By EFE
The family of Gerardo Reyes, A Mexican immigrant who was transferred to an ICE detention center in Texas after being arrested at a police checkpoint while driving his vehicle, demanded transparency and more severe sanctions for the agent involved in the case.
The San Marcos police announced on Wednesday, May 13, the 24-hour temporary suspension of agent Jaciel Cortinawho detained Reyes and his son Esteban on March 14, while an internal investigation into the incident is completed.
Curtain committed three violations to police department regulations during the arrest of Reyes and his son, according to the preliminary report.
These include having presented inaccurate information in an affidavitnot having adequately explained the sinful appropriateness of the arrest and not having carried out a sufficient investigation before proceeding with the arrest.
“I felt like they spat in my face.…”
For Sanjuana Escalante, Reyes’ wife, who has been held in a detention center in Hutto, Texas for more than two months.the sanctions that the police imposed on the agent are insufficient.
“I felt like they spat in my face.because they did not take responsibility for the fact that they made a mistake and they have to fix it,” the woman said this Thursday in statements to EFE.
The Hays District Attorney’s Office decided to dismiss the charges for “obstruction of public functions” that they had filed against her husband, although similar accusations against her son Esteban, 17 years old, remain in force.
However, as Deputy Prosecutor Greg Coxx noted in a document announcing the decision, the prosecution believes that the police officer acted “within his appropriate authority” at the time of arrest.
Escalante does not agree with that view. “We want the charges dropped too, because the arrest was not justifiedstarted from a false report (to the police) and a family was affected as a result,” Escalante added.
On March 14, Reyes accompanied his son Esteban to take some belongings to the minor’s then-girlfriend. The young woman did not leave and they were returning home when an agent stopped them and asked them to get out of the vehicle without explaining the reason, according to testimonies and a video that the family shared with EFE.
The family will present a request for ‘habeas corpus’
Esteban, who was driving, refused to get off and asked why they were stopping him. Reyes insisted that his son was a minor and put an arm on his chest. The police later verified that the young woman never left her residence.
An immigration judge this Wednesday rejected the request for cancel the deportation order in the Reyes casewho does not have an appropriate immigration status in the country.
His family indicated that they will present a habeas corpus applicationan appropriate remedy to protect people from arbitrary detention, to insist on Reyes’ release while his immigration case is resolved.
Under the Donald Trump Administration, heavy-handed immigration policies, along with the push for arrests inside the country, have led to record arrest numberss.
In January, More than 73,000 immigrants remained detained in the United States, the highest level since the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2001.
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