Kebin Reyes v. Alcantar

April 26, 2007

On April 26, 2006, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, the ACLU of Northern California, the ACLU Immigrant Rights’ Project, and the law firm of Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass LLP, filed a lawsuit on behalf of a U.S. citizen child who was unlawfully detained for ten hours by immigration officials. Kebin Reyes was taken into custody in the early hours of March 6, 2007 when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) agents raided his home in San Rafael, California. He was taken into custody along with his father, Noe Reyes.  Kebin was six-years-old at the time of the incident.

On March 6, 2007 ICE agents came to the apartment where Kebin and his father, Noe were living.  Agents pounded on the door and stormed into the apartment, where they rounded up all the occupants, demanding their immigration papers and passports.  Noe immediately gave the ICE agents his son’s U.S. passport, identifying Kebin as a U.S. citizen. An ICE agent then told Noe to wake up his son and said they would take them in for only an hour or two.  Noe asked several times to make a phone call so that he could arrange for a family member or family friend to care for Kebin.  Each of these requests was denied, and Kebin was forced to watch as his father was handcuffed and taken away.  The immigration officers then told Kebin to place his own arms behind his back, like his father’s.

At the ICE processing center in San Francisco, Noe’s additional requests to make a phone call were denied and ICE agents made no efforts to seek alternative care for his son. Kebin and his father were placed in a locked room and for the remainder of the day were only provided with bread and water.  Kebin was finally released that evening, only after Kebin’s uncle learned about the incident from neighbors. Kebin’s uncle rushed to the ICE office and had to wait several hours before Kebin was finally released.  

Since last May when ICE’s “Operation to Return Sender” was launched, immigration raids were conducted throughout the nation, resulting in the detention of more than 18,000 immigrants according to recent news reports.   In the Bay Area, raids were conducted in several counties including Marin, Contra Costa County, San Francisco, Redwood City, and Santa Cruz.

Civil rights groups became concerned about reports of misconduct and abuse by ICE agents and on March 6, the ACLU-NC, LCCR, and the San Francisco Bay Guardian filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request seeking records relating to recent enforcement actions.  Some of the abusive practices reported in the press included: illegal entries and searches by ICE agents, misidentification of ICE agents as a member of local police forces, inappropriate tactics related to children, ethnic profiling, violations of due process and abusive treatment. 

The civil rights groups and the law firm are seeking damages for Kebin Reyes.

LEGAL DOCUMENTS
Complaint in Reyes v. Alcanter
FOIA Request to ICE (3-06-2007)