ICE agents arrest man in Durham
DURHAM, North Carolina (WTVD) -- A Durham man is fighting to get back home after he was arrested Tuesday and detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Edwin Guillen has lived in Durham for four years, and works as a painter. The 26-year-old has no criminal record.
His attorney, Becky Moriello, questions why he was detained by immigration officers in the first place.
"The fact that he is brown or the fact that he does not speak English does not mean that he is necessarily an immigrant," Moriello said.
Loved ones captured the tense moments on video when Guillen was arrested for allegedly being in the country illegally from Honduras.
Thursday, Moriello, argued in court filings that Guillen was a victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time - since he was not initially accused of any crime, nor does he have a past criminal record.
"We are not sure yet whether or not the arrest was legal. So we are not admitting alienage; because that is the government's burden to prove," Moriello said.
But ICE says that federal officials say no undocumented immigrant is exempt from potential enforcement.
Officials with ICE say when they went to Guillen's Duke Manor apartment on LaSalle Street, they were there to arrest a fugitive accused of a serious crime.
When they approached the home, ICE says two people ran and one of them was Guillen.
ICE says he resisted police which gave them probable cause for the officer's to make an arrest. ICE also says it was after officers booked Guillen when they learned he is an undocumented immigrant from Honduras.
ICE is still looking for the fugitive.
Meanwhile Guillen is in ICE custody at a detention center in York County, South Carolina.
His next court appearance is on Monday in Charlotte. Guillen's attorney hopes a judge will grant him bond so he can come back home to Durham and fight his case.
ICE released an official statement.
STATEMENT:
"The U.S. Marshals Joint Fugitive Task Force, of which ICE is a member, was seeking an international fugitive March 28 at the location where they encountered unlawfully present Honduran national Edwin Reyes-Guillen. ICE deportation officers took Mr. Reyes into custody following a brief struggle after he actively attempted to resist arrest.
As Secretary Kelly has stated, ICE will no longer exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement. All of those in violation of immigration laws may be subject to immigration arrest, detention, and if found removable by final order, removal from the United States. Further, anyone giving credence to the idea that an ICE officer's commands can be ignored or fought during an encounter is endangering public safety and the very people they claim to support and represent."
