Lawsuit by U.S. Citizen Child over Immigration Raid

The ACLU and Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights for the San Francisco Bay Area on Thursday announced a suit in the case of Kebin Reyes, a U.S. citizen who was swept up with his father during an ICE raid early one morning in San Rafael, California.  A San Francisco investigative reporter (Anna Werner) documented the boy’s detention and located and interviewed the boy, his uncle and family friends, who described the boy as traumatized by his experience. Later, in a one-on-one interview about the case, Bay Area Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren described ICE’s action in holding the boy in detention for a day as “illegal.”  For the video of the news reports click here and here.

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, the ACLU of Northern California, the ACLU Immigrant Rights’ Project, and the law firm of Coblentz, Patch, Duffy & Bass LLP, filed the lawsuit. Kebin Reyes, a U.S. citizen child who was unlawfully detained for ten hours by immigration officials, was taken into custody in the early hours of March 6, 2007 when federal authorities raided his home in San Rafael, California. He was taken into custody along with his father, Noe Reyes.  To see the ACLU of Northern California press release, click here.

KJ