Jose Maldonado hugs his fiancé and |
Attorney Amanda Moran is interviewed by Fresno Bee |
Under the Shadow of ICE
Written by Jason Oleson
I am a fourth-year law student and work as a Clerk at the Moran Law Firm. This spring, my Supervising Attorney, Amanda Moran (Law ’16) asked me to prepare and draft a Bail Reduction Motion for our client, Jose Maldonado. Generally, Bail Reduction motions are routine in nature—and almost certainly they are denied. However, In re Humphrey was recently decided by the Appellate Court for the First District. The significance of this decision is that it provided case law which reverted the pendulum of justice back towards the Defendant’s favor in that financial ability to post bond is an issue the Court may address-certainly this was before the Governor had signed his newest bail bill.
For the Moran Law Firm, this decision had an immediate impact on Bail Reduction hearings, because our clients are often financially unable to post the high bail amounts. So I was optimistic about the Bail Reduction hearing for Jose. I met him under unfortunate circumstances within the Fresno County Jail. Jose is an undocumented immigrant, with a pending asylum claim, who was alleged to have committed felony child abuse. He retained our firm to represent him at his trial. While visiting Jose at the jail with Amanda, I learned that there was much more to Jose than his immigration status and these allegations.
Jose shared his story with us. He was brought to America when he was six years old by his father and spent nearly all of his life here. Indeed, Jose had never returned to Mexico after his arrival. He grew up in American culture, attended school, fell in love, had children, and worked hard to support his family. He and his fiancé were establishing a stable home when the child abuse allegations arose. It appeared that the false allegations stemmed from a spurned former love and their shared daughter. Jose continued to express that he did not commit the acts alleged and stated he would not be receptive of any plea deals because he is innocent-Jose’s case was going to trial. We informed Jose that the first move would be to file a motion for a reduction of his $220,000.00 bail because that amount was financially unobtainable for him. Without posting bail, Jose would spend months in the Fresno County Jail before his case was ready for trial.
At the bail reduction hearing on March 20, 2018, Fresno County Superior Court Judge Alvarez indicated that he was inclined to reduce bail in this matter because Jose was an ideal candidate. However, Judge Alvarez stated that he was concerned about ICE possibly detaining and deporting Jose if he was released on bail while this case was still unfolding. Jose’s bail reduction motion was denied, and despite his claims of factual innocence, Jose remained in jail awaiting trial.
Amanda informed the Fresno Bee that:
[B]ecause…[of] pending charges and he’s not legal, ICE would…immediately [deport] him and [t]he court found that he was safer in here (in county jail) because if they release him on bail, he would be deported and then this issue would never be resolved.
Amanda and I visited Jose following the bail reduction hearing. Understandably, Jose was disappointed. Over the course of seven months, we witnessed Jose’s emotional state decline, as he became more and more depressed being away from his family- despite being innocent of the allegations against him. The hardest part was trying to explain how it was to his benefit to remain in jail because it was safer and more predictable than releasing him on bail. ICE did unjustifiably play a factor in Jose’s Constitutional right to bail because there was a very real concern of ICE removing or deporting him prior to the conclusion of his case.
I watched Amanda spend hours behind the scenes preparing Jose’s case for trial. I participated in preparing witness questions and saw how little evidence actually existed to support the allegations. As a team, we also prepared questions for jury selection that would address immigration issues, so that we could ensure that Jose would receive a fair trial with jurors who would not immediately find him guilty simply because he was an undocumented immigrant.
On August 06, 2018, the date set for trial, The Fresno County District Attorney’s Office dismissed the charges against Jose due to a lack of evidence. Amanda immediately placed on the Court Record that “Jose’s charges have been dismissed, and he has a pending political asylum claim” so that any ICE officers who were in the courtroom would know that he should not be deported. That evening, Amanda, armed with Jose’s State Department records and formal Asylum paperwork, waited as Jose walked out of the Fresno County Jail. In those moments when he ran up to his fiancé and held his little girl, there was still a fear that ICE officers would be waiting to take him.
Even now, Jose fears ICE may arrest, detain and potentially deport him despite having no criminal charges pending against him. This man, who works hard to support his family and is making every effort to be an excellent father, continues to live in fear. The Moran Law Firm worked a miracle to get Jose’s charges dropped, but no matter how hard we work, we cannot protect him from deportation.
I was raised to believe that every person, within the borders of the United States, has guaranteed rights granted to them by the United States Constitution. I was raised to believe that these rights are not discriminatory. They are not exclusory. They pertain to every person within the borders of this Country. These rights include a right to be free from oppression; a right to a reasonable bail; a right to be free from cruel or unusual punishment; and a right to due process, including procedural due process. The actions and operations of ICE directly infringes upon these guaranteed rights! ICE devalues a person’s inherent right to dignity, their right to be treated as a human; instead, ICE makes the distinction that somehow a person without papers is a second-rate human being. A mentality such as this can only promote and bolster discrimination.
Jose spent seven long months incarcerated in the Fresno County Jail, awaiting pending litigation. During that time, ha was deprived of his liberties, his rights and his freedom of movement. Jose was deprived of the right to tuck his daughter into bed, and attend her dance lessons and life events. Jose, having spent all but six emergent years in the United States, is entitled to the same guarantees and protections afforded to him by the California and United States Constitution as every other individual within the borders of this great nation.