Federal government reaches settlement with ‘dreamer’ who sued after detention in Tacoma
The federal government has reached a settlement with a 29-year-old man who argued he was wrongfully held at the immigration detention facility in Tacoma, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday.
Immigration officials arrested Daniel Ramirez Medina at his home in Des Moines in 2017. He was protected from deportation by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program at the time.
He was held for six weeks at the privately owned and operated federal immigration detention center on the Tacoma Tideflats until an immigration judge ordered his release.
“This settlement essentially gives Mr. Ramirez Medina a clean slate as he works to obtain legal status in the United States,” U.S. Attorney Nick Brown said in a news release Wednesday. “I am pleased that this settlement involves no monetary payment and yet goes to the core of what Mr. Ramirez Medina wants: a fair chance to obtain legal status in the U.S.”
Ramirez Medina had no criminal history when he was detained, but immigration officials said he admitted to gang affiliations, which his attorneys said was false, The News Tribune previously reported.
He was brought to the United States from Mexico when he was about 10, according to court records, and was protected from deportation under DACA starting in 2014.
“The government targeted Mr. Ramirez despite its knowledge that he is a ‘Dreamer’ who was twice granted deferred action and work authorization under DACA after rigorous vetting,” a complaint filed on his behalf in U.S. District Court in Seattle last year said in part.
The complaint argued the government “falsely asserted that he was gang-affiliated, notwithstanding the total absence of any credible evidence to support that allegation, and continued to press for his removal long after it concluded that he posed no danger to the community.”
The settlement gives Ramirez Medina “a four-year stay of removal from the United States,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office news release said, and prohibits U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials from considering “any allegation that he is a gang member or a threat to public safety.”
The agreement settles Ramirez Medina’s $450,000 tort claim, and “is not an admission of liability or fault by any of the parties,” according to U.S. Attorney’s Office.
If Ramirez Medina breaks the law, the news release said, “the grant of deferred action can be terminated.”
Attorneys who represented Ramirez Medina, according to court records, did not immediately respond to The News Tribune’s request for comment.
This story was originally published January 4, 2023 at 4:23 PM with the headline "Federal government reaches settlement with ‘dreamer’ who sued after detention in Tacoma."
