A legal showdown over a 23-year-old Seattle man threatened with deportation to Mexico after he was granted protected status for having entered the U.S. as a child may become an early test of the Trump administration's crackdown on undocumented immigrants.
While the U.S. claims Daniel Ramirez Medina admitted in custody to being a gang member, his lawyers contend he was falsely accused and is being unlawfully detained amid recent sweeps by agents across at least a half-dozen states that have netted some immigrants with no criminal records. A hearing is scheduled for Friday in Seattle federal court.
Medina is among 1.4 million undocumented immigrants with permission to stay in the U.S. under President Barack Obama's Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals program, which provides work permits to children brought into the country illegally.
President Donald Trump said Thursday he's struggling with what to do about people in that program. He's suggested previously that he is considering leaving it in place.
"DACA is a very, very difficult subject for me, I will tell you," Trump said at a White House news conference Thursday. "In some cases you have some absolutely incredible kids. I would say mostly."
"We're going to deal with DACA with heart," he said.
Medina was apprehended Feb. 10 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Justice Department on Thursday re-asserted its claim that he must undergo deportation proceedings despite twice receiving permission to stay in the U.S. under DACA, which is also known as the "Dreamer" program. The government claims Medina's case isn't unique and doesn't signal new immigration policy under the Trump administration, since Medina admitted to "gang activity."
"DACA is an exercise of prosecutorial discretion and deferred action may be terminated at any time, with or without a notice of intent to terminate," the government said in a court filing. "In light of this fact, there are critical limitations on the court's ability to grant petitioner any relief at this this time."
Medina's lawyers say his lawsuit, seeking his immediate release, is the first of its kind challenging the detention of a Dreamer. They claim the allegations about his gang affiliation are "false and unsubstantiated" and that his constitutional rights have been violated.
