Federal detainee accuses ICE of illegal detainment

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — A Cuban citizen detained at the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in Batavia is suing the federal Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement for “illegally prolonged detention” of more than seven months.

The habeas corpus petition filed in federal court for the Western District of New York states that J.M.A., the detainee using a pseudonym, has been lawfully living and working in Western New York with a pending application to remain a permanent resident and a Social Security number.

Habeas corpus petitions allow detainees to challenge their confinement in the courts, where the government must prove the detainments are legal.

The New York Civil Liberties Foundation and Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights organizations represent the detainee. They said J.M.A.’s ongoing detention violates his due process rights.

“At every stage of the immigration process he has done everything that the government
has asked of him,” the petition states.

The case is one of 47 habeas corpus cases filed in the Western District of New York since the beginning of the year, according to federal court data analyzed by News 4 Investigates.

The cases highlight the growing opposition from human rights and civil liberties organizations to the Trump administration’s aggressive approach to deporting migrants.

The Trump Administration has considered suspending habeas corpus rights embedded in the U.S. Constitution.

White House Advisor Stephen Miller said in May that the habeas corpus rights can be suspended in a time of invasion. The last time the United States took such action was in 1941, after the attack of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

The following details are included in the petition, to which the government has 30 days to respond:

J.M.A. entered the country in June 2023, seeking asylum because of “serious fear of persecution for his staunch anti-communist beliefs in Cuba,” according to the petition.

In February, Cheektowaga police “erroneously arrested” the plaintiff for a misdemeanor theft of a belt at a Macy’s store.

J.M.A. told security he planned to buy the belt he was holding, the petition states. Regardless, a security manager called Cheektowaga police, who booked him on a misdemeanor theft charge. The petition states the officers told him he should expect to be released within an hour after being booked for the misdemeanor.

However, shortly thereafter, an officer told J.M.A. that his supervisor instructed him to call border patrol. J.M.A.’s attorneys argued that state law does not allow local police to hold people for civil offenses without a warrant.

In June, J.M.A.’s misdemeanor case was dismissed.

“Though these criminal charges have since been dismissed, J.M.A. remains in immigration detention at the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in Batavia, N.Y. He has never been provided with a bond hearing,” the petition states.

The petition said the government tried to “hastily” deport J.M.A., but an immigration judge found the detainee had a credible fear of returning to Cuba.

By March, immigration authorities placed J.M.A. in expedited removal proceedings, where an asylum officer determined J.M.A. did not have credible fear to return to Cuba.

The petition states Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights succesfully appealed the decision in April, but ICE denied J.M.A.’s request to be released from ICE detention.

J.M.A.’s asylum hearing is scheduled for Nov. 10, after being adjourned last week.

ICE told News 4 it does not comment on ongoing litigation.