SEQUIM — Federal authorities in Tacoma released an eight-year legal immigrant from Sequim on Monday, citing uncertainty over whether he qualifies for deportation.
Jose Antonio Hernandez, 28, who has held permanent resident status since 2000, said he could hardly believe it when he was told he was being released.
“I felt like crying,” he told the Peninsula Daily News. “I was happy.”
“It was the worst nightmare ever.”
The Border Patrol arrested Hernandez, a Mexican-born immigrant who has lived in Sequim for about 17 years, and Daniel Rodriguez, 18, also of Sequim on Friday.
Rodriguez, a Mexican national, was determined by the Border Patrol to be in the United States illegally.
He remained in the Tacoma detention center Monday pending a deportation hearing.
Traffic stop
Hernandez and Rodriguez were in a truck when they were pulled over by a Border Patrol agent on Port Williams Road northeast of the town center.
One day later, a small group of protesters gathered at the intersection of Sequim Avenue and Washington Street in Sequim to demonstrate against the arrests.
The protest was the latest demonstration against stepped-up Border Patrol operations on the North Olympic Peninsula that began with immigration checkpoints on highways in Clallam and Jefferson counties about a year ago.
Fiancee relieved
Hernandez’s fiancee, Tiffany Janssen, said Monday that she was relieved and overwhelmed to hear about his release from the Tacoma detention center.
“That totally made my day,” she said.
The Border Patrol arrested Hernandez because he had been convicted of either an aggravated felony or a crime of moral turpitude, which qualifies him for deportation, agency spokesman Michael Bermudez said.
Although Hernandez was once convicted of reckless endangerment, which may qualify as an aggravated felony, and possession of a drug without a prescription in 2003, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency was unsure whether either qualified as violations of conditions placed on him as a permanent resident, said Lorie Dankers, an ICE spokeswoman.
“We’re not fully sure if he is deportable,” Dankers said.
“We’re going to look at those convictions and see if they make him removable. In the meantime, he is going to be released pending that further review.”
Homeland Security
Both the Border Patrol and ICE fall under the Department of Homeland Security.
According to the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, an aggravated felony counts as any conviction with a sentence of at least one year, said Daniel Fagan-Smith, an immigration attorney in Seattle.
“It’s usually the kiss of death,” he said.
Hernandez’s reckless-endangerment conviction could count as an aggravated felony because he was sentenced to 365 days in jail, although the judge suspended 355 days.
Fagan-Smith said all that counts is the number of days in jail to which the person was sentenced, not how many days were served.
Dankers said deportation proceedings have begun for Rodriguez, and he has been given a notification to appear before an immigration judge.
Traffic stop
Bermudez said the Border Patrol pulled the truck — driven by Rodriguez — over as part of a regular traffic stop.
It was not prearranged, Bermudez said, and he had no further information.
“I don’t know why this truck was stopped,” he said.
“We just don’t randomly pull vehicles over. There would have been a violation.”
Bermudez said the arresting agents radioed records searches of the two men at the scene before the arrests were made, and they determined that Rodriguez was not a legal resident.
They also were told of Hernandez’s previous conviction.
Unmarked vehicle
Hernandez told the PDN that Rodriguez was giving him a ride in his truck to get a tire repaired when the two were stopped on Port Williams Road by a Border Patrol agent driving a white, unmarked Chevrolet Suburban sport utility vehicle.
A marked Border Patrol car soon arrived after they were stopped, he said.
Hernandez said Rodriguez hadn’t violated any traffic laws, and they were not told why they had been pulled over.
Contrary to earlier reports, Hernandez was not working for OG’s Landscaping, a Sequim-area business, at the time of the arrest.
Mario Gonzalez of Sequim said he and other people who know Rodriguez are seeing if they can raise $10,000 to keep him in the United States on probation for a year.
“Many people are offering their help,” he said.
“It is a big figure, but hopefully in between all of us and a few other people, we can come up with the $10,000 and try to keep him here in the U.S.”
Family immigrated
Hernandez’s sister, Erika Hernandez Vose, said her family immigrated to the United States about 23 years ago, and moved to Sequim about six years later.
Both of their parents became U.S. citizens in 1995.
Hernandez Vose said she and her brother are in the application process to become U.S. citizens.
Hernandez said he thinks the Border Patrol has some adjustments to make in how it handles its authority.
“No one is asking them not to do their job,” he said. “We want them to do it right.
“They are tearing families apart, and I felt like they were tearing mine away.”
Janssen and Hernandez have a 4-year-old son.
Another protest over the arrests of Hernandez and Rodriguez is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday at the intersection of Sequim Avenue and Washington Street in Sequim.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
Carrying the green card
IMMIGRANTS IN THE United States legally are required by law to carry their permanent resident card — commonly called a “green card” — with them at all times, said Daniel Fagan-Smith, a Seattle immigration attorney.
He could not confirm if there are any penalties for not carrying the card.
Fagan-Smith said a photocopy of the card that clearly shows the permanent resident’s alien registration number could be enough for someone to prove legal status if he or she is questioned by a Border Patrol agent.
