An immigrant from El Salvador has begun the process of suing the federal government over his arrest by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
East Boston resident José Pineda, 61, has lived in the United States for over 30 years. He has legal status and no criminal record. ICE detained him in late May and kept him overnight in a crowded holding cell, even though he tried to show ICE agents his legal documentation when agents first approached him.
Lawyers for Civil Rights filed a complaint Wednesday, citing constitutional rights violations with the Department of Homeland Security, ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Pineda’s behalf.
“We want these detentions to stop happening,” his wife Mercedes Pineda told GBH News. “We’re doing it to denounce the conditions of the arrests and the detention centers. We don’t want what happened to us to happen to other families.”
The complaint seeks damages for “reckless, discriminatory, and unconstitutional conduct, including false arrest, excessive force, and prolonged inhumane detention.”
Pineda has Temporary Protected Status, a humanitarian protection that allows him to live in the United States without fear of deportation. He fled El Salvador following the country’s civil war, according to his wife and lawyer. Pineda now lives in East Boston with his wife and 12-year-old daughter and supports them by working as a full-time landscaper.
Early in the morning on May 27, Pineda and coworkers were driving to a worksite when they were pulled over by three unmarked vehicles, according to the complaint.
He says he was “racially profiled and targeted.” Pineda says he tried to show agents that he could prove his legal status with documents he had on him.
“Despite this and informing them of this, they still arrested him, chained up his arms and wrists and sent him into inhumane detention center,” said Victoria Miranda, a senior attorney for Lawyers for Civil Rights. “It goes to show that their operations are just escalating and they’re affecting people who contribute to this community.”
She said he was never shown a warrant and that agents took his several of his documents — including his social security card, his driver’s license and $600 in cash.
ICE and the Department of Homeland Security didn’t return requests for comment.
“Mr. Pineda was mocked by ICE agents who told him that if he was not born in the United States, he had no rights,” the complaint said.
He was taken to an ICE field office in Burlington, Massachusetts, to conditions his lawyers described as “devastating and inhumane.”
There, he shared a cell with as many as 60 people, sharing a single sink and toilet. Pineda has gastritis and was unable to eat the few food items given to him, and was unable to make a direct call to an attorney.
He was released the following evening, without the $600 he had when he was detained. Miranda and his wife said he still hasn’t gotten that back.
“José's arrest was arbitrary and violated his fundamental human and civil rights. His case reflects an authoritarian agenda that criminalizes millions of immigrants in a very adverse context,” said Patricia Montes, executive director of Centro Presente, a community organization that has helped support the family.
Pineda’s lawyers say the incident has had “profound” consequences on his health. He has night terrors, back pain from the cramped conditions, daily headaches from anxiety, memory loss and exacerbation of his gastritis.
“I still can’t sleep. I have nightmares every night, and my daughter is living in fear. She cries when she sees the police,” José Pineda wrote in a statement. “I came to this country for safety. ICE treated me like a criminal because of how I look and where I’m from—even though I followed every rule.”
Mercedes Pineda said she often sleeps on the couch because “he wakes up yelling and terrified out of fear” — scaring her, too, she told GBH News.
Pineda is seeking damages for the agency’s “reckless, discriminatory, and unconstitutional conduct, including false arrest, excessive force, and prolonged inhumane detention.”
The first step to suing a federal agency under the tort claim act is filing a complaint. The government then has six months to resolve it, which could include monetary damages for Pineda. If it’s not resolved in that time, a plaintiff can file a formal complaint in court.
