A mother of four from Wisconsin was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during a routine check-in, despite a judge ruling she could not be deported, her attorneys said.
Elvia Benitez Suarez, 50, was arrested in Milwaukee during a routine appointment last week, with her attorney telling Newsweek it was the “most egregious and cruel action I have seen from ICE” in his 15 years as a lawyer.
“There is no utility or public interest reason to have her detained,” Marc Christopher, of Christopher and De Leon Law Office in Milwaukee, told Newsweek. “She is certainly not a danger to the community and is not a flight risk.
“In fact, she won her immigration case in front of a federal immigration judge who granted her permanent residence status. It is only because the government appealed the judge’s decision that this case even is ongoing.”
The Department of Homeland Security told Newsweek the Mexican national was in the United States illegally.
Why It Matters
Under President Donald Trump, ICE has come under increased scrutiny over whom its agents detain, in particular immigrants attending routine immigration appointments. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has insisted that it is enforcing immigration laws and that its agents are well trained to determine who should be held in ICE detention.
What To Know
Benitez Suarez fled to the United States from Mexico in 1990 when she was 15, her attorney said, after suffering sexual assault. At the time, there was no means for her to obtain immigration status, Christopher said.
Over the intervening years, Benitez Suarez worked various jobs, including waitressing and cleaning, the latter of which led to a business with her husband. The pair have had four children, all of whom are U.S. citizens.
In July, while visiting Niagara Falls, the family accidentally entered Canada, and the parents were taken into U.S. federal detention. Both were held for six months.
Benitez Suarez then won her cancellation-of-removal hearing in December, which would allow her to apply for a green card, Christopher said, but the government appealed the decision.
The mother complied with DHS’s requirements, including appearing for a check-in at an office in Milwaukee on March 10, where she was detained again when trying to leave. Christopher said she was taken away in handcuffs and leg chains.
Agents initially took Benitez Suarez to a facility in Chicago, then to Campbell County, Kentucky.
DHS said that Benitez Suarez was in the U.S. illegally and that she could self-deport. Christopher argued that she had no viable option to adjust her status despite her many years in the country. The only viable option, before her detention, was to leave the U.S. and wait for her own daughter to appeal her case while she waited a decade.
What People Are Saying
Marc Christopher, Benitez Suarez’s attorney, told Newsweek: “So, a woman who has been here for 35 years, has four United States citizen children, not so much as any contact with law-enforcement, who has demonstrated that she qualifies for LPR status, is now being detained a taxpayer expense.
“She’s been humiliated, shackled. She is suffering medically at the facility in Campbell Kentucky and the appeal could last up to a year or more. Meanwhile, her family continues to struggle emotionally, financially and in every way imaginable.”
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told Newsweek in a statement: “Being in detention is a choice. We encourage all illegal aliens to take control of their departure with the CBP Home App. The United States is offering illegal aliens $2,600 and a free flight to self-deport now. We encourage every person here illegally to take advantage of this offer and reserve the chance to come back to the U.S. the right legal way to live the American dream. If not, you will be arrested and deported without a chance to return.”
What Happens Next
Christopher has called for his client’s release, with DHS saying she will receive full due process while remaining in ICE detention.
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