“The class action covers hundreds of people, but people have to assert their status as a class member somehow,” Stock said. “And because Santiago had an attorney, me, I was able to assert his membership in the class and work with the lawyers to get the TRO issued. People who don’t have an attorney, it’s very difficult for them to deal with this situation.”
An Alaska resident and asylum-seeker has been released from custody after a federal judge issued a ruling in a class-action lawsuit.
According to Alaska Public Media, Santiago “Diego” Martinez, a 30-year-old Mexico national now living in Anchorage, was arrested outside of a sushi restaurant in August before being sent to a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center in Tacoma, Washington.
Martinez is one of at least 56 people detained by immigration enforcement agents in Alaska in the past year. Many of the arrests and pre-transfer detentions were carried out by the Alaska Department of Corrections, which holds certain immigrants under contract with the federal government.
Margaret Stock, an attorney for the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, said that Martinez is one of several people released in accordance with the judge’s order.
“They won their case, and they got an order from a federal judge saying that people cannot be detained, that their detention is unlawful,” Stock said.
Stock noted that, while Martinez managed to leave custody, it’s difficult for immigrants without access to legal counsel to do the same.
“The class action covers hundreds of people, but people have to assert their status as a class member somehow,” Stock said. “And because Santiago had an attorney, me, I was able to assert his membership in the class and work with the lawyers to get the TRO issued. People who don’t have an attorney, it’s very difficult for them to deal with this situation.”
In her ruling. U.S. District Court Judge Tiffany Cartwright for the District of Western Washington issued a temporary restraining order requiring Martinez’s immediate release; he ultimate left custody on Tuesday.
“Although DHS claims they’re only arresting criminals, that’s not the case,” Stock said. “They’re going after mostly people that are not criminals. They’re going after people who are legally in the country, doing things that are perfectly legal, working legally.”
Jennifer Choi, Martinez’s manager at the sushi restaurant, had earlier told Alaska Public Media that found out about Martinez’s arrest when she received a call from his girlfriend requesting assistance. Choi went behind the restaurant, Sushi Motto, where she found Martinez being detained by ICE.
“So when I go, Diego was in the car,” Choi said. “And then I said, ‘OK, what’s going on?’ They say he don’t have a green card. I tell them, he has a green card. He has a green card. I tell them, like two, three times, but they said, ‘We have to take him.’”
Choi told Alaska Public Media that Martinez has worked with her for the past five years and characterized him as a “great employee.” He entered the United States illegally in 2019, but sought asylum. His request was later granted by an immigration judge, who assessed that his case was likely valid.
His attorneys, including Stock, say that Martinez has a legitimate fear of persecution if he returns to Mexico—particularly because multiple members of his own family have been killed.
“He does have a very good reason not to return,” Stock said. “I mean, people in the family have been killed and murdered.”
Stock said that, while ICE officials claimed that Martinez was arrested because he had been convicted of driving while intoxicated, the incident never even happened.
“I talked to the ICE people, and they were operating on misinformation that he had a DWI conviction, which he doesn’t have,” Stock said. “But they claim that was the reason, on the telephone to me, that they were arresting him, was that he had a DWI conviction.”
“I think it’s illegal and it’s un-American,” Stock said. “It’s unconstitutional, and then on top of it, there’s obviously errors in the system. So how can we trust the Department of Homeland Security when they make these kinds of egregious errors all the time?”
Sources
Anchorage restaurant worker, an asylum seeker, detained by ICE
Anchorage restaurant worker released from ICE custody following class action lawsuit
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