\u201cFor people that had court [dates] already scheduled, people that had working permits legally issued, people that had pending cases with [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services]” he said in an interview. \u201cWe have clients that were actually able to provide ICE \u2014 during the raid \u2014 with that information that they were our clients, and [ICE] just didn\u2019t care,\u201d Perez said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Workers at the Nutrition Bar factory in Cato being detained by ICE agents last week. (Emily Kenny\/Spectrum News 1)<\/p>\n
During the Tuesday press conference, Sarcone said five face felony federal charges and the 52 others who were detained were “on their way back to their countries of origin.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey waived their rights. They said, \u2018We\u2019ll go home,\u2019\u201d Sarcone responded.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, Perez, whose five other clients do not face felony charges, said they were still in the U.S. as of Tuesday.<\/p>\n
One of his clients was removed from the United States and sent back to Guatemala despite having a pending case.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have not seen that in 18 years of immigration practice,\u201d Perez said.<\/p>\n
Perez said that unless his client was presented with papers and not informed of what they were, the man didn\u2019t waive his right to a hearing. The client has been in the U.S. for 14 years, has three children here and is married to a U.S. citizen. Prior to being detained, the client was required to go to Immigration and Customs Enforcement every month to check in with the agency.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe just went two weeks ago, and then he gets detained and removed in 48 hours. That\u2019s what is crazy about this,\u201d Perez said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office didn\u2019t respond to requests for comment for this story.<\/p>\n
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A sign hung by protesters outside of the Oswego Border Patrol Station. (Emily Kenny\/Spectrum News 1)<\/p>\n
In addition to the lives his clients have built in the U.S., many of them would face violence if they were to return to their home countries.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re talking about people from Venezuela, from Cuba, that if they return, they\u2019re going to be killed, they\u2019re going to be incarcerated or they\u2019ll disappear,\u201d Perez said. \u201cIn those countries, we have people that have been fleeing from gang violence, from domestic violence, and if you remove them, you\u2019re going to get them killed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sarcone emphasized that business owners who knowingly hire people without legal status also will face repercussions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will aggressively pursue criminal investigations against those who violate our laws by employing non-citizens without authorization. There will be consequences,\u201d Sarcone said.<\/p>\n
However, for employers the process is not that simple when balancing checking paperwork with illegally discriminating against an employee, Perez said. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEmployers would make sure that they have the correct paperwork, that they have the proper authorization, but they cannot go beyond reviewing the I-9 form and making sure that they have a Social Security card as well as a work permit. If you go and ask more questions, they could suddenly be violating the human rights of those individuals,\u201d Perez said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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