“The continued detention with dangerous criminals, of a lawfully present individual, who has no criminal record and has not been charged with any crime, is particularly unsafe and alarming and should be remedied immediately,” the lawyers argue.
But the lawyers, in the underlying request for Ramirez’s release, also bring the larger implications for all DREAMers who applied for DACA into focus.
“Leaving Mr. Ramirez in detention signals that arresting and detaining a Dreamer without probable cause or reasonable suspicion is permissible, potentially putting all DACA holders at risk,” the lawyers note.
In the amended petition filed in the case this past week, the lawyers ask for a declaratory judgment that DREAMers “have constitutionally-protected interests in their status conferred under DACA,” that “arbitrary arrest and detention violates” DREAMers’ due process rights, and that the federal government does not have the authority to arrest DREAMers “on the basis of their immigration status.”
