The Santa Ana City Council unanimously approved a resolution opposing the deportation of a resident who has been returned to Mexico six times since 2007, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Samuel Sixtos “is not at imminent risk of being deported in the near future,” according to ICE.
“His immigration case is currently pending before the nation’s immigration courts under the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review,” according to a statement from ICE Tuesday.
“His next hearing is (scheduled) for late summer 2017. It will be up to the courts to determine whether Mr. Sixtos, who has been repatriated to Mexico six times since 2007, qualifies for legal relief from removal.”
Sixtos was arrested in 2014 on a warrant for an unpaid driving without a license ticket, according to his supporters. His backers say he was “illegally” turned over to ICE, where he spent nearly six months behind bars, where he went on a hunger strike.
Lt. Mark Stichter of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department said deputies have acknowledged they made a mistake when turning Sixtos over to ICE.
While Sixtos was being detained on a traffic citation, deputies noticed he was wanted on what looked like a felony warrant, Stichter said.
It turned out to be a record-keeping error because Sixtos was convicted of a misdemeanor, not a felony, and he wouldn’t have been turned over to ICE on a misdemeanor, Stichter said.
“It was not a systemic mistake,” Stichter said. “It was an isolated incident and we admitted we were sorry that it happened.”
Alexis Nava Teodoro of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network praised the Santa Ana City Council for “becoming an example of how localities need to be proactive about protecting their residents from reckless immigration enforcement and deportations.”
—City News Service