DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - A Marine veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder was held for three days for possible deportation before federal authorities learned that he was a U.S. citizen born in Michigan, lawyers said Wednesday.
Jilmar Ramos-Gomez, 27, lives in the Grand Rapids area. He was released on Dec. 17 from a detention center in Calhoun County after personal records were provided to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan.
"Why did they think he was a noncitizen? Did they get him confused with someone else? Who knows," ACLU attorney Miriam Aukerman said. "This is an individual who's incredibly vulnerable with a mental illness."
A spokesman for ICE says he could respond to media inquiries because of the partial government shutdown.
Ramos-Gomez was in the Kent County jail after being accused of trespassing and damaging a fire alarm at Spectrum Health hospital in Grand Rapids on Nov. 21. A police report shows that he had his U.S. passport on him when he was arrested.
Ramos-Gomez pleaded guilty to a trespassing charge and the judge ordered him released Dec. 14 on a personal recognizance bond while awaiting a sentence. However, the ACLU says the sheriff's department worked with ICE to transferred Ramos-Gomez to an immigration detention center to start the deportation process.
Kent County Undersheriff Chuck DeWitt said ICE, like other law enforcement agencies, has access to fingerprint records.
"Once he was released from our custody, he was under the domain of ICE. Where they take him is their process," DeWitt said. "Our procedures were followed."
DeWitt said he didn't know whether Ramos-Gomez protested when immigration officers picked him up.
When Ramos-Gomez's mother arrived at the jail to bring him home, she was told that he was in ICE custody, according to the ACLU. Three days later, with the assistance of an attorney, his family secured his release from ICE and he was allowed to go home.
The ACLU wants the Kent County Sheriff and the Kent County Board of Commissioners to investigate the incident and present its findings at a Jan. 24 board meeting.
"It is incomprehensible that the Sheriff's Department turned a vulnerable, mentally ill United States citizen over to ICE so that he could be deported from his country -- a country for which he fought on the battle field," ACLU officials said in a letter. "What the Kent County Sheriff's Department did to Mr. Ramos-Gomez is unfathomable."
Ramos-Gomez is currently receiving mental-health care. He was a lance corporal in the Marines and received awards for service in Afghanistan. The ACLU said his PTSD had a role in the disturbance at the hospital.
