Philadelphia-born U.S. Citizen Claims He Was Illegally Detained by ICE
By KASSIDY VAVRA
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
DEC 04, 2018 | 1:45 PM
Philadelphia-born U.S. citizen claims he was illegally detained by ICE
Peter Sean Brown, a Philadelphia-born U.S. citizen, says he was illegally detained by ICE and was threatened with deportation to Jamaica. (YouTube/ACLU)
A Philadelphia-born U.S. citizen says he was illegally detained by ICE and was threatened with deportation to Jamaica.
According to a lawsuit filed Monday, Brown repeatedly told authorities that he was a U.S. citizen — but he was still held in custody in Monroe County, Florida, and threatened that he would be sent to a Jamaican prison.
Brown — who lives in the Florida Keys and works in the restaurant industry — is suing Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay nearly eight months after the incident occurred in April.
Brown turned himself into the Sheriff’s Office for a probation violation when he tested positive for marijuana. Rather than being in jail until the probation violation was resolved, however, he was threatened with being deported.
His information was sent to ICE, who responded with a detainer form — which asks law enforcement to hold detainees for up to 48 hours past their release time so they may be picked up by ICE agents.
“I did not even realize what ICE was at the time, and reading through it I realized it had something to do with immigration,” Brown said in a video released by the American Civil Liberties Union — who is helping represent Brown.
“And at that point, I made a comment of, ‘There must’ve been a mistake.’”
According to the video, ICE confused Brown with someone else who had the same name.
“Mr. Brown was shocked and frightened to learn that he had been flagged for deportation. He immediately began telling nearly every jail employee he encountered that he was a U.S. citizen, born in Philadelphia, and that they should not be holding him for ICE,” the lawsuit says.
Brown had a valid Florida driver’s license, and documentation showed he was a U.S. citizen born in Philadelphia according to the sheriff’s files, the lawsuit claims.
“The guard mocked me, singing the theme song from ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,’ with the reference of ‘West Philadelphia born and raised,’ because I had told him I was from Philadelphia,” Brown said in the video. “So he decides that rather than do anything to help me, he thought it was funny and decided to mock me with that.”
Brown offered to give authorities his birth certificate, and his co-worker and friend called the jail to explain he was a citizen.
“Despite his repeated protests to multiple jail officers, his offer to produce proof, and the jail’s own records, the Sheriff’s Office held Mr. Brown so that ICE could deport him to Jamaica — a country where he has never lived and knows no one,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit claims he was held illegally and later transferred to Miami to the Krome immigrant detention center — where people are held before they are deported.
Brown was only released from Krome after his roommate emailed his birth certificate to an ICE officer at the detention center, the lawsuit says.
According to a statement from the ACLU, 17 Florida sheriffs participate in an ICE detention program that pays counties $50 for each person they hold for ICE.
The agreement — called Basic Ordering Agreements or BOA’s — shield counties from liability even when they violate constitutional rights, ACLU said.
The lawsuit argues Ramsay violated Brown’s fourth amendment rights when they held him illegally.
The lawsuit says that another officer told Brown while he was detained that Ramsay previously detained another U.S. citizen for ICE for almost a year before it was determined he was a citizen.
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
DEC 04, 2018 | 1:45 PM
Philadelphia-born U.S. citizen claims he was illegally detained by ICE
Peter Sean Brown, a Philadelphia-born U.S. citizen, says he was illegally detained by ICE and was threatened with deportation to Jamaica. (YouTube/ACLU)
A Philadelphia-born U.S. citizen says he was illegally detained by ICE and was threatened with deportation to Jamaica.
According to a lawsuit filed Monday, Brown repeatedly told authorities that he was a U.S. citizen — but he was still held in custody in Monroe County, Florida, and threatened that he would be sent to a Jamaican prison.
Brown — who lives in the Florida Keys and works in the restaurant industry — is suing Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay nearly eight months after the incident occurred in April.
Brown turned himself into the Sheriff’s Office for a probation violation when he tested positive for marijuana. Rather than being in jail until the probation violation was resolved, however, he was threatened with being deported.
His information was sent to ICE, who responded with a detainer form — which asks law enforcement to hold detainees for up to 48 hours past their release time so they may be picked up by ICE agents.
“I did not even realize what ICE was at the time, and reading through it I realized it had something to do with immigration,” Brown said in a video released by the American Civil Liberties Union — who is helping represent Brown.
“And at that point, I made a comment of, ‘There must’ve been a mistake.’”
According to the video, ICE confused Brown with someone else who had the same name.
“Mr. Brown was shocked and frightened to learn that he had been flagged for deportation. He immediately began telling nearly every jail employee he encountered that he was a U.S. citizen, born in Philadelphia, and that they should not be holding him for ICE,” the lawsuit says.
Brown had a valid Florida driver’s license, and documentation showed he was a U.S. citizen born in Philadelphia according to the sheriff’s files, the lawsuit claims.
“The guard mocked me, singing the theme song from ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,’ with the reference of ‘West Philadelphia born and raised,’ because I had told him I was from Philadelphia,” Brown said in the video. “So he decides that rather than do anything to help me, he thought it was funny and decided to mock me with that.”
Brown offered to give authorities his birth certificate, and his co-worker and friend called the jail to explain he was a citizen.
“Despite his repeated protests to multiple jail officers, his offer to produce proof, and the jail’s own records, the Sheriff’s Office held Mr. Brown so that ICE could deport him to Jamaica — a country where he has never lived and knows no one,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit claims he was held illegally and later transferred to Miami to the Krome immigrant detention center — where people are held before they are deported.
Brown was only released from Krome after his roommate emailed his birth certificate to an ICE officer at the detention center, the lawsuit says.
According to a statement from the ACLU, 17 Florida sheriffs participate in an ICE detention program that pays counties $50 for each person they hold for ICE.
The agreement — called Basic Ordering Agreements or BOA’s — shield counties from liability even when they violate constitutional rights, ACLU said.
The lawsuit argues Ramsay violated Brown’s fourth amendment rights when they held him illegally.
The lawsuit says that another officer told Brown while he was detained that Ramsay previously detained another U.S. citizen for ICE for almost a year before it was determined he was a citizen.
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