Judge orders government to stop accusing Dreamer of gang ties, keeps his DACA in place for now
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The Trump administration has been harassing Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient Daniel Ramirez Medina for over a year now, not only falsely claiming that he’s a gang member, but also using that lie to justify ending his protections. YeJudge orders government to stop accusing Dreamer of gang ties, keeps his DACA in place for now
The Trump administration has been harassing Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient Daniel Ramirez Medina for over a year now, not only falsely claiming that he’s a gang member, but also using that lie to justify ending his protections. Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez handed Ramirez Medina a victory, after ordering the federal government to quit doing both while he finalizes his case: Ramirez, 25, came to the U.S. at age 10. He drew international attention when the government revoked his DACA status early last year and placed him in deportation proceedings, even though he has no criminal record and three times passed background checks to participate in the program. Ramirez Medina was finally released after six weeks, but not before his protections were revoked—according to his attorney, ICE doctored a document to make it look like he was in a gang, calling it “one of the most serious examples of governmental misconduct that I have come across in my 40 years of practice.” Ramirez Medina eventually won his DACA back, but the administration again drummed up the fake allegations to try and revoke it yet again. “That bothered Martinez”: “Most troubling to the court, is the continued assertion that Mr. Ramirez is gang-affiliated, despite providing no evidence,” the judge wrote. “For these reasons, the court finds that defendants’ continued assertion that plaintiff is a gang member or gang-affiliated is arbitrary and capricious.” He ordered the government to cease “asserting, adopting, or relying in any proceedings on any statement or record made as of this date purporting to allege or establish that Mr. Ramirez is a gang member, gang affiliated, or a threat to public safety.” The government was also ordered to leave Ramirez Medina’s DACA protections alone as the case moves along. “Citizenship and Immigration Services did not immediately return an email seeking comment,” reports the AP. Read more