2 days ago
Man detained by ICE was already scheduled to leave, advocates say
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Grand Rapids immigration advocates are seeking the release of a man who they say was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement only days before he was scheduled to leave the country.
Movimiento Cosecha GR and GR Rapid Response to ICE say Carlos Menjivar is at the Calhoun County Correctional Facility, which is an ICE holding facility. ICE did not immediately confirm that to News 8 Wednesday.
The advocacy groups say Menjivar was detained June 4 when he went for what they called a 'routine check-in' at the office for the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program on Michigan Street NE near College Avenue in Grand Rapids.
ISAP is an ICE program in which people are under supervision while their immigration cases make their way through the system, which can take years. Through it, contracted case managers can keep ICE agents up to date on cases and whether people are abiding by the conditions of their release, explains.
'(Menjivar) was asked to come to this ISAP office with his paperwork, so his passport, and approve of them leaving (the United States). They had agreed, actually verbally agreed, with the ISAP office to departure this Saturday,' Movimiento Cosecha organizer Gema Lowe said at a Wednesday news conference.
She said ISAP workers were supposed to check the paperwork and plane tickets for their return to Menjivar's native El Salvador. Instead, she said, he was 'arbitrarily' detained and ICE now has his and his family's passports.
'This family, they have been compliant to everything Immigration has asked them since they came to this country as refugees in 2017,' Lowe said.
She argued that asking Menjivar to report to the ISAP office was a 'trap.'
At the news conference, one of Menjivar's children held a sign that read, 'Te amamos, Papa,' or 'We love you, Dad,' in Spanish.
ICE did not immediately provide answers after Target 8 sought information about Menjivar's status and details about how frequently people are detained at ISAP check-ins.
GR Rapid Response to ICE organizer Jeff Smith suggested between eight and 10 people were detained at the ISAP office June 4. It was unclear how he reached that count. ICE has not provided any information.
Immigration advocates went to the ISAP office that day and Grand Rapids police were called to ask them to leave. Smith said everyone who went to an ISAP appointment after the advocates arrived was allowed to leave as expected. Smith said the group is now offering to send advocates with people when they have appointments.
Smith said advocates are calling for Menjivar to be released in time for the family's scheduled departure Saturday, that the passports be returned to the family for that travel and that ICE documentation note he left voluntarily. They have also asked U.S. senators and representatives to intervene.
In the meantime, Menjivar's wife and three children are seeking sanctuary at Fountain Street Church, a nondenominational Christian church in downtown Grand Rapids, the advocates say.
'When the residents of our community are under attack or under threat, our doors are open to provide shelter and sanctuary,' Rev. Nathan Dannison, the pastor at Fountain Street Church, said. 'Our beliefs here at Fountain Street compel us to act.'
Smith called on other Grand Rapids faith organizations to offer themselves up as sanctuaries.
'We're asking the public to see what's happening. This is the faces that they are brave enough to show and say, 'We're here,'' Lowe said. 'Even though they did they did everything they were asked to, they've still been separated. It's structural violence.'
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