Unlawful Hold: Legal U.S. resident jailed as Florida sheriff sought
ICE detainer
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Liz Vinson, SPLC Staff Writer | Read the full piece here
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Friend,
Just hours after being arrested on a misdemeanor charge that was later
dropped, Winston posted $100 bond and thought he would be released.
Under the law, he should have been set free. Instead, the Marion
County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) in Ocala, Florida, had moved him
from a holding area and decided to keep him in an overcrowded housing
area for a second night while repeatedly asking U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE) whether it wanted to take him into custody.
Why?
Because of his nationality, and because the MCSO had a financial
incentive to do so.
The fact is, Winston - whose name has been changed for this
story - is a lawful permanent resident in a state with nearly 4
million people who were born in other countries and are now
naturalized citizens or legal residents of the U.S.
A legal U.S. resident from Jamaica, Winston has never been convicted
of any crime. As it turned out, ICE had not requested that he be
detained and had no interest in him.
But for Winston, then age 57, the August 2020 detention was not only
traumatic, it was consequential. Five days later, he was diagnosed
with COVID-19 in a hospital emergency room.
In an effort to put an end to such unconstitutional practices, the
Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the American Civil Liberties
Union, the ACLU of Florida and Zuckerman Spaeder LLP have filed suit
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in federal court on Winston's behalf.
"I thought they would deport me as a criminal back to Jamaica
and that life would be very hard for me there," Winston told the
SPLC. "No one asked me about my immigration status; they just
assumed that ICE wanted me."
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District
of Florida, brings claims against Marion County Sheriff William
"Billy" Woods and other county employees for violations of
Winston's civil rights under the Fourth and 14th Amendments and
false imprisonment under Florida state law. It also asks the court to
award compensatory and punitive damages.
"Federal and state laws enshrine basic principles: No one should
be forcibly detained without cause, and no one should be treated
differently based solely on where they were born," said Victoria
Mesa-Estrada, a senior staff attorney for the SPLC's Immigrant
Justice Project.
READ MORE
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In solidarity,
Your friends at the Southern Poverty Law Center
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strengthen intersectional movements, and advance the human rights of
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