ICE Ignores Court Order: Holds US Citizen in Georgia

NOTE: This was accidentally reposted this a.m.and therefore has the wrong time stamp. It was initially posted on June 11; nothing in the content was changed.

This morning I received an email message from Neil Rambana, an immigration attorney in Tallahassee, Florida representing a US citizen ICE is imprisoning in Lumpkin, Georgia. Rambana's client was arrested TWICE:

"In the first case before the Immigration Court I was able to prove citizenship and the judge terminated the process immediately. A few months later they arrested him again and charged him with the same thing. I am working now to prove citizenship once again although it is the same judge and same evidence. Moreover, there is an order in his file evidencing such. It is outrageous."

ICE held his client for eight months in 2006, then his client was detained again in May, 2008:

"To our surprise on or about May 12, 2008 I received a notice of hearing for May 19, 2008. I immediately filed for termination based upon the prior order terminating the matter.. To date, I have been going back and forth to try and speak with the Assistant Chief Counsel for the Department of Homeland Security to see if they will take judicial notice of the prior order of termination, but they have not returned our calls. The Immigration Court has not ruled on my motion to terminate as of today. It is now June and I believe he has been in detention since May, but I am not sure. Efforts to speak with him have been very difficult."

This is not "detention." ICE has a record the client is a US citizen and has no jurisdiction over US citizens. This is false imprisonment and, because it appears that state lines were crossed, also kidnapping.

6/16 update and timeline. The information here was based on Mr. Rambana's information at the time from the immigration judge; since then we have learned that this information was incorrect and the situation is much worse, suggesting an illegal conspiracy to falsely imprison his client, David, among ICE, the Georgia Correctional authorities, and an immigration judge: See here for judge's 6/11 order a cover-up; for the most recent information, go to the tag "David."

The image is from the Correctional Corporation of America website announcing its opening of the Lumpkin, Georgia facility: "Construction on SDC began in 1999. It was halted in 2000, resumed in 2005 and was completed in September 2006 in response to demand for prison and detainee beds. The opening of the facility is indicative of CCA’s strength and growth in its industry."