Daniel Ramirez Medina, a Dreamer from Seattle, writes in a new Washington Post op-ed that the day he “was approved for DACA was one of the happiest days” of his life, but today it “has been difficult to keep a positive outlook.” Daniel was arrested by ICE during a raid on his father’s home last month and has been held in detention since:
Last week, I spent my 24th birthday in detention.
I’ve been in an immigrant detention center in Tacoma, Wash., for more than a month. That’s a month away from my family, a month further away from doing everything I can to support my 3-year-old son and a lifetime away from the future my parents wished for me when I was brought here from Mexico at age 7. I’ve spent nearly my whole life in the United States — as a child, a teenager and now an adult with a child of my own. This country is my home.
I was detained and brought here on Feb. 10, just over a month after moving from the Central Valley in California to the Seattle area to find a better job to support my family. It has been difficult to keep a positive outlook. It’s gray here, and I mostly keep to myself, except for the prayer group I attend twice a day. To pass the time, I recently started learning how to make origami animals to give to my son when I see him again.
ICE officials have claimed that Daniel, a father of a U.S. citizen child, has gang affiliations, despite the fact that Dreamers undergo a background check as part of the DACA application process. ICE’s evidence? A “La Paz BCS” tattoo on Daniel’s arm that actually translates to “La Paz Baja California Sur,” the region in Mexico where he was born.
Daniel’s attorney claims that ICE officials even doctored a document to reinforce their charge that he’s one of those “bad hombres,” something Daniel’s attorney calls "one of the most serious examples of governmental misconduct I have come across in over 40 years of practice."
More from Daniel:
They don’t even need to take my word for it — the government already knows that I’m not a gang member. Like all “dreamers,” I gave all of my personal information and fingerprints to the government to qualify for DACA. I’ve been checked against every state and federal database. They verified twice that I have no criminal history, was never affiliated with any gang and was not a threat to public safety. Despite that, I was treated as though my DACA status and my work authorization meant nothing.
Despite how terrible this situation has been, in some ways, I am still one of the lucky ones. I have an incredible team of lawyers who are helping me every step of the way; they have interviewed me here in detention and used our conversations to draft this essay so I can tell my story to the public before I’m released. I have the support of my family and friends who will not stop fighting for me until I am back home. I have a son who I love and miss every day. And I have received incredible support from people nationwide in a way I never could have imagined. I’m now waiting for the judge to decide whether I can be released and whether he will hear my case in federal court.
In a statement calling for his release, United We Dream advocacy director Greisa Martinez said that Daniel’s nightmare has “brought worldwide attention to what we’ve long known to be true—that ICE agents fabricate evidence, terrorize, detain and deport immigrants without regard to civil rights, humanity or even common sense.”
Despite being betrayed by the government he put his faith in, Daniel remains “hopeful” that our nation recognizes how much more he has left to give and stands behind him and hundreds of thousands of other DACA recipients and Dreamers:
I am hopeful that I will have a future in this country, but I know that this case is not just about me. Hundreds of thousands of dreamers are questioning just what sort of protection the government’s promise provides. If I can be arrested and detained without any evidence, what will happen to them?
My parents brought me to the United States because they wanted for me what all parents want for their kids — a good shot at life. Dreamers like me aren’t asking for handouts. We want the government to stand by its promise and let us contribute to our communities and take care of our families without being sent back to a country we don’t know. Part of why I love the United States is because it embraces people who have different cultures and languages. It rewards people who work hard and help others. And it stands for the promise of a better future. This is the America that I love and the America that I hope will stand behind us dreamers.