By Luisa Loi
La Conner Community News
A Conway gas station worker who has spent the past two months at the Northwest ICE Processing Center in Tacoma will spend another month in detention due to a bureaucratic hiccup.
Juan Martinez, Conway’s “unofficial mayor,” was hoping to walk out free following a hearing on Oct. 8 and to have his status adjusted to permanent legal residence. Instead, he might have to wait until Nov. 5, despite he and his attorney, Lisa Seifert, believing they had submitted all of the required materials for his case to move forward.
“I’m super disappointed that this wasn’t finished today, because obviously, Juan did everything he needed to do. He looked disappointed, too,” she said in an interview after the meeting.
The hearing took place in a small courtroom inside the for-profit detention center that GEO Group runs on behalf of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Upon arriving at the front desk, reporters were erroneously told they could not bring pen and paper to the hearing, which was open to the public, but were ultimately allowed to enter near the end of the session and take notes.
What appeared to be incomplete was Martinez’s biometrics requirements, which includes fingerprints, photographs and background checks. According to Seifert, ICE staff took Martinez to his biometrics appointment — which he paid and submitted multiple requests for — on Sept. 10, but she did not know there was another request that should have been submitted to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for the agency “to do its part.”
“That might be partly on us, but it’s a purely administrative thing,” she said, stating that all of the information is already in the hands of federal authorities. “It’s a terrible Catch-22 for detained immigrants… If biometrics are part of what they have to do, they have to navigate the USCIS gauntlet and the ICE gauntlet in order to have that be cleared, and personally I think it’s ridiculous.”
Last Wednesday, a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from preventing detained immigrants from completing fingerprint and background checks needed to apply for legal status, following a class-action lawsuit filed in April, according to Newsweek. The policy, introduced last December, no longer required ICE to help detained immigrants complete their biometric requirements. At the same time, it allowed USCIS to deny applications when detainees don’t attend these appointments.
Seifert argued the ruling also applies to Martinez’s case.
Judge Matthew Davidhizar ordered the issue be resolved swiftly, and said Martinez is eligible for adjustment of status.
“This man doesn’t need to be detained longer,” he said, speaking to the room from a TV screen.
ICE arrested Martinez on July 30, outside of Super Duper Foods in Conway, where he worked. He has waited 25 years to get a green card; his U.S. citizen brother filed a petition in 2001, before the deadline to qualify for Section 245(i) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. This law allows certain undocumented immigrants to apply for a green card from inside the United States and to remain in the country, even if they overstayed their visa or came without one.
While Martinez has built a life and a supportive community in Skagit County, the wait came at a high cost. He was never able to return to his home country, Mexico, where his parents died in 2004 and 2007. In a phone call from the detention center, he said he hopes to visit their graves upon getting his green card.
ICE arrested him on July 30 outside of his workplace, Super Duper Foods in Conway. After two months of witnessing mental health crises, neglect, and poor living conditions, he feels the mental toll.
“I’m different than I was before,” he said a week before the hearing.
At the end of the hearing, attendees shared words of encouragement and affection with Martinez, who smiled and waved quietly in his dark blue uniform as staff escorted out the group.
Seifert said she would reach out to USCIS and request acknowledgement of Martinez’s biometric information. If the issue is taken care of swiftly, she could request to reschedule the meeting at an earlier date, potentially resulting in her client’s early release.
Lindsey Brooks and Tim Ferrell were among the group of friends who came to support Martinez and were ready to provide testimony on his character, which Davidhizar did not deem necessary.
Like Seifert, they felt both happy and disappointed about the outcome of the hearing, as Martinez should be able to get his green card but has to wait another month in detention.
“Even though we didn’t get Juan out today, he’s getting out,” Brooks said. “It should be easier for immigrants and anyone who has come to this country to not have to be detained and go through this.”
Luisa Loi is a general assignment reporter at La Conner Community News.
