Advocates say Chicago man detained again by ICE

A West Elsdon man who was released from an immigration detention center in March was returned to custody after his petition to stay in the country was denied, advocates say.

Jesus Alberto Lopez Gutierrez, 25, was detained during a mandatory check-in Tuesday with ICE officials in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. His attorney said they were told about the meeting at the last minute, which came just days after the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services denied his attempts to renew his expired DACA status.

“We had been told by ICE officers from the Cedar Rapids office that the check-in was likely just to lay eyes on [Lopez Gutierrez] and take his fingerprints,” said Alison Heinen, an attorney representing Lopez Gutierrez. “Instead they shackled him in handcuffs and detained him immediately.”

Heinen said these developments put Lopez Gutierrez at immediate risk of deportation despite he still remains DACA eligible. He also doesn’t meet any “priority for removal” policies set by ICE, she said.

“When determining whether to remove someone, ICE is required to look at a variety of factors including family ties to the United States, humanitarian issues like health concerns, and whether an individual is part of a pending lawsuit,” Heinen said.

She said Lopez Gutierrez has lived in Chicago since he was 9 years old, he has a pending lawsuit against ICE and he has respiratory issues.

Lopez Gutierrez was first detained while traveling through Iowa on his way home from a camping trip with friends in May 2019. Police officers stopped Lopez Gutierrez and charged him with marijuana possession, a charge that was later dropped.

Police transferred Lopez Gutierrez into the custody of ICE at a county jail in Marshalltown, Iowa. He would spend the next nine months in four different detention centers across the Midwest.

Lopez Gutierrez was released in March on a $25,000 bond from a detention center in Minnesota. His release allowed him to fight his deportation case from his Chicago home.

In 2013, he received a two-year work permit under DACA but didn’t renew it. His attorneys have argued since Lopez Gutierrez has never been convicted of a crime he remains eligible to renew his DACA application.

Heinen said USCIS, the agency that reviews DACA applications, used petty traffic tickets to deny his application.

An ICE spokesperson said Lopez Gutierrez was arrested after a case appeal was dismissed by the Board of Immigration Appeal in April and a petition to review that dismissal was denied by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in May.

“As of 2018, due to a preliminary court injunction, USCIS is no longer accepting new applications for the program or renewals that have been expired for more than a year,” the spokesperson said. “He is currently in ICE custody pending removal, in accordance with the judge’s order.”

“They kidnapped my brother again,” said Miguel Lopez, Lopez Gutierrez’s brother. “The way that we see this is as a retaliatory measure from ICE, from [Department of Homeland Security], because of the activism we’ve been carrying out.”

Lopez said his brother’s pending lawsuits and vocal opposition of detention center conditions have drawn the ire of immigration officers.

“This is highlighting the inhumane practices that ICE is accustomed to. They are playing with people’s lives,” Cook County Commissioner Alma Anaya said. “The fact ICE had requested [Lopez Gutierrez] go to an in-person interview and have to travel during a pandemic was completely unnecessary and unjust.”

Anaya said she was working to move Lopez Gutierrez’s case from Cedar Rapids to Chicago, but she was unsuccessful.

Heinen said they will continue to fight to keep Lopez Gutierrez in Chicago, starting with a legal filing asking why his DACA application was denied.