A Venezuelan immigrant who was recently released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody after being arrested during a major federal immigration enforcement operation in the Denver metro area last month said Wednesday he was "treated like a criminal," despite having proof he was following the law as an asylum seeker.
Jhonathan Chacón, 24, was released from the GEO Processing Facility in Aurora last Tuesday, five weeks after being detained at the Cedar Run Apartments on Feb. 5.
Two days after Chacón was detained, Scripps News Group spoke with his brother, Luis Chacón, who maintained Jhonathan was "wrongfully detained" because he had no criminal background and was in the middle of an asylum case.
Luis Chacón said he never gave up the fight to get his brother out. He obtained an attorney and said they paid an $8,000 bond in order for him to be released.
Scripps News Group sat down with the Chacón brothers Wednesday to hear Jhonathan's ordeal from inside the detention center for the first time.
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“It’s a frustrating thing. You don’t sleep well, they never turn off the lights; you don’t know what time it is," Jhonathan Chacón said, in Spanish.
While Chacón said he's thankful to have his freedom back, he said the entire situation has been difficult to deal with.
“I feel very frustrated. Tell me, who pays for my psychological damage from being in there? I was treated like a criminal," he said.
Jhonathan Chacón and his brother said they wanted to share what happened to help dispel the narrative that paints all Venezuelans in a bad light.
"They themselves (immigration enforcement agents) didn’t know why they took him. It seems they took him out of malice," Luis Chacón added. “We want to let the world — and the country know — that not all Venezuelans are part of the Tren de Aragua (gang).”
Scripps News Group sat down with Elizabeth Jordan, who runs the Immigration Law Clinic at The University of Denver.
While she could not comment on the specifics of this case, she said under the Trump administration, officials are now able to engage in what's called a "collateral arrest" — meaning they can pick up anyone they believe has violated immigration laws.
"Yeah, I mean, I think you could draw some conclusions about whether this person ever needed to be detained or not, given the objectives of immigration detention and the decision the agency has made, to release them back," she said.
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Jordan added it's important to note that as a legal matter, immigration custody is a civil form of detention. She said an individual can still get picked up even if they're in the middle of an asylum case.
"The goal of immigration custody is, according to the law, to ensure that people show up for their immigration appearances, and then also, to take some steps to mitigate the risk that somebody might pose to the community," she said.
She continued, "When they release people, it does indicate that ICE has determined they don't think somebody poses a risk, to community safety, or a flight risk, in the sense that they will show up if somebody already had an open proceeding and they were following that proceeding."
Jhonathan Chacón said he's now focusing on continuing with his asylum case, which he is confident will get approved.'
This article was written by Kristian Lopez for the Scripps News Group.
