SEATTLE — A Seattle-area man who was brought to the U.S. illegally as a child but was protected from deportation under a policy by former President Barack Obama is suing the federal government over his arrest and detention last week.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested 23-year-old Daniel Ramirez Medina on Friday at his father’s home. Agents were there to arrest his father and took Ramirez into custody even though he has a work permit under Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, court documents said.
ICE spokeswoman Rose Richeson said in a statement that Ramirez told agents he was a gang member, and based on those statements and being a “risk to public safety,” he was taken into custody.
Mark Rosenbaum, one of Ramirez’s lawyers, responded that Ramirez “unequivocally denies being in a gang” and that the statement from Richeson is inaccurate.wyers, responded that Ramirez “unequivocally denies being in a gang” and that the statement from Richeson is inaccurate.