California plaintiff in lawsuit challenging raids on immigrants detained by ICE
ICE on Thursday arrested a plaintiff involved in a class-action lawsuit challenging an immigration raid in Los Angeles, prompting lawyers to worry about retaliation and call for his release.
Isaac Antonio Villegas Molina, a resident of Pasadena, was arrested Thursday while checking in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to his immigration attorney, Stacy Tolchin. Villegas sued the federal government last year, after he and two other day laborers were arrested by migrants on June 18 while waiting at a bus stop in Pasadena.
An immigration judge ordered Villegas, who is from Panama, released on a $5,000 bond the following month and has been under ICE surveillance since then, Tolchin said. Villegas was scheduled to appear before an immigration judge on April 24, to file a motion to have his case dismissed.
After Villegas was arrested Thursday, Tolchin filed a habeas petition in federal court, challenging his arrest and demanding his immediate release. In it, Tolchin described the lawsuit as “one of the first lawsuits filed challenging the Trump Administration’s immigration enforcement as a violation of the Fourth Amendment.” He had not yet been given a reason for his re-arrest.
“I think it’s 100% because of this case,” Tolchin said. “He had the incredible courage to come forward and become a complainant … Being targeted because he is pursuing his rights is unacceptable, but it is not surprising if we look at what we are seeing.”
The Department of Homeland Security and ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment. An ICE detention center Friday morning showed Villegas was being held at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center.
The National Day Laborer Organizing Network announced a rally and press conference Friday afternoon outside the B-18 detention center in downtown LA to denounce the “unlawful arrest and detention” of Villegas. Villegas came to the country on an immigrant visa in 2012 and has lived in the country for more than 13 years.
Last year, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Public Counsel, other groups and private lawyers filed the lawsuit — now known as Vasquez Perdomo v. Mullin — on behalf of several immigrant rights groups, three immigrants boarded the bus stop, including Villegas, and two US citizens, one of whom was arrested despite showing the agents his ID.
Villegas was waiting at a bus stop in Pasadena with other day laborers, including Pedro Vasquez Perdomo and Carlos Osorto, when masked armed men came violently and arrested them “based on their appearance,” Tolchin said in the habeas petition. The arrests came as part of “Operation Hundreds,” a massive immigration operation in Southern California.
The Vasquez Perdomo case resulted in a temporary restraining order that was upheld by the Ninth Circuit. That restraining order was later stayed by the Supreme Court. The case is still ongoing, and a preliminary hearing is scheduled for September.
“It is an appalling act of retaliation by the federal government to arrest someone who has had the courage to say that the government is attacking them illegally,” Mohammad Tajsar, an attorney for the ACLU of Southern California, said in a statement. “Because the First Amendment protects everyone’s right to sue the government, we expect Isaac to be released soon.”
Lauren Michel Wilfong, an attorney for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, said they found out about Villegas’ arrest recently after receiving a voicemail from the detention center around noon Thursday.
Wilfong said Villegas has been following all of his immigration requirements since his release last year.
“I think he’s as surprised, as we are, by his arrest,” Wilfong said. “It certainly raises concerns about whether there is some initial retaliation going on. Isaac, along with Pedro and Carlos, made a decision that they want to fight not just for themselves but for everyone … that that may now have led to Isaac’s danger and injury is really troubling to us.”
