Dreamer Arrested As 'Self-Admitted Gang Member', Says ICE

ICE agents prepare to enter a home during a 'fugitive operations" raid. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times via Getty)

 "Ramirez-Polendo Medina, the father of Daniel Ramirez Medina, was deported eight times between 2000 and 2006, ICE said Thursday, and served a year in prison in Washington state for felony drug trafficking". 

A Seattle area man detained by immigration agents despite his participation in a federal program to protect those brought to the U.S. illegally as children admitted to having gang ties, the U.S. Justice Department said in court documents filed Thursday.

However, Daniel Ramirez Medina's lawyer Mark Rosenbaum said in a conference call late Thursday that the documents fail to provide even one piece of evidence that Ramirez is affiliated with any gang.

"It is a blatant falsehood that defames this young man, I suppose, to justify what was a mistake at the beginning," Rosenbaum said of the 23-year-old's arrest and detention by immigration agents Friday.

The government said in documents filed in U.S. District Court that Ramirez "stated 'no, not no more,' when asked if he is or has been involved with any gang activity."

The court documents also said Ramirez, who is Mexican and arrived in the U.S. at age 7, was asked by authorities who arrested him about a tattoo described in the documents as a "gang tattoo."

Ramirez responded that he hung around members of the Surenos gang in California, fled the state to escape gangs and also hung out with gang members in Washington state, the documents said.

Ramirez's arrest last week thrust him into a national debate over the immigration priorities of President Donald Trump. Some saw the detention as the opening salvo in an attack on former President Barack Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, while federal authorities suggested it was simply a routine exercise of their authority.

Rosenbaum said the federal allegations were false and that authorities misidentified the one tattoo on Ramirez's body.

"Mr. Ramirez did not say these things because they are not true," Rosenbaum said. "And while utterly implausible and wholly fabricated, these claims still would not be sufficient evidence that Mr. Ramirez is a threat to the public safety or national security."

The court documents blacked out a picture of the tattoo, but lawyers for Ramirez said it reads "La Paz BCS." La Paz means "Peace" in Spanish and is also the capital of the Mexican state of Baja California Sur, where Ramirez was born.

Rosenbaum also accused Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials of doctoring a form filled out by Ramirez asking to be transferred out of the gang unit at the detention center. Ramirez wrote on the paper that he is not a member of a gang and that's he's never been involved in gang activity, Rosenbaum said. But when Ramirez was denied the move and got a copy of the paper back, Rosenbaum said, some of the words had been erased, making the statement appear as though Ramirez had written that he was in a gang.

"You can see that there are words that have been erased. That is serious and criminal conduct," Rosenbaum said.

The government has also given varying accounts of where and when Ramirez allegedly talked to agents about gang involvement, Rosenbaum said.

An ICE spokeswoman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ramirez is the father of a 3-year-old son who is a U.S. citizen, his lawyers have said. He worked as a field hand picking fruit in California before moving to Washington, and he twice passed background checks to participate in the DACA program — most recently last spring, they said. An attorney for Ramirez also said Thursday that Ramirez has been emotionally distraught.

The government's filing confirmed that Ramirez has no criminal record, but said he told authorities he was recently arrested for speeding.

Immigration agents found him last Friday when they went to an apartment complex in the Seattle suburb of Des Moines to arrest his father, identified as Antonio Ramirez-Polendo. Ramirez-Polendo was deported eight times between 2000 and 2006, ICE said Thursday, and served a year in prison in Washington state for felony drug trafficking.

The DACA program — referred to as "Dreamers" by supporters and derided as "illegal amnesty" by critics — has protected about 750,000 immigrants since its inception in 2012. It allows young people who were brought into the country illegally as children to stay and obtain work permits.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement Ramirez was being held at a detention center in Tacoma pending deportation proceedings. The statement said participants can have their status revoked if they're found to pose a threat to national security or public safety.

About 1,500 immigrants granted DACA status since 2012 have had it revoked because of criminal convictions or gang affiliations.

Trump told a news conference Thursday that he intended to "deal with DACA with heart."

"The DACA situation is a very, very, it's a very difficult thing for me because, you know, I love these kids," Trump said. "I love kids. I have kids and grandkids."

Summarized by Maven Stark



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LISTEN LIVE: Appeals court hears arguments over Trump's immigration ban

 A panel of appeals court judges reviewing President Donald Trump's travel ban hammered away Tuesday at the federal government's arguments that the ban was motivated by concerns about terrorism, but also questioned an attorney who said it unconstitutionally targeted Muslims.

The hearing before the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Court of Appeals judges was the greatest legal challenge yet to the ban, which temporarily suspended the nation's refugee program and immigration from seven mostly Muslim countries that have raised terrorism concerns.

Judge Michelle T. Friedland, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, asked whether the government has any evidence connecting the seven nations to terrorism.

August Flentje, arguing for the Justice Department, told the judges that the case was moving fast and the government had not yet included evidence to support the ban. Flentje cited a number of Somalis in the U.S. who, he said, had been connected to the al-Shabab terrorist group terror group after judges asked for evidence.

Judge Richard Clifton, a George W. Bush nominee, asked an attorney representing Washington state and Minnesota, which are challenging the ban, what evidence he had that it was motivated by religion.

"I have trouble understanding why we're supposed to infer religious animus when in fact the vast majority of Muslims would not be affected."

He said only 15 percent of the world's Muslims were affected, according to his calculations, and said the "concern for terrorism from those connected to radical Islamic sects is hard to deny."

Noah Purcell, Washington state's solicitor general, cited public statements by Trump calling for a ban on the entry of Muslims to the U.S. He said the states did not have to show every Muslim is harmed, only that the ban was motivated by religious discrimination.

Under questioning from Clifton, a Justice Department lawyer did not dispute that Trump made the statements.

The ban has upended travel to the U.S. for more than a week and tested the new administration's use of executive power.

The government asked the court to restore Trump's order, contending that the president alone has the power to decide who can enter or stay in the United States. Several states insist that it is unconstitutional.

The judges — two Democratic appointees and one Republican — repeatedly questioned Flentje on why the states should not be able to sue on behalf of their residents or on behalf of their universities, which have complained about students and faculty getting stranded overseas.

The states challenging the ban want the appellate court to allow a temporary restraining order blocking the travel ban to stand as their lawsuit moves through the legal system.

Purcell said that restraining order has not harmed the U.S. government.

Instead, he told the panel, Trump's order had harmed Washington state residents by splitting up families, holding up students trying to travel for their studies and preventing people from visiting family abroad.

A decision was likely to come later this week, court spokesman David Madden said.

Whatever the court eventually decides, either side could ask the Supreme Court to intervene.

Trump said Tuesday that he cannot believe his administration has to fight in the courts to uphold his refugee and immigration ban, a policy he says will protect the country.

"And a lot of people agree with us, believe me," Trump said at a round table discussion with members of the National Sheriff's Association. "If those people ever protested, you'd see a real protest. But they want to see our borders secure and our country secure."

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly told lawmakers that the order probably should have been delayed at least long enough to brief Congress about it.

If the case does end up before the Supreme Court, it could prove difficult to find the necessary five votes to undo a lower court order. The Supreme Court has been at less than full strength since Justice Antonin Scalia's death a year ago. The last immigration case that reached the justices ended in a 4-4 tie.

How and when a case might get to the Supreme Court is unclear. The travel ban itself is to expire in 90 days, meaning it could run its course before a higher court takes up the issue. Or the administration could change it in any number of ways that would keep the issue alive.

Summarized by Maven Stark



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