ADELANTO — Undocumented immigrant rights activists are calling for the release of a 47-year-old El Salvadorian man with a criminal past who was recently re-detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Adelanto after ICE officials said he absconded from his court proceedings.
Carlos Hidalgo, a Rialto resident, has lived in the United States for most of his life and has U.S. citizen children. He was placed into ICE custody for the third time in February after previously being released from immigration detention on a $10,000 bail bond in December 2013. Before that he served less than a year in county jail for felony credit card fraud. His attorney Victor Fernandez contends that since he was detained by ICE for more than six months previously and was released on bond, he has not been a flight risk and didn't receive any further notices from ICE regarding his proceedings.
"If ICE says he absconded, my next question is how did he abscond?" Fernandez said. "He never absconded. When they grant you a bond, that's the court saying you're not a flight risk. That's why they’re giving you the bond."
Fernandez said Hidalgo was previously cleared from a "deportation in absentia" charge stemming from a criminal probation violation he garnered while in ICE custody. According to Fernandez, the undocumented immigrant missed a probation hearing while he was in ICE detention.
ICE officials say they stand by their decision to re-detain him.
"Mr. Hidalgo was most recently remanded to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in February 2015 following his arrest by local law enforcement," said Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for ICE, in a statement. "Mr. Hidalgo appeared in immigration court earlier this week and the presiding judge with the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review declined to set a bond in the case."
According to Kice, ICE conducts a thorough review of each person’s history, including extensive
criminal background checks, in determining whether individuals will be detained or released pending the outcome of their immigration proceedings.
"In this instance, database checks reveal Mr. Hidalgo has at least nine prior criminal convictions dating back over a decade, including a conviction for grand theft in 2013 and multiple convictions for DUI and drug possession."
Fernandez said the grand theft was actually a credit card fraud charge. And he contends most of the other charges are far in Hidalgo's past.
But Kice said Hidalgo also was detained by ICE in July 2012 following his release from Los Angeles County Jail under the agency’s Intensive Supervision Appearance Program subject to regular reporting requirements.
"Mr. Hidalgo was terminated from the program four months later when he failed to comply with the conditions of his release and absconded," she said. "He was subsequently ordered deported in absentia by an immigration judge in December 2012."
Christina Fialho, the co-founder of CIVIC, a non-profit group that visits immigrants at 32 detention facilities, said she believes Hidalgo is being retaliated against for speaking out against ICE and against legislation to give local authorities the power to check an immigrant's legal status, known as Los Angeles County's 287(g) agreement. According to Fialho and Fernandez, Hidalgo's writings have been influential in drawing public attention to the treatment of inmates in detention including last year's visit by U.S. Representative Judy Chu. They said he actively writes letters to governors and U.S. Congressional representatives.
"It's double jeopardy, almost triple jeopardy," she said. "We are concerned that Mr. Hidalgo's re-detention is in retaliation for his exercise of his First Amendment rights. Mr. Hidalgo has been very active with CIVIC and with other immigrant rights groups. He has been advocating against the expansion of the Adelanto Detention Facility and LA County's 287(g) agreement."
Fialho has started a petition with her group demanding for Hidalgo's release. It can be found at http://chn.ge/18DTDLb.
"Mr. Hidalgo should not be in immigration detention again, and ICE has the discretion to release him," the petition reads. "We ask that ICE release him immediately."
Fialho wrote in a letter to ICE Los Angeles Field Office Director David Jennings, "though he has made mistakes in his past, he is neither a flight risk nor a danger to the community. In fact, he is an asset to the community. He has my support and the support of the community."
"We hope you will be compassionate to him and his family, and release him," she wrote. "He should not have to remain in detention for another six months before he gets a bond hearing. That is truly unfair."