The Beristain Family is distraught the day after the U.S. government conducted a middle-of-the-night deportation of Roberto Beristain, an Indiana father and businessman whose detention by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in February during a check-in appointment attracted broad attention by the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, South Bend Tribune, and other national news media.
Roberto had been held at detention facilities in Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Texas. He argued that his removal order was legally improper, and had asked an immigration judge to rescind the removal order, and to stay removal. He had also filed a habeas corpus petition, likewise seeking to redress the wrongs resulting from a void order. Before either judge had chance to rule, in a highly unusual move, ICE agents rushed him 90 miles from the detention facility to the U.S.-Mexico border at Juarez, Mexico, as the sole detainee being moved. None of his attorneys were notified, as required, of his removal and they only learned about it based on a late night, frantic call from Roberto’s wife, who indicated Roberto was in Juarez already.
“They suddenly told me it was time to go,” Roberto said. “They told me to get my stuff, they put me in the back of a van, and sped toward the border. They took me to another facility while in transport to sign paperwork. I asked to speak with my attorney, but was told there wasn’t time for that. At around 10:00 pm, I was dropped off at the Mexico-U.S. Border and walked into Mexico.”
“What is most distressing here is that Roberto had potential avenues for relief pending before the Immigration Court,” said Adam M. Ansari, managing partner, Ansari & Shapiro LLC, who has been advocating on behalf of the family since Roberto was detained on February 6, 2017. “This was an attempt to short-circuit the justice process by intentionally removing him before a judge could stop his removal. We were in communication with the government regarding those motions – what they failed to mention was that they were in the process of throwing him out of the country.”
Jessica K. Miles of Noble & Vrapi, Roberto's counsel in New Mexico and Texas remarked, “the manner and speed with which Roberto was moved from New Mexico to Texas and then deported to Mexico despite several pending motions, coupled with misleading statements from ICE leadership about when he would be removed show a blatant disregard for his procedural rights.”
Chuck Roth, director of litigation of the National Immigrant Justice Center said, “the Trump administration treats noncitizens like Roberto like lawbreakers, even when they do everything in their power to obey the law, but the law was broken in this case by the immigration authorities. ICE’s actions have torn a father from his three U.S. citizen children, a husband from his citizen spouse, and a business owner from his American employees. And all based on a removal order which wasn’t proper in the first place. I’m not sure which is more shocking, the disregard for the harm done wantonly to families and communities, or the lengths to which the government is now willing to go to deport as many people as possible without regard to a person’s right to a fair hearing.”
“The conduct of ICE in perpetuating a continuing due process violation at all costs, is a threat to core American values and should not be overlooked or brushed aside causally,” said Rekha Sharma-Crawford, of Sharma-Crawford Attorneys at Law, who drafted the Emergency Motion to Rescind that is pending in Batavia, New York.
Roberto’s attorneys, which include law firms and organizations across the country, have stated they will continue to fight on his behalf, and will pursue all available legal and political remedies to bring Roberto back and correct the mistake immigration officials created nearly two decades ago.