ICE has said it issues detainer requests to local law enforcement agencies to protect public safety and carry out its mission.īut the practice is controversial. What are sanctuary cities, and can they be defunded? Soleimani said in a statement that the sheriff’s “practice of blindly effectuating ICE detainer requests – even where there is clear evidence undermining their basis – resulted in a violation of Mr. “Peter’s frightening story should make sheriffs and police chiefs think twice before agreeing to hold people for ICE,” wrote Spencer Amdur, a staff attorney for the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project.Īttorney Jonathan N. “It’s shocking and not right that somebody can lose their human rights and have all dignity stripped away simply because someone delivers a piece of paper or signs a form,” Brown said in a statement released by the American Civil Liberties Union, one of the organizations representing him.Īttorneys representing Brown argue that the case highlights flaws in ICE’s detainer system and shows why local authorities shouldn’t do the agency’s bidding. If his friend hadn’t been able to provide a copy of his birth certificate to ICE, Brown would have been deported, the complaint alleges.

Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe/Getty Images

Detained by Don Brown