Fresno Bee: "U.S. citizen spent 36 days in San Joaquin Valley immigration lockup. Now, ICE is being sued"

​California civil rights organizations are suing the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement over the “unlawful arrest and detention” of a U.S. citizen in 2020.

The lawsuit comes months after a government report found the need for ICE to better train its officers to verify people’s citizenship. The California Legislature during its next legislative session will again consider a bill that would end transfers to ICE altogether.

Late on Monday, an ICE spokesperson told The Bee the agency doesn’t comment on “litigation proceedings or outcomes.” The spokesperson didn’t answer a question about the government report on these kinds of arrests.

Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus and the ACLU Foundation of Northern California on Monday filed the federal lawsuit on behalf of Brian Bukle, 62, of Corona in Riverside County. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials transferred Bukle into ICE’s custody on June 17, 2020 when two G4S Secure Solutions guards arrived to pick him up.

Bukle spent 36 days at the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Facility in Bakersfield — in the midst of a COVID-19 outbreak — before the government acknowledged his U.S. citizenship and an immigration judge threw out his deportation case, the lawsuit says.

Jenny Zhao, a senior staff attorney with Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Asian Law Caucus, said the ICE officers in this case “completely failed” to follow the agency’s internal policies that outline what they’re supposed to do when someone says they’re a U.S. citizen.

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