TULSA, Okla. — Salvador Franco-Gomez, a resident of Oklahoma City had been sitting in David L. Moss (the Tulsa County jail), but his attorney says he never should have been there in the first place.
WATCH: Tulsa Co. Sheriff, DHS accused of illegally detaining immigrant
Franco-Gomez is a family man. His wife and kids are United States citizens. One of his children has developmental disabilities. He has been here since he was 19 and has no criminal history.
However, in 2012, he was pulled over for a traffic stop in New Mexico. He was a passenger, not the driver. He was not charged with any crime but turned in to immigration authorities because he did not have the required papers to be in the United States.
He was released on immigration bond and has been awaiting his hearing for 13 years.
His attorney, Robert Don Gifford, says there is a massive backlog for these types of hearings, and they probably didn’t find his to be a priority.
“He is a law-abiding citizen, and there was no urgent rush on it, and that is why he was stuck in limbo—waiting for the court to say, ‘here is your hearing date,’” said Gifford.
So his family has been in shock since last week, when he was asked by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to come by their office. They put him in jail for potential deportation.
“He is here, doing what he is supposed to do, trying to get his immigration status adjusted, and he’s doing it the right way, and they basically kidnapped him off the street and threw him in jail,” said Gifford. “What they are doing is beyond reckless.”
Franco-Gomez was taken to David L. Moss because ICE has a contract with the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office. He has since been moved to Prairieland Detention Facility in Alvarado, Texas.
The TCSO says they do not have the ability to hold ICE detainees longer than 72 hours, but Gifford calls it a deliberate game of “Whack-a-mole”—moving detainees from location to location, so that family loses track of them and they are eventually deported without due process.
To prevent that from happening, Gifford, one of few attorneys specializing in Habeas Corpus in Oklahoma, filed an emergency petition asking Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Tulsa County Sheriff Vic Regalado, and others, give legal reason why Franco-Gomez is in jail.
Habeas Corpus is a legal procedure that ensures no one is detained without a valid reason. The filing also came just as Noem is under scrutiny for incorrectly defining it.
National Politics
Secretary Kristi Noem appears to misunderstand the definition of habeas corpus
Sen. Maggie Hassan:
"So Secretary Noem, what is habeas corpus?"
Secretary Noem:
"Well, habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country and suspend their right."
Sen. Maggie Hassan:
"Let me, let me stop and suspend habeas corpus. Excuse me, that's, that's incorrect. habeas corpus, excuse me, habeas corpus is the legal principle that requires that the government provide a public reason for detaining and imprisoning people if not for that protection. The government could simply arrest people, including American citizens, and hold them indefinitely for no reason. Habeas corpus is the foundational right that separates free societies like America from police states like North Korea. As a senator from the live free or die state, this matters a lot to me and my constituents and to all Americans. So Secretary Noem, do you support the core protection that habeas corpus provides that the government must provide a public reason in order to detain and imprison someone."
Secretary Noem:
"Yeah, I support habeas corpus. I also recognize that the President of the United States has the authority under the Constitution to decide if it should be suspended or not."
Sen. Maggie Hassan:
"It has never let us be clear, it has never been done. It has never been done without approval of Congress. Even Abraham Lincoln got retroactive approval from Congress.
Secretary Noem has until May 23 to respond to the court.
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere --
- Download our free app for Apple, Android and Kindle devices.
- Sign up for daily newsletters emailed to you
- Like us on Facebook
- Follow us on Instagram
- Watch LIVE 24/7 on YouTube
