandez’s initial
crafted new rules
charge
was a felony;
stating under which
This charge was later
circumstances his jail
dropped to a
would honor ICE |
misdemeanor at arraignment. While he was
holds.
in custody, ICE called in a hold on
The new policy, which continues to honor
Hernandez. The Multnomah County Jail
ICE holds under certain circumstances,
honored the hold, but following pressure
wasn’t what activists wanted, but it was a
from Aguiniga, Hernandez’s friends and the
step forward. Since last spring, the ACT
ACT Network, the sheriff’s department
Network has closely monitored how the
admitted it had held Hernandez m violation
sheriff has implemented his policy.
of its own policy and released him.
But while ACT Network members have
“Basically there was an error in the
*kept an eye on Staton,- as Hernandez’s case
illustrates, not getting an ICE hold or having charge or an error in the hold, so they took
it off as soon as somebody said this one
one removed doesn’t mean ICE won’t come
doesn’t qualify,” says Sheriff’s Department
for you.
spokesman Lt. Steve Alexander.
“Whether or not the sheriff’s department
Sheriff Staton’s current policy states it
honors an ICE hold is one thing, but they do
will honor ICE holds only if ICE has a
have to share that information with ICE.
warrant or an arrestee as been chargedwith
And unfortunately I don’t think there’s
a serious crime. Qualifying crimes are
anything [Sheriff Steton’s] policy can do
typically felonies. But they also include
about that,” says Nicole Brown from the
lower, Class A misdemeanor , chargés that
Center for Intercultural Organizing.
are person-tò-person crimes. These include
Local governments have a good deal of
resisting arrest, endangering the welfare of
legal discretion in how and when they honor
a minor and driving while intoxicated.
ICE holds. This varies from honoring
Staton’s policy largely excludes lower B’
, requests only for certain crimes, as we do
and C misdemeanor charges, but makes
here in Multnomah County, to choosing not
■
exceptions for person-to-person crimes
especially when
violence.
A s S tre e t R o o ts firs t re p o rte d in o p r O ct.
deported for the charge, Aguiniga asked the
Multnomah County District Attorney’s office
to drop the charges. The DA refused, but
did agree to lower Hernandez’s charge to
misdemeanor harassment.
On Jan. 9, Hernandez entered a guilty
plea of one count of harassment. He was
allowed to return home. As a condition of ,
his release he was ordered to take.classes
related to domestic violence and anger
management and meet regularly with a case
manager. Following the court order, his
record would have been expunged of the
charge at year’s end. ICE arrested him two
weeks later. He didn’t make it to his first
class. '
Luna, who has done the lion’s share of
organizing and advocating for Hernandez,
says her group realizes , a case involving
domestic violence isn’t going to win a lot of
sympathy.
. “I myself, I identify as a feminist,” says
Luna. “And it was really hard, to be hpnest,
[to advocate for Hernandez] because of my
personal beliefs and experiences. .But I don’t .
believe a family should be torn apart
because of domestic violence, because we
don’t know what will happen if Daniel
(Hernandez) gets deported.”
The CIO’s Nicole Brown says
Hernandez’s case, illustrates a larger
problem with ICE’s policy.
“Many people who are victims of
domestic violence often think if they call the
police they-might get deported; or the
father of theiir children — who helps put food
on, the table and helps pay the rent — will
get deported,” says Brown. “We ultimately
feel that the current collaboration between
police and ICE is doing an injustice to
v ic tim s o f d o m e s tic v io le n c e .”
' L u n a calls Á güm igá’s d ecisio n to p h o n e
th e p o lice “b rav e.” S h e says A guiniga h as
11 edition, Sheriff Staton made these ?
faced criticism in the community by
changes in fall-2013, following the arrest of a "advocating for Hernandez and visiting him at
19-year-old immigrant who violated a 1
the detention center in Tacoma.
restraining order by contacting an
Aguiniga says the situation has been
ex-girlfriend. The violation earned the young stressful, especially for her kids. She says .
man a B misdemeanor charge. Noting the
Daniella now refuses to be held or fed by
connection to domestic violence, the
anybody but her mother. Denise is also
sheriff’s department chose to honor the ICE
taking it hard. She vomited for days after
request when it dame in.
ICE took her father. The one-year-old
“The sheriff’s office realized in reviewing
witnessed the event through her bedroom 1
its policy and moving forward, the violation
window.
. . .
of a restraining order is an inherently I
“She wakes up in the middle of the night
person-affected violation,” Chief Deputy
crying, calling for.her daddy,” says Aguiniga.
Drew Brosh told Street Roots in the fall.
Hernandez’s bond hearing is set for
. Despite protests from the ACT Network
March 5. His immigration lawyer is Sandy
and the detainee’s family members, the
Restrepo, from the nonprofit Colectiva Legal
sheriff didn’t budge. Brosh says the policy
del Pueblo. She says she’s working for
hasn’t changed since then.
Hernandez’s release either on the grounds
“When you get down to the nuts and bolts
that he has family in the US or on asylum.
of a policy you find things, and we found
Aguiniga says Hernandez is afraid of
that restraining order violations were not
being deported back to Mexico because of
identified on the list of misdemeanors,” says
the violence there.
Brosh. “We included that because of the
“ICE might think he’s á high priority,1 but
connection to domestic violence [we would
he’s
really not,” says Restrepo. “He’s a
honor holds connected to these charges]?
Hernandez’s case also brings up the issue husband and father and this is his first
offense. And there is no reason he should
of domestic violence.
be detained in my opinion,”
On the night of December 8, 2013,
ICE spokesman for the Tacoma field
Hernandez and Aguiniga had gotten into an
office Andrew Muñoz said due to privacy
argument, according to court and police
concerns his agency eouldn’t comment on
documents. The argument started at a
friend’s house where the two verbally fought Hernandez’s ease. He also declined Street
Roots’ request for an interview with Tacoma
over who was going to change their seven-
Field Office Director Nathalie Asher, Asher
month-old daughter Daniella’s diaper and >•
clean up after their other daughter, one-year- sent this response via email: .
“‘While aliens may be placed, in removal
old Denise, who had gotten sick and
proceedings by ICE, it is immigration judges
vomited. When they got home, Hernandez,
according to his arrest report, told Aguiniga, from the Justice Department’s Executive
Office of Immigration Review who decide
“Don’t ever talk to me like that in front of
whether
or not an alien will be ordered
other people.” Hernandez then slapped
removed from the U.S.”' '
Aguiniga. She called the police.
On Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day, Hernandez
“Immediately, I knew that was bad idea,”
and Aguiniga received their marriage
says Aguiniga.
Aguiniga spoke with Street Roots with the license. Aguiniga says they plan on having a
formal wedding ceremony when Hernandez
aid of Liliana Luna from Oregon
is released. On ICE’s detention program she
DreamActivist.
says, “We need a policy to protect, those that
Portland police arrested Hernandez on a
aren’t really criminals, to protect them from
domestic violence charge of felony assault.
deportation.”
Fearing that her boyfriend would get