A Portland mother and her four children, who are U.S. citizens, are being detained in Ferndale by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, according to U.S. Rep. Maxine Dexter of Oregon’s 3rd congressional district. The family has been held at the facility for nearly two weeks without any contact with legal representation or charges being filed, according to their lawyer, Jill Nedved with Gonzales Law Office in Seattle.
Isn’t that a textbook Fourth Amendment case?
I know they supposedly have some kind of holding period and this has been happening to minorities forever, and techically the mother requested she remain with her children, with no mention of her citizenship status in any of the reporting, other than she likely had a legal visa or something. But she was denied council and held. A congresswoman and her office are witnesses.
It feels so dramatic that you’d think the ACLU or someone would jump on it as a test case.
Sticks that it’s just a piece of paper. None of your rights matter if they are not enforced.
And none of your rights matter to the people willing and happy to take them away.
Claiming your rights are being violated as you’re stuffed in a van won’t help you. Your “rights” won’t help you as you drown in a cage, or die of dehydration, or of a treated illness your treatment is denied for.
The law is a weapon against the people now.
which leaves the people with only one weapon - weapons.
The governor should call out the national guard to arrest the roving bands of kidnappers.
They also kidnapped the grandmother, who was traveling with them on a valid visa, and have her imprisoned elsewhere. Then they snatched the father separately. The mother and kids don’t know the father is imprisoned. They’ve been given no phone calls and no access to legal representation.
If Dexter’s office had not been told about the situation, it is unlikely Merlo’s friends and family would have been able to find her, said Mimi Lettunich, a friend of the Merlo family who has known Merlo for around 20 years. Lettunich attended Friday’s press conference remotely.
“When we talk about ‘What do we want in our community?’ — hard-working, of course. They go to church, and not just participating. Jackie is the worship director at the church,” Lettunich said. “(They) are collaborating with community outreach and things like The Salvation Army. … Their kids are in Christian school, and they are involved in all kinds of different activities and sports. They just won a music competition, just a few weeks ago, and a trip to Disney. I think about how their community is sending them to Disneyland, and our government is sending them to detention.”
As a member of Congress, Dexter has access to the CBP facility and was able to see the family through a window but was not given permission to speak with them.
“They have no idea who I was. I was not allowed to speak with them,” she said.
On July 3, five days after the family was detained at the U.S. and Canadian border, Merlos’ husband, Carlos, was detained by ICE agents in Portland. He has been detained by ICE. Because Merlo has not been able to talk with anyone outside the CBP facility, it is unlikely she is aware of her husband’s status, Dexter said.
Dexter’s office and Merlos’ attorney, Nedved, have access to Carlos in the Northwest Detention Center but still cannot speak with Merlos in Ferndale.
“We cannot connect the two of them to make sure that they understand the situation that the other is in,” Dexter said. “It is absolutely a travesty.” Because nobody has been able to speak with Merlo or her children since she has been taken, it is also possible Merlo doesn’t know she has legal representation, Nedved said.
“We have an issue here where CBP is taking a role where they have detained a family for a period of a couple of weeks when these detention facilities are really only designed for short term,” Nedved said. “They (the family) have not been provided access to contact loved ones, access to contact council or understand what their rights even are.” Nedved said Merlos is unlikely aware of her situation and is making a decision (whether to voluntarily deport) “potentially under duress.”
The FBI has arrested and charged the Ferndale facility management members with unlawful kidnapping.
… Is how this story should have ended.
Yes - but, point of order: kidnapping is unlawful by its very nature
What dystopia is this, where I read these articles?
The Republican dream
