Ms. L. v. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement et al

Filing 46

RESPONSE in Opposition re #21 Amended MOTION for Preliminary Injunction filed by Greg Archambeault, Alex Azar, L. Francis Cissna, Pete Flores, Joseph Greene, Thomas Homan, Francis M. Jackson, Scott Lloyd, Adrian P. Macias, Hector A. Mancha Jr., Kevin K. McAleenan, Kirstjen Nielsen, Office of Refugee Resettlement, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, III, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (Attachments: #1 Declaration Ortiz, #2 Declaration Banzon, #3 Proof of Service)(Bettwy, Samuel) (aef).

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1 CHAD A. READLER
Acting Assistant Attorney General
2 WILLIAM C. PEACHEY
Director, Office of Immigration Litigation (OIL)
3 U.S. Department of Justice
WILLIAM C. SILVIS
4 Assistant Director, OIL District Court Section
SARAH B. FABIAN
5 Senior Litigation Counsel
NICOLE MURLEY
6 Trial Attorney
Office of Immigration Litigation
7 U.S. Department of Justice
Box 868, Ben Franklin Station
8 Washington, DC 20442
Telephone: [phone]
9 Fax: [phone]
10 ADAM L. BRAVERMAN
United States Attorney
11 SAMUEL W. BETTWY
Assistant U.S. Attorney
12 California Bar No. 94918
Office of the U.S. Attorney
13 880 Front Street, Room 6293
San Diego, CA 92101-8893
14 619-546-7125
619-546-7751 (fax)
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Attorneys for Federal Respondents-Defendants
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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20 MS. L,
Petitioner-Plaintiff,

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Case No. 18cv428 DMS MDD

vs.

23 U.S. IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS
ENFORCEMENT, et al.,
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Respondents-Defendants.
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DECLARATION OF MARIO ORTIZ

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I, Mario Ortiz, have been a Detention Officer for the San Diego District of U.S.

2 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Enforcement and Removal Operations
3 (ERO) since February 1996. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sam Bettwy asked me to make this
4 Declaration about the procedures that ERO San Diego Family Unit currently follows, for
5 purposes of responding to Petitioner Ms L’s motion for preliminary injunction.
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1. I have been assigned to the Family Unit as Assistant Field Office Director since

7 November 2017, and I am therefore familiar with the procedures that the San Diego Family
8 Unit currently follows.
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2. When aliens who enter ICE custody claim to be parent and child, they are referred

10 to the Family Unit. ICE’s San Diego Family Unit does not have a policy or practice “of
11 separating migrant families.” The mission of the Family Unit is to make appropriate
12 placement decisions for aliens traveling with children who claim family relationships. When
13 appropriate, the unit ensures the proper care and custody of the children with the HHS
14 Office of Refugee Resettlement.
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3. When aliens claiming a parent-child relationship are encountered, my unit’s

16 primary considerations are, first, whether there is any doubt about whether they are parent
17 and child and, second, whether there is information that causes a concern about the welfare
18 the child, such as the adult having a significant criminal history. Based on the information
19 available in a specific case, if there are not concerns about the family relationship or welfare
20 of the child, the aliens may be detained at a family residential center or, if appropriate,
21 released to a sponsor or non-governmental organization. If there are concerns, the child may
22 be transferred to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee
23 Resettlement (ORR) for care and placement consideration.
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4. Once a child is transferred to ORR’s care and custody, it is my understanding that

25 ICE no longer has any authority over what his or her custody, care, or placement will be.
26 Those decisions must be made by ORR, and it is my understanding that ICE cannot re27 detain children who have been transferred to the care and custody of ORR. It is my
28 understanding that ORR’s placement decisions are made solely for the welfare of the child.
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Declaration of Mario Ortiz

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18cv428 DMS MDD

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5. At the request of AUSA Bettwy, I have reviewed Ms. L’s A-File for the purpose

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2 of preparing this Declaration, and I have spoken with the Detention Officer who was
3 assigned to manage Ms. L’s detention (Officer Ramon Meraz). Since Ms. L’s entry into ICE
4 custody, this review of records has revealed the following information:
a. Ms. L was issued an Angolan passport on June 4, 2015, in Luanda, Angola,

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6 in the name of “B.M.P.”
b. In the name “B.M.P.,” Ms. L applied to the U.S. consulate in Angola for

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8 nonimmigrant visas to the United States in January 2016, with the stated purpose to visit
9 New York City as tourists for fifteen days.
c. Ms. L applied for the visitor visa with her daughter under the name “S.P.S.,”

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11 and a person named “A.S.” who represented that he was the father of S.S. and the husband
12 of Ms. L.
d. The visa was refused, and the consular official noted: “Family makeup is

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14 questionable at best, father is not credible at all.”
e. Ms. L was detained in Panama in September 2017 at which time she used

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16 the name Ms. “B.N..”
f. Ms. L was detained in Guatemala in October 2017 at which time she used

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18 the name “B.L.”
g. On October 24, 2017, the Mexican government issued her and S.S. exit

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20 visas.

h. On November 2, 2017, Ms. L stated to a CBP officer that she was aided by

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22 a smuggler for her entire trip to the United States.
i. Ms. L stated to the same CBP officer that her passport was stolen in

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24 Colombia.

j. Ms. L later told Officer Meraz that she lost her Angolan passport in a river

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26 in Colombia.
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Declaration of Mario Ortiz

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18cv428 DMS MDD

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I make this Declaration to the best of my knowledge under penalty of perjury under

2 the laws of the United States.

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DA TED: March 15, 2018

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Detention Officer
U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement

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Declaration of Mario Ortiz

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