A judge in New York appointed by President Donald Trump is denouncing efforts by federal immigration officials to deport a college graduate originally from Honduras, insisting “this isn’t how things are supposed to work in America.”
District Judge Gary R. Brown, who was nominated to the Eastern District of New York by Trump in 2019, admonished the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in court papers Tuesday for its treatment of Hesler Asaf Garcia Lanza, a 24-year-old New York City College of Technology graduate who was detained in January.
“He was handcuffed, shackled and detained in a facility designed to hold charged and convicted criminals,” Brown wrote in a 24-page ruling. “ICE officers targeted Garcia Lanza for arrest simply because he looked like someone else for whom the agents were purportedly searching.”
Newsweek reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment.
Garcia Lanza, who immigrated to the United States from Honduras when he was 9 years old, informed agents that he had been previously granted special immigrant juvenile (SIJ) status after being abused, neglected or abandoned by one or both of his parents decades earlier, but federal officials still detained him, Brown wrote in the ruling.
“As bureaucratic cover for the arrest, agents completed a post-arrest administrative warrant and then commenced baseless removal proceedings against him,” Brown wrote. “Then, DHS proceeded to revoke the deferred action and work authorization associated with his SIJ status — a reprehensible act of unimaginable cruelty.”
Federal immigration officials also imposed additional unsanctioned conditions against Garcia Lanza after Brown set terms for his release and proceeded to impose a fine to “offset the cost of his illegal apprehension,” Brown wrote.
“This isn’t how things are supposed to work in America,” the ruling continued. “Unquestionably, the laws of human decency condemn such villainy…While the Executive Branch retains the right — as it has done — to set policy regarding immigration matters, it is forbidden from trampling our system of laws — a system which has safeguarded this nation for close to 250 years.”
Garcia Lanza, a theatrical lighting designer, was released from federal custody two days later while challenging the lawfulness of his detention during a bail hearing. But DHS officials have not challenged his sworn assertions or provided evidence connected to his arrest, Brown wrote.
“Worse yet, the problems documented in this case appear widespread,” the Trump-appointed judge wrote.
Garcia Lanza was headed to work on January 3 when he was detained by federal authorities, including ICE officers and Homeland Security Investigations special agents, while conducting a targeted operation on a third party, court papers show.
“In other words, Garcia Lanza was not the individual the officers were looking to arrest,” Brown’s ruling continued. “Nevertheless, he was soon surrounded by four vehicles and swarmed by a group of immigration agents. Why? According to the Government, ‘Officers visually observed petitioner and believed him to match the description of the third party.'”
Federal immigration officials then imposed a series of additional conditions upon Garcia Lanza upon his release on January 5, including “successful participation” in DHS’s “alternatives to detention program,” which made him eligible for electronic monitoring and to check in with an ICE duty officer beginning on January 19, Brown wrote.
Federal officials also didn’t return Garcia Lanza’s work authorization card, instead sending it to Virginia, and imposed a “yet one more indignity” by assessing a $5,130 fine, according to the judge.
Brown ruled that “any additional terms and conditions of release imposed by ICE officials” were unauthorized and vacated the revocation of Garcia Lanza’s work authorization.
“ICE is directed to return petitioner’s work authorization card forthwith,” the judge wrote.
Garcia Lanza, who could not be immediately reached for comment, briefly described the aftermath of his experience in Tuesday’s filing.
“Since I was detained, I have been afraid to leave my house,” he wrote. “Every time I walk to the train to go to work, I get an immense amount of anxiety. It terrifies me to know that ICE agents can take me at any moment again. Once I arrived in the United States as a young boy, I thought my days of living in fear were over. It saddens me to realize they are not.”
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